BlackRock, Citadel, and other traditional financial giants are sequentially purchasing DeFi governance tokens, possibly to lock in infrastructure usage rights.

Deep Tide TechFlow News, February 23 — According to The Block, earlier this month, BlackRock, Citadel Securities, and Apollo Global Management each disclosed plans to purchase DeFi governance tokens. BlackRock tokenized its Treasury bond fund BUIDL on UniswapX and bought UNI tokens; Citadel Securities supported the launch of Zero, a blockchain under LayerZero, and acquired ZRO tokens; Apollo or its affiliates reached an agreement to purchase up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over 48 months, accounting for approximately 9% of the total supply.

Several investors told The Block that the motivation behind these institutions buying governance tokens is not for portfolio allocation but to lock in infrastructure usage rights. CoinFund founder Jake Brukhman characterized this as “vendor lock-in rather than asset allocation,” meaning the token holdings are directly linked to the infrastructure these institutions plan to use. Lex Sokolin, co-founder of Generative Ventures, pointed out that traditional financial institutions are “factories,” and the crypto market is their “retail outlet” for selling tokenized products. This move is more about brand endorsement than a fundamental change in market structure.

Many investors believe that key factors driving this round of institutional entry include the abolition of SAB 121 accounting standards in early 2025, the SEC’s successive investigations into Uniswap, Coinbase, and Aave being withdrawn, the establishment of a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins through the GENIUS Act, and the SEC’s “Project Crypto” classifying most governance tokens as non-securities. The influx of institutional capital has not significantly boosted DeFi token prices. Investors generally believe that establishing a clear value capture mechanism between tokens and protocol cash flows, gaining approval for DeFi ETFs, and the implementation of the CLARITY Act are the critical catalysts for future market movements.

Regarding future predictions, many investors mentioned Fidelity, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan as the next potential entrants. The focus is on blue-chip projects related to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and trading infrastructure.