$175M: Inside Morpho's Record Raise w Merlin Egalite

Morpho just closed the largest funding round in DeFi history: $175 million at a $2 billion valuation, led by Paradigm, a16z, and Ribbit Capital. In this conversation, Camila Russo sits down with Morpho co-founder Merlin Egalite to unpack the raise and what's next for the protocol. Topics covered: Why Morpho chose a pure token structure over equity, and what it means for long-term alignment How the Morpho Association funds itself, and responses to criticism around transparency and decentralization Midnight, Morpho's next major upgrade — an intent-based, fixed-rate lending model Vault risk and curator accountability, including lessons from the Stream Finance event How Morpho differentiates from Aave despite trailing in TVL The growing wave of institutional interest — from asset managers to neobanks and fintechs Morpho's long-term ambition: capturing a share of the $200 trillion global credit market Guest: Merlin Egalite, Co-founder of Morpho Host: Camila Russo, The Defiant