Standard Chartered Expands DeFi Research to Seven Projects
Standard Chartered has expanded its institutional DeFi research beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, initiating coverage of seven protocols and onchain infrastructure projects since mid-June 2026: Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, Chainlink, Sky, Arbitrum and Ethena. Its models assess protocol revenue, usage, token economics, dilution, governance and valuation. The coverage signals growing institutional interest in analysing DeFi as a set of individual onchain businesses, but does not mean the bank or its clients are buying the tokens.
Ethena is the latest addition. Standard Chartered reportedly forecasts more than 600% upside for ENA and projects USDe supply could reach $40 billion by 2028. The bank also expects tokenized assets to grow to about $4 trillion by the end of 2028, with some activity potentially moving into DeFi. These are projections, not guaranteed outcomes.
The research complements Standard Chartered’s digital-asset services, including custody, trading, tokenization, collateral and prime brokerage. Its coverage remains Ethereum-focused: the article cites about $53.1 billion in Ethereum DeFi total value locked and $146.6 billion in stablecoins, compared with $6.5 billion and $16.3 billion on Solana. However, Solana posted higher activity on several measures, with about $2.53 billion in daily DEX volume, 2.95 million active addresses and $6.09 million in application revenue, versus Ethereum’s $2.25 billion, around 617,000 addresses and $2.2 million in revenue.
For traders, Standard Chartered’s DeFi research could raise the profile of covered projects and encourage closer scrutiny of fees, liquidity, token-holder value capture, dilution and governance. The contrast with Solana also highlights a gap between institutional research coverage and onchain activity; further protocol-level analysis would show whether coverage broadens. Price targets and research attention alone are not reliable buy signals.
Neutral
The news is neutral for the prices of the mentioned cryptocurrencies overall. In the short term, coverage by a major bank may attract attention to the seven named projects and support sentiment, particularly around ENA given the reported upside forecast. But research coverage is not a disclosed purchase, and price targets are not guarantees; traders may quickly discount them if adoption, liquidity or token performance does not support the thesis.
Over the longer term, institutional analysis could help investors compare protocol revenue, usage, dilution and governance, potentially benefiting projects that demonstrate durable value capture. At the same time, Standard Chartered’s Ethereum-heavy coverage does not itself resolve the gap between research attention and Solana’s cited activity metrics. Market direction will depend more on protocol fundamentals, broader risk appetite and actual capital flows than on the announcement alone. Because the development offers potential visibility without evidence of direct buying or changed fundamentals, a neutral classification is most appropriate.