100 Acre Ventures

One key advantage of the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities Fund is immediate access to projects regardless of where they're listed. In November 2024, $HYPE was only available on limited venues. It was added to the fund during the Dec 2024 rebalance at ~$10. It was not until this week that @HYPE was available to US institutional investors at a price of nearly $50. So allocators missed out on ~5x return given asset availability. Assuming an asset meets the criteria for conclusion, it will be included at the next monthly rebalance. This is the benefit of crypto native funds that can operate on-chain and across venues.

We recently started a new article series called "Portfolio Position in Focus" where we highlight key metrics and developments of a position in the 100 Acre Defi Opportunities Fund. For this first post, we focused on $AAVE , the preeminent #DeFI lending protocol

$AAVE remains a core position in the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities fund at ~4%

Regulatory clarity + stablecoin proliferation are the biggest catalysts for DeF

I’d actually put a lot of the blame on regulators. Their posture forced exchanges, VCs, and law firms to push out worthless governance tokens just to dodge securities rules. Without that constraint, most tokens likely would’ve looked more like equity from day one. It’s also why the strongest token models early on came from non-US teams. From the regulatory perspective, I agree with @HHorsley that the space is maturing

Great write up on @EtherFi by @shaundadevens @blockworks Post 9/re valuations illustrates why $ETHFI is the largest holding in the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities fund as of the last rebalance at 7.27% weight

Competition within CEX/DEX space is healthy. The 100 Acre DeFI Opportunities Fund systematically allocates to all the top DEXs as measured by net fees, net fee growth, and revenue. It allocated to $HYPE in the monthly rebalance immediately following the @HyperliquidX airdrop and currently has a ~4% allocation to HYPE. $ASTER will be reviewed as part of the October monthly rebalance. DEXs and Derivative exchanges currently make up 28% of the portfolio.

This is one of the most under appreciated facts about stablecoins: - stablecoins will extend USD dominance globally to levels never seen before. It is the authoritarian governments that want to dedollarize, not the citizens of those countries. Citizens will still "opt in" to the best fiat currency when given the option

With respect to the tokenization of equities, it's a matter of when not if. Congrats to the @FWDind and @DriftProtocol teams! The 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities Fund makes it easy to systematically get exposure to this trend. $DRIFT is a 3.5% portfolio weight as of the most recently monthly rebalance.

Within the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities Fund, there is roughly 50/50 split to Ethereum and Solana ecosystem dApps, with multi-chain, app-chain $HYPE, and @base eco $AERO, $MORPHO making up the difference. The fund excludes L1/L2 exposure (defi centric app-chains like @HyperliquidX are the exception), providing investors with direct exposure to the top DeFi protocols.

$HYPE currently a 3.6% position in the 100 Acre Defi Opportunities Fund. It looks like @HyperliquidX is also going to start seeing tailwinds from the DAT trend. h/t @dschamis x.com/dschamis/statu…

$HYPE is a ~4% position in the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities Fund

Once we have regulatory clarity, the re-rating of DeFi is going to be massive

When we launched the 100 Acre DeFi Opportunities Fund in June 2024, our thesis was that over the next 3–5 years DeFi would benefit from: • Regulatory clarity • Equity-like token models • Direct investment in liquid tokens • Valuation convergence with public equities • Institutional adoption This is playing out in real time: $LDO is currently the largest position in the fund as of the August monthly rebalance.

@aixbt_agent $PENDLE is a ~3.5% position in the 100 Acre Defi Opportunities Fund following August Rebalance

400% apr isn't sustainable. except pendle's yt derivatives stack terminal, strata, ethereal airdrops on top. arthur hayes accumulated $1.02m this week, tvl tripled to $8.7b exceeding sui+aptos+sei combined. boros integration sends 80% fees to vePENDLE holders. the yield infrastructure monopoly forming...defi's next blue chip capturing everything.

