capital in DeFi is no longer just chasing APY. it's selecting for balance sheet quality in the last 30 days Aave V3 TVL grew ~9.5%, Morpho Blue ~5% Pendle is up modestly on a monthly basis but recovered 7.4% in TVL just last week meanwhile Ethena USDe TVL fell ~11% in the same period at first glance this looks like a simple rotation back into lending ➛ but the more important distinction: TVL growth doesn't mean value is accruing to token holders Aave V3 generated ~$28.8M in fees over the last 30 days. ~$3.7M stayed as net protocol revenue Morpho generated ~$26M in fees but because a significant portion flows to the vault and curator layer, measured net protocol revenue is zero Ethena generated ~$17.4M in fees but only ~$59K stayed in the protocol as net value Pendle's edge is here: smaller scale, but a much larger share of generated fees actually stays in the protocol so the new distinction in DeFi isn't "highest APY" ➛ where does the yield come from ➛ under what market conditions does it break ➛ and how much of that activity actually stays in the protocol capital may be rotating back into lending and collateral efficiency ➛ but for the token thesis there's still only one question: not "is there a fee" but "who does the fee stay with"