Apollo Expands DeFi Push With Morpho Token Deal

Apollo Global Management has signed an agreement to acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over four years, deepening its expansion into decentralized finance.

Key Takeaways

• Apollo may acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over 48 months, representing about 9 percent of total supply.
• The agreement aims to support onchain lending markets and credit infrastructure on Morpho’s protocol.
• Morpho price jumped 17.8 percent following the announcement.
• The deal signals growing institutional adoption of decentralized lending platforms.

What Happened?

The Morpho Association announced on February 13, 2026, in Paris that it signed a cooperation agreement with certain affiliates of Apollo Global Management. Under the agreement, Apollo may acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens through open market purchases, over the counter transactions, and other arrangements, subject to ownership caps and transfer restrictions.

The acquisition will take place gradually over 48 months and is designed to support the development of onchain lending markets on Morpho’s protocol.

Apollo Deepens Commitment to DeFi Infrastructure

Apollo, a publicly traded alternative asset manager headquartered in New York, manages nearly 940 billion dollars in assets across private equity, credit, and real assets. The firm invests on behalf of institutional and individual clients globally.

Under the new agreement, Apollo’s token purchases will be subject to strict ownership caps and trading limits to promote market stability. The structure also ensures that governance remains with MORPHO token holders.

The announcement stated that “Apollo and Morpho will be working together to support onchain lending markets on Morpho’s protocol.”

Galaxy Digital UK Limited served as Morpho’s exclusive financial adviser on the transaction.

Why Morpho Stands Out?

Morpho operates an open, permissionless lending network that differs from more established DeFi protocols such as Aave. While Aave requires a governance vote to add new assets to the protocol, Morpho allows greater flexibility, enabling more rapid market development.

The protocol currently ranks as the sixth largest DeFi platform by total value locked, with approximately 5.8 billion dollars locked, according to DeFi Llama data. Morpho offers lending markets and curated investment vaults designed for investors seeking yield opportunities.

Last year, a tokenized Apollo fund was used in a Morpho lending pool, highlighting a pre existing relationship between the two firms.

Institutional momentum around Morpho has accelerated in recent months. Apex Group recently integrated its Apex Digital 3.0 system to provide transfer agent services supporting Morpho real world asset lending pools. In late January, digital asset manager Bitwise joined the platform to offer curated vaults with 6 percent annual yields. Bitcoin DeFi project Lombard also named Morpho as an initial liquidity partner for Bitcoin Smart Accounts.

Market Reaction

The announcement sparked an immediate reaction in the crypto market. MORPHO rose 17.8 percent over the weekend, climbing from about 1.12 dollars to 1.32 dollars. Despite the rally, the token remains down 38 percent over the past 12 months amid broader cryptocurrency market declines.

Image Credit – CoinGecko.com

Apollo’s broader crypto strategy has been steadily expanding. The firm partnered with Coinbase last year to develop stablecoin credit strategies and made an undisclosed investment in Plume to support real world asset tokenization infrastructure.

CoinLaw’s Takeaway

In my experience, when a traditional asset manager of Apollo’s size commits to a multi year token acquisition plan, it signals more than just experimentation. I see this as a serious vote of confidence in onchain credit markets. What stands out to me is the structured nature of the agreement, with ownership caps and trading limits that reflect institutional discipline rather than speculative enthusiasm.

I found that Morpho’s permissionless structure gives it a real competitive edge. Institutions want flexibility, but they also want guardrails. This deal seems to strike that balance. If execution matches ambition, Morpho could become a key bridge between traditional finance and decentralized lending.

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