Morpho debtors paid $170M in curiosity over one yr, Token Terminal knowledge exhibits, outpacing Aave’s $140M income in opposition to a comparable $1.5B valuation.
DeFi lending is transferring quick. And one protocol no one was speaking about two years in the past simply posted numbers which might be turning heads throughout the house.
In accordance with Token Terminal on X, debtors on Morpho paid roughly $170M in curiosity over the previous yr. The information, pulled from Token Terminal’s personal analytics dashboard, places Morpho’s price development on a steep upward curve that solely began accelerating round mid-2025.
The Quantity That Truly Issues Right here
Right here’s the catch although. Morpho’s whole borrower curiosity sits at ~$170 million for the yr. However the protocol itself, assuming a ten% take price, would have captured solely about 17 million {dollars} in precise DAO income. That’s in opposition to a valuation Token Terminal positioned at roughly $1.7 billion.
Aave, against this, generated near $140M in annual income immediately. In opposition to a ~$1.5B valuation. Similar ballpark market cap. Practically ten instances the income seize.
Token Terminal shared the comparability immediately on X, framing it as a sign of the place DeFi lending development is coming from and what that development truly means in income phrases. The information seen on the Morpho metrics web page exhibits cumulative charges crossing $312.7M over three years, with the sharpest soar occurring within the ultimate 12 months.
So Morpho’s price engine is operating. The query is who’s truly gathering.
Why Morpho’s Valuation Appears Stretched
Token Terminal put the protocol’s valuation at roughly 1.7 billion {dollars}. On $17M in estimated DAO income, that’s a price-to-revenue a number of that the majority conventional finance analysts would battle to justify on fundamentals alone.
Aave’s numbers inform a special story. The protocol pulled in roughly $140M in opposition to the same ~$1.5B market cap. That math works out to a far tighter income a number of. Aave has been coping with its personal structural questions recently, however the income base is one thing Morpho merely hasn’t matched on the DAO stage but.
Token Terminal’s publish on X didn’t body this as a criticism of Morpho. Simply uncooked knowledge.
Morpho’s Payment Progress Is Actual, Even If Income Isn’t
The cumulative price chart from Token Terminal tells an sincere story. From early 2023 via mid-2024, Morpho’s price exercise was almost flat. Then one thing modified. By October 2025, weekly charges have been usually hitting $5M or above. January 2026 noticed a number of the highest weekly numbers the protocol has recorded.
That’s not nothing. Whole three-year cumulative charges at $312.7M exhibits the protocol is dealing with actual quantity.
The hole between gross borrower curiosity and precise DAO income comes all the way down to protocol design. Morpho operates on the infrastructure layer. Vault curators, like these operating the RLUSD vault launched by Sentora, seize a lot of the yield. The DAO take price is a fraction of whole curiosity paid.
Whether or not that mannequin holds up in opposition to Aave’s extra direct income seize is the dialog Token Terminal’s knowledge simply compelled into the open.