Apollo Global Management (APO) is moving deeper into crypto and closing a deal that could make the $938 billion asset manager a major token holder in a decentralized lending platform.
The company signed a cooperation agreement with Association Morpho, the French non-profit organization behind the Morpho protocol, which allows Apollo and its subsidiaries to purchase up to 90 million tokens. tokens over the next four years.
Purchases may occur through open market purchases, over-the-counter transactions and other arrangements, and are subject to ownership caps and transfer restrictions. Galaxy Digital UK acted as exclusive financial advisor to Morpho, according to the document.
Beyond token purchases, Apollo and Morpho said they would work together to support lending markets built on Morpho’s protocol. Morpho provides infrastructure for on-chain lending marketplaces and custodian-managed vaults that distribute assets to them. The protocol is governed by the holders of the MORPHO token. The 90 million token stake would translate to 9% of the protocol’s total governance token supply.
The deal adds to Apollo’s growing blockchain footprint. Last year, the company made a “seven-figure” investment in the blockchain project which focuses on bringing traditional financial products online. Apollo’s credit strategies have already been tokenized through third parties. Tokenization specialist Securitize issues ACRED, a token that gives exposure to the Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, while Anemoy offers ACRDX, which tracks Apollo’s global private and public credit strategies.
The move comes as other asset managers test decentralized finance rails. Earlier this week, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced that it would make shares of its tokenized US Treasury fund, BUIDL, tradable on the decentralized exchange Uniswap and purchase an undisclosed amount of the UNI protocol’s governance token. .
