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Welcome to this week’s edition of DeFi In Five!
Each week, we’ll aim to bring you the newest, most notable things happening in DeFi – from tokenization to trading to AI and beyond.
Here’s what you can expect:
Key Narratives – the hottest topics in DeFi right now
Chart of the week – the most eye-catching DeFi charts I can find
Tokenization news – tracking the mass migration of assets onchain
DeFi x AI – the latest developments in AI-powered finance
From the marketplace – the latest news from DEXs, money markets, vaults, and more
Best of the rest – any other news that caught our attention
Tons of bullet points
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📰 Key Narratives
24/7 Stock Trading
xStocks/Kraken partners with Nasdaq (following
70+ stocks are now tradable onchain via Jupiter Exchange
200+ Ondo-tokenized stocks are available on Reserve Protocol’s UGLYCASH app
Oil Trading Goes Onchain
Last week’s oil volatility generated billions in volume on Hyperliquid
On Thursday, oil was Hyperliquid’s #2 most-traded market behind BTC
This follows major volume in gold/silver markets earlier in the year
Solana Stablecoin Dominance
Solana facilitated ~$700B in stablecoin volume during January
This was the first time Solana outpaced Ethereum in monthly stablecoin volume
Total stablecoin volume for the month was $1.8T+ — an all-time high
Continued Crypto Support In The USA
The Treasury noted that crypto mixers have privacy benefits
Florida became the first state to pass stablecoin regulatory framework
Deposits on Kamino’s OnRe market are up ~80% in the past 30 days
OnRe is quickly making a name for itself in a niche segment of RWAs: reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies). Their ONyc stablecoin derives its yield from the $800B+ global market of reinsurance premiums.
While the chart above shows their growth in AUM specifically on the Kamino app, their total AUM recently exceeded $130M — just 8 months after their launch.
ONyc is one of many RWA tokens thriving on Kamino, which recently surpassed $1B in total RWA AUM.
xStocks, Kraken and Nasdaq partner to enable 24/7 onchain trading
Will allow NASDAQ-listed stocks to be distributed around the world onchain
Tokenized shares will carry all of the same rights as traditional shares
This isn’t just representation of shares onchain – it’s the real thing
The goal is to implement this in 2027 (pending SEC approval)
Nasdaq also stated that 52% of institutions expect to manage live tokenized collateral by the end of 2026
200+ Ondo tokenized stocks + ETFs are now available in UGLYCASH app
Another big move around tokenized stocks, further expanding their availability
UGLYCASH’s main use case is converting fiat deposits into crypto, so this would be a direct gateway for fiat to trade tokenized stocks
The app is run by Reserve Protocol, which is used by major companies like Kraken and Bloomberg
Theo Network launches thUSD, a gold-based, yield-bearing stablecoin
Yield strategy – long Theo’s gold-backed yield stablecoin (thGOLD), short CME gold futures
Earns yield from thGOLD as well as premium on gold futures
Generated 8.3% APY in internal testing throughout 2025
Concrete, a top onchain capital allocator with almost $900M AUM, provides the infrastructure to run the strategy
Over 70 tokenized stocks are now tradable on Jupiter
This is part of xStocks’ xChange rollout I covered last week
Jupiter is Solana’s most active trading app – generated $650B+ in volume across spot and perps over the past year
~1300% RWA volume surge on XRPL (Ripple’s blockchain)
Over $139M of RWAs have been transferred on XRPL in the past 30 days
Global institutions like Societe Generale and Guggenheim are among the 22 participants driving the surge
Shows the proliferation of RWAs in the Ripple ecosystem – XRPL is for more than just stablecoin payments’
Virtuals introduces ERC-8183: an escrow system for agents
Provides a method for agents to work for each other and get paid for jobs done correctly
Splits agents up into 3 roles:
Client – the agent requesting another agent to perform a task (e.g. buy X token at Y price)
Provider – the agent that performs the task
Evaluator – holds Client’s funds in escrow until Provider performs the task, pays Provider if the task was performed correctly
This is all done autonomously via smart contracts, allowing agents to work independently from manual intervention
Agent-to-agent (A2A) revenue on Virtuals surpasses $3M
On Virtuals, agents can hire other agents to perform various tasks (mostly DeFi activity like trading, but range of activities is expanding)
Revenue is generated when agents perform those tasks and are paid
A2A revenue has more than doubled within the past 3 weeks
I covered Virtuals’ recent surge in activity here
Oil volatility brings billion-dollar volume to Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid has become a major onchain alternative to traditional markets by allowing easily accessible price exposure to traders across asset classes
The app has benefited from big price swings in gold, silver, oil, and more so far this year
On Thursday, Crude Oil futures were the #2-most traded asset on Hyperliquid
Midas launches multi-strategy vault run by M1 Capital
M1 is an Amsterdam-based hedge fund with $190M in AUM
Their top fund is now onchain – specializing in market-neutral strategies (price arbitrage, recursive lending, basis trading)
Yearn Finance launches two new yield products
Deposit one asset, earn yield in another
Initially available on the Katana network – can deposit and earn in any combination of USDC, ETH, and WBTC
New vault to maximize yield on stablecoins
Automatically scans multiple chains, vaults, and strategies to put your stables to work in the best possible way
Initially compatible with major apps like Morpho, Maple, Sky, Pendle, Cap, and more
Current APY is ~11%
Steakhouse Financial launches high-yield cbBTC vault on Morpho
Steakhouse is the leading DeFi risk curator with $1.75B+ in AUM
cbBTC is BTC that’s usable in DeFi and secured by Coinbase Custody
The strategy uses cbBTC to borrow USDC
Earns USDC, but converts to cbBTC before it’s paid out to depositors
Option trading app Derive records the largest onchain option trade in DeFi history
Over $130M notional in a single BTC option spread trade
Derive is a leading DeFi option app with over $5.5B in notional volume in the past year
Solana dominated stablecoin activity in February
Total stablecoin volume surpassed ~$1.8T – a monthly record
Solana accounted for $650B worth, over ⅓ of the total
Activity on Solana is red hot – on Tuesday, ~$750M of USDC was minted on Solana in a 6-hour period
US Treasury states crypto mixers have legitimate privacy uses
Mixers allow people to deposit crypto with one wallet and withdraw from another, without showing any connection between the two
These are infamously linked to illicit activity, but the general privacy benefits are clear as well
An well-known example of a mixer is Tornado Cash, an app on Ethereum
Florida legislature passed the first state-level regulatory framework for stablecoins
37 votes in favor and 0 in opposition
Governor DeSantis is expected to sign it into law within 30 days
Mastercard launches Crypto Partner program
Over 85 partners representing crypto exchange, DeFi apps, fintech apps, payment infra, card providers, custodians, and more
Notable partners include Circle, Rain, Solana, PayPal, Canton, Kraken, MetaMask, and many more
Goal is to “update” existing payment networks (e.g. MasterCard) by incorporating blockchains for improved transaction costs, settlement speed, etc.
Across is considering a token buyout, exchanging them for equity
Would convert the Across DAO into a US-based C. corp
Equity would be traditionally-issued rather than onchain
No news on a vote yet – but this would be a first in the industry
Starknet introduces STRK20 “wrapper” that makes any ERC20 token private
This impacts thousands of assets – all Ethereum-compatible tokens use the ERC20 standard
Automatically shields all tokens deployed on the Starknet network
Maintains compliance via selective disclosure when necessary
Karma Wallet is rolling out a feature that lets you send money to any bank account with crypto
Uses Solana network to transfer funds
Is the recent price action the beginning of a long recovery or just a typical bear market rally? We broke down the numbers last week in The Case For BTC At $67,000.
That’s all for this week’s DeFi In Five! Be sure to let us know what stuck out to you, or if we missed any other key events over the past week.
For any questions, comments, or feedback, please email me at [email protected].
And finally, make sure to subscribe below!
