Morpho surges as Standard Chartered projects $60 price by 2030

Standard Chartered has initiated coverage of decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Morpho (MORPHO), forecasting its native token could reach $60 by the end of 2030 as the sector expands and institutional adoption of onchain finance accelerates.

Standard Chartered expects Morpho to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum amid DeFi expansion

In a research note on Wednesday, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick outlined a multi-year price target for MORPHO. The analyst projected the token to hit $3.50 by the end of 2026, $11 in 2027, $22 in 2028, $40 in 2029, before reaching $60 in 2030. Based on its digital asset framework, the bank expects the token to outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the same period.

"We are bullish on the outlook for Morpho, the second-largest decentralised finance (DeFi) lending protocol after Aave," Kendrick wrote in the report.

Standard Chartered attributed its bullish outlook to Morpho's dual business model, which combines a decentralized lending marketplace with onchain asset management infrastructure via Morpho Vaults.

The report noted that this positions the protocol to benefit from the growing convergence between traditional finance and decentralized finance.

"Given its status as one of the largest DeFi lending protocols and its comfortable financial position (it just raised $175 million in VC funding), we think Morpho can scale to meet the expanding base of assets deployed in DeFi," Kendrick stated.

The bank expects assets deployed across DeFi to increase 37-fold by 2030, with Morpho's lending markets and vault infrastructure enabling the protocol to grow alongside the broader ecosystem.

Standard Chartered also noted that Morpho Markets currently holds roughly $5.5 billion in deposits, while Morpho Vaults manages approximately $4.3 billion. The DeFi protocol currently operates with a 0% take rate, allowing depositors to retain all lending income through its vault structure.

Kendrick estimated that Morpho's long-term growth will depend largely on its ability to attract institutional capital into its Vaults business.

Integrations with custody providers such as Fireblocks, Anchorage and Taurus, alongside vault curators like Steakhouse Financial, are expected to play an important role in bringing tokenized assets and traditional finance capital onchain.

Standard Chartered also highlighted Morpho's strong financial position following its recent $175 million venture funding round, arguing that the capital provides additional flexibility as the protocol expands its institutional offerings.

MORPHO is trading slightly above $2, up 8% over the past 24 hours at the time of writing.