Wall Street giant Apollo follows BlackRock in DeFi push with Morpho token deal

Apollo Global Management (APO) is moving deeper into crypto, striking a deal that could make the $938 billion asset manager a major token holder in a decentralized lending platform.

The firm signed a cooperation agreement with the Morpho Association, the French non-profit organization behind the Morpho protocol, that allows Apollo and its affiliates to buy up 90 million tokens MORPHO$1.3167 tokens over the next four years.

The purchases may take place through open-market buys, over-the-counter transactions and other arrangements, and are subject to ownership caps and transfer restrictions. Galaxy Digital UK acted as exclusive financial adviser to Morpho, according to the document.

Beyond the token purchases, Apollo and Morpho said they will work together to support lending markets built on Morpho’s protocol. Morpho provides infrastructure for onchain lending markets and curator-managed vaults that allocate assets across them. The protocol is governed by holders of the MORPHO token. The 90 million token stake would translate to 9% of the protocol’s governance token’s total supply.

The agreement adds to Apollo’s expanding blockchain footprint. Last year, the firm made a “seven-figure” investment in blockchain project PLUME$0.01176, which focuses on bringing traditional financial products onchain. Apollo’s credit strategies have already been tokenized via third parties. Tokenization specialist Securitize issues ACRED, a token that gives exposure to the Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, while Anemoy offers ACRDX, which tracks Apollo’s global private and public credit strategies.

The move comes as other asset managers test decentralized finance rails. Earlier this week, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said it will make shares of its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, BUIDL, tradable on decentralized exchange Uniswap and purchased an undisclosed amount of the protocol’s governance token UNI UNI$3.4548.