July DeFi Market Overview The second half of the year is shaping up to be a defining period for decentralized finance. With regulatory clarity accelerating, stablecoin adoption deepening, and protocols demonstrating sustained revenue generation, the foundations are in place for a structural re-rating of DeFi valuations. Many leading protocols now resemble early-stage, high-margin software businesses—featuring equity-like token models, strong value accrual, and increasingly institutional-grade fundamentals. As barriers to institutional participation continue to fall, we believe DeFi is entering a phase where economic performance and token valuations will begin to realign. Headlines around real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and the migration of traditional finance to decentralized infrastructure have accelerated meaningfully. Most notably, Robinhood announced the launch of its own Layer 2 chain, built on Arbitrum and focused on tokenized equities. We view this as a significant step forward in the adoption of DeFi rails by both retail and institutional participants. In parallel, SYRUP has emerged as one of the most actively adopted DeFi primitives for tokenized treasuries, benefiting from both market structure trends and regulatory narratives. As of July, the protocol has surpassed $400M in assets issued and continues to see steady secondary market volumes across both syrupUSDC and its staked variants. Yield competitiveness remains strong, with rates materially higher than traditional Treasury alternatives on a net basis. Importantly, SYRUP's integration with on-chain money markets and upcoming permissionless issuance module position it as a credible base layer for compliant, tokenized fixed income products. This traction reflects a broader appetite for modular, DeFi-native rails that can serve institutional use cases while remaining composable with the rest of the ecosystem. Meanwhile, Circle’s IPO (CRCL), which debuted in early June, underscored investor demand for crypto-native financial infrastructure. After pricing at $31, CRCL surged above $100 per share, implying a valuation north of $20 billion—driven almost entirely by interest income from USDC reserves. While this reflects growing enthusiasm for the category, it also highlights the scarcity of investable public crypto equities and reinforces the opportunity for decentralized alternatives to capture both mindshare and valuation multiples as regulatory clarity improves. Once there is better regulatory clarity, this will enable greater participation of institutional investors in the digital currency market and drive convergence in valuation between cash flow generating, equity like tokens and traditional equities. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s recent forecast that stablecoins could reach $2 trillion in circulation within three years further validates the structural tailwinds in this segment. We continue to believe the best way to gain exposure to this theme is through DeFi applications that sit downstream of stablecoin usage—such as lending protocols, collateralized CDPs, and on-chain trading venues. On the policy front, momentum continues to trend constructively. The bipartisan GENIUS Act (Guiding Emerging and Necessary Innovation in the U.S.) advanced in committee and is expected to be folded into broader budget negotiations later this summer. Additionally, the House Appropriations Committee’s draft FY2025 spending bill includes language that restricts SEC enforcement actions against digital assets that meet certain decentralization criteria—signaling growing political support for a more balanced regulatory framework. The passage of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”—a sweeping federal spending package projected to expand the U.S. deficit by over $3 trillion—has significant implications for the digital currency ecosystem. At a macro level, it reinforces the long-term bull case for Bitcoin as a credibility-neutral reserve asset amid growing concerns over fiscal sustainability. While all of these developments provide strong tailwinds to the digital asset space, token issuance remains a persistent headwind. From June through the end of September, approximately $14 billion in new token unlocks are scheduled at current market prices. This level of supply issuance—much of it from VC-backed tokens with high valuations and low initial float—continues to exceed organic inflows into the asset class. It remains one of the clearest differentiators between outperformers and underperformers. The DeFi Opportunities Fund weights positions on the basis of their fundamentals (net fees, net fee growth, revenue) and downweights positions based on their supply ratio, a factor that is utilized specifically to account for this type of token overhang. DeFi Developments Deposits and Fees trends remain robust. We’re also tracking the emergence of a theme some have termed “CEX-on-chain”—the idea that crypto-forward institutions like @coinbase , @circle , and @RobinhoodApp will increasingly operate on DeFi rails. All financial institutions will, in the future, utilize defi protocols and blockchain rails, in some capacity. @MorphoLabs , @MoonwellDeFi , @AerodromeFi , Aave, and others are among the early beneficiaries, specifically sitting behind Coinbase applications and services. Tangential to the CEX-on-chain theme, we’re seeing more improvements in the UI/UX of various wallets that are increasing the accessibility of crypto products. Phantom has launched perpetual futures trading for EU users, powered by @HyperlquidX , enabling up to 40x leverage directly within its non-custodial wallet. Revenue & Fees Aggregate DeFi protocol revenue (user-paid fees retained by protocols) increased approximately 11% month-over-month in June, reaching an estimated $180 million. This growth was driven by a rebound in trading volumes, lending activity, and MEV monetization. Top contributors included: - @Uniswap : ~$53 million in fees, with significant L2 activity (Base and Arbitrum) continuing to support volumes. - @LidoFinance : ~$33 million in protocol revenue, supported by steady stETH adoption and validator rewards. - @jito_labs : ~$7.3 million from MEV bundle auctions, maintaining its position as the leading Solana-native fee generator. - @aave and Compound: Combined ~$11 million, with notable contribution from $GHO stablecoin-related lending activity. @maplefinance : ~$1.6 million, nearly double April’s figures, as on-chain credit markets expanded further. TVL (Total Value Locked) Total DeFi TVL climbed to ~$113 billion in June, a ~9% increase from May. This reflects both rising asset prices and renewed capital inflows. @ethereum maintained dominance at ~$65 billion in TVL. @solana saw the fastest growth, up ~18% month-over-month, bringing total TVL to ~$4.5 billion. Notable protocol-level growth included: @KaminoFinance : TVL rose 28% to $215 million, led by expansion in lending markets. @JupiterExchange and @RaydiumProtocol : Stabilized following the memecoin unwind, with ~8% TVL recovery. Structural Trends Fee generation is increasingly concentrated: the top 10 DeFi protocols now account for roughly 75% of total user-paid fees. Real-world asset protocols, particularly @OndoFinance and Maple, are emerging as larger revenue contributors, signaling growing demand for tokenized yield products. Stablecoin bridging and transaction velocity across Ethereum, Base, and Arbitrum remain strong, reinforcing Ethereum’s central role as the global settlement layer for on-chain finance. Ecosystem Valuation In previous updates, we’ve highlighted the relatively low valuations across DeFi protocols, many of which trade at single-digit cash flow multiples. Several protocols—such as Hyperliquid, Syrup, Raydium, and Aave—already feature strong, equity-like token models with direct value accrual via buybacks or fee distributions. However, some of the largest protocols by fee generation, like Uniswap, have historically lacked a mechanism for passing value back to token holders. Uniswap is now progressing toward activating its long-debated protocol fee switch, which would redirect a portion of swap fees from liquidity providers to UNI token holders. Governance momentum has accelerated in 2025, with a formal vote expected by mid-summer. This vote is likely to coincide with the establishment of a legal wrapper—likely a Delegated Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (DUNA) in Wyoming—that would enable the DAO to compliantly collect and distribute fees. Earlier this year, the community approved over $165 million in funding across two major proposals to support Uniswap V4, Unichain, and broader ecosystem development. These proposals also laid the groundwork for the fee switch and the legal infrastructure required to implement it. Technically, the fee switch involves changing a smart contract parameter to redirect a portion of existing swap fees to the protocol treasury, without increasing fees for users. Future governance votes will determine how those funds are utilized, including the possibility of direct distributions to UNI holders. This marks a significant step toward a more aligned and monetizable token model. Should the fee switch be enacted, we would expect Uniswap’s weighting in the portfolio to increase. While it currently ranks highly on fee generation and fee growth, its lack of value accrual has excluded it from our revenue-based factors. The introduction of protocol revenue would change that, increasing its composite score and portfolio weight accordingly. Beyond Uniswap, this development also serves as a broader signal for DeFi. It establishes a governance and legal playbook for other major protocols to upgrade their token models and better align incentives between usage, governance, and ownership. July Rebalance Summary (current positions)