DeFi's Total Value Locked climbed 38% in Q3 2026 to $95 billion, reversing three straight quarters of declines. Tokenized stocks in DeFi protocols reached $252 million, and Morgan Stanley launched a Digital Asset Lab to test stablecoins and tokenization across its business.
DeFi TVL climbs back to $95 billion
DeFi's Total Value Locked grew 38% in Q3 2026 to $95 billion, reversing a slide that had run for three straight quarters. The rebound follows a steep drop: TVL had hit $156 billion in Q3 2025 before falling to $69 billion by June 2026.
TVL rose 7% in July, 15% in August and 11% in September. Ethereum still holds most of the total, but a newer chain grew far faster.
Ethereum holds more than half of all DeFi TVL, at about $53.7 billion, while Monad's TVL jumped 183% over the quarter. Robinhood Chain, live only since July, has already crossed $1 billion.
Tokenized stocks move into DeFi protocols
Traditional equities are also finding their way on-chain through tokenization. About $252 million worth of tokenized stocks now sits deposited across DeFi protocols, according to Token Terminal data cited in the report. That figure was close to zero until early 2025, then accelerated over the last few months.
Uniswap holds most of it, with $82.1 million in tokenized stocks across its v3 and v4 pools. Kamino Lend follows at $51.3 million and Pendle at $33.8 million. Holders aren't just parking these tokens — they're trading and lending them out to earn yield, the same as with other crypto assets.
Morgan Stanley builds a Digital Asset Lab
Wall Street is joining the trend too. Morgan Stanley has set up a Digital Asset Lab to test stablecoins, tokenization and DeFi applications across its business. The lab, run by the bank's innovation team, is overseen by staff across New York, Scotland and India, and has already worked on tokenization, electronic trading, cybersecurity and machine learning.
Much of the push is coming from clients of one of the largest wealth management businesses in the United States, who are likely to want more exposure to Bitcoin and other digital assets. Morgan Stanley also began offering crypto trading on E*Trade earlier this year.
Source: AMBCrypto
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