DeFi Fundamentals Catch Up with Price
gm, Defiers!
Here’s what’s happening today
TL;DR:
- Euler’s EUL hit new all-time highs, while protocol metrics are also surging
- Aave outperformed the entire DeFi sector in Q2
- Activity on Avalanche continues to grow, driven by gaming and DEX transactions
- DWF Labs’ stablecoin USDf depegged this week amid concerns around its collateral
- Robinhood's tokenized stocks aren’t stocks [Issue #3 of Real World — our new weekly newsletter on stablecoins and tokenization]
- Investment policy statements: Ending misalignment and empowering long-term vision in decentralized organizations [SPONSORED]
- The Stellar development roadmap paves way for expansion and network scalability [SPONSORED]
Let’s get into it
Bitcoin just broke through a new all-time high (again), soaring past $113K and extending its 2025 rally. But what’s striking this week isn’t just Bitcoin’s gravity-defying climb, it’s that DeFi and Layer 1 fundamentals are finally moving in sync with price action, while cracks continue to show in centralized corners of crypto, and in the marketing of tokenized assets.
First, the rally beneath the surface:
Euler’s EUL token hit a new all-time high this week, and unlike many price spikes, this one has fundamentals to back it up. The lending protocol has quietly doubled its TVL in two months, with daily lending activity on the rise as users return to what was once a hacked and written-off project. Euler’s comeback, documented here, shows how narratives in DeFi can flip when usage and trust rebound together.
Aave is also proving its staying power. Aave outperformed the entire DeFi sector in Q2, with a 28% jump in protocol revenue, driven by demand for stablecoin borrowing and growth in GHO, Aave’s native stablecoin. While DeFi competitors retrench, Aave is expanding cross-chain and gaining share — a reminder that in a consolidating market, the winners are getting stronger.
Avalanche is seeing its own on-chain renaissance. Daily C-chain transactions have jumped more than 5x since May, fueled by a surge in gaming and DEX activity. It’s a grassroots revival that suggests OG Layer 1s are far from done.
But not all is well in crypto land.
USDf, the stablecoin launched by trading firm DWF Labs, briefly lost its peg this week, plunging as low as $0.88, amid mounting doubts about its collateral and yield-generation strategies. While the price has largely recovered, questions linger over how transparent DWF really is.
Meanwhile, Robinhood’s launch of “tokenized stocks” in Europe is grabbing headlines, but not for the reasons it hoped. As we pointed out in Issue #3 of our Real World newsletter, these assets aren’t actually stocks, they’re synthetic derivatives. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce weighed in this week, warning that the label “tokenized stocks” may mislead retail investors if there’s no underlying equity on-chain.
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
DIA launches $DIA Staking and Oracle Grants with 20 chains, including Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Avalanche. Power your dApp with trustless oracles, cost-free.
Soul is the New Primitive That Aims to Solve Liquidity Fragmentation.
DeFi is evolving rapidly and maturing, entering a new phase of adoption and growth. With both established protocols like Aave and new entrants driving innovation in capital efficiency and market design. However, liquidity fragmentation across chains and protocols remains a core limitation, particularly in the lending sector.
Soul’s new DeFi primitive addresses this by enabling cross-chain lending coordination, using LayerZero’s messaging infrastructure to allow users to borrow across chains and protocols while keeping collateral in one place. Built by the team behind Hatom, a 2-year-old secure and mature lending protocol, Soul aims to become a foundational layer in a new phase of interoperable and composable DeFi.
Read more: Solving major DeFi problems: Soul new primitive to finally solve liquidity fragmentation
📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $113,137 | 3.39 % |
 | Ethereum | $2,804.4 | 3.35 % |
 | XRP | $2.49 | 4.32 % |
 | BNB | $674.61 | 1.46 % |
 | Solana | $158.91 | 2.89 % |
 MessariPortals | MINDSHARE Rank | MINDSHARE % Change (7d) |
|---|---|---|
 |  | 17.17% |
 | | 69.14% |
 |  | -1.74% |
| Powered by Messari Portals | ||
🎬WATCH
On the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, The Defiant founder Cami Russo sat down with Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, in Cannes to explore the firm’s recently announced major crypto moves, including bringing tokenized U.S. stocks to the EU and launching its own Ethereum L2 with Arbitrum tech.
From tokenized private shares to the long-term vision of blockchain adoption, Vlad shares insights on regulation, innovation, and the battle between Robinhood and Coinbase.
That’s it for today — if you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe
