Dune Digest 043 – Weekly DeFi Snapshot
July 2026

The latest Dune analytics round‑up highlights a surge of activity across on‑chain derivatives, vault curation, tokenised equities and confidential computation. Five distinct ecosystems – Ostium, Robinhood + Susquegna, Steakhouse Financial, Ondo Finance and Zama – illustrate how the decentralized finance stack is maturing from niche experimentation to mainstream‑grade market infrastructure.

1. Ostium’s On‑Chain Macro Perpetuals Take Off

Ostium, a perpetuals exchange built on Arbitrum, reported a dramatic rise in usage this week. Approximately 2 600 unique users traded on the platform, pushing cumulative volume past the $25 billion mark. Open interest now exceeds $200 million, with more than 98 % of activity centred on real‑world asset (RWA) contracts such as equities, commodities, FX and indices.

Commodity‑linked contracts are the main driver: platinum perpetuals alone attracted roughly $50 million of open interest, a record for the product. Liquidity providers who supply USDC to the platform’s OLP vault are earning yