DWF Labs has announced the launch of a substantial $75 million fund aimed specifically at accelerating the ‘institutional phase’ of DeFi. Unveiled on November 26, 2025, this fund represents a clear strategic bet on the future of decentralized financial infrastructure and the burgeoning demand from institutional investors who are now venturing deeper into blockchain-based finance.

Image Source: DWF Labs

Institutional-Grade Infrastructure

DWF Labs’ $75 million allocation targets projects that focus on foundational pillars of DeFi with strong institutional appeal. These core areas include dark-pool perpetual decentralized exchanges (DEXs), decentralized money markets, and fixed-income or yield-bearing asset protocols. By concentrating on these segments, the fund aims to surmount traditional hurdles of liquidity fragmentation, trade execution transparency, and sustainable yield generation that have hitherto constrained institutional participation. According to Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner at DWF Labs, “DeFi is entering its institutional phase. We’re witnessing a significant demand for infrastructure capable of managing large volumes, protecting order flow, and producing sustainable yields”.

Multi-Chain Engagement

The fund will deploy capital across several of DeFi’s most prominent blockchain ecosystems: Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, and Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base. This multi-chain approach ensures broad access to liquidity and innovation hubs, reinforcing the fund’s agility and reach. Beyond capital injections, DWF Labs commits to an active role by providing hands-on support in liquidity provisioning, execution strategies, go-to-market initiatives, and integration with partnered exchanges and institutional players spanning both centralized and decentralized domains. DWF Labs’ existing experience as a liquidity provider across 60+ exchanges globally further amplifies this advantage by delivering tight bid-ask spreads essential for large trade execution in blue-chip as well as emerging tokens.

Addressing Institutional Pain Points

Institutional-grade DeFi demands rigor not only in liquidity but also in scalability and security. As the fund launches, it coincides with significant industry advancements such as Layer 2 scalability solutions and Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) reduction strategies that optimize transaction costs and fairness. Projects supported by DWF Labs reflect this commitment to innovation. Sophon Network and Virtuals Protocol, for example, are pioneering tokenomics models and consumer-centric applications under the firm’s guidance. Meanwhile, investments extend beyond DeFi’s traditional boundaries, including Rice AI and VitaDAO, which backs decentralized science focused on longevity research. 

Future Outlook

The timing of this fund announcement is particularly noteworthy as the DeFi ecosystem has rebounded with vigor, registering more than $120 billion in total value locked (TVL) across projects. Solana’s recent surge in institutional interest, including ETF inflows of $380 million within three weeks, exemplifies the growing appetite for high-throughput, low-cost DeFi chains. These metrics underscore the momentum behind the fund’s strategic focus areas. Industry experts predict significant adoption ramps as regulatory clarity improves. Sergey Nazarov, a prominent crypto strategist, estimates that DeFi is roughly 30% of the way toward mass adoption, with projections of 50% once regulations stabilize, and 70% as infrastructure matures to ease institutional entry.