Crypto Lending

Standard Chartered has begun coverage of Morpho with a bullish end-2030 price target, arguing the protocol is positioned to benefit from tokenization and DeFi growth. The bank said Morpho’s lending and onchain infrastructure businesses could scale alongside a projected 37-fold expansion in DeFi assets.

Tether is expanding the utility of its bullion holdings by enabling borrowing against Tether Gold, or XAUT, through crypto lender Ledn. The move mirrors bitcoin-backed lending and could open a new stream of liquidity for gold holders without forcing a sale.

Botanix is winding down after saying programmable Bitcoin did not work in the current market. The setback has intensified doubts about broad Bitcoin layer-2 ecosystems while demand for lending, staking and yield remains intact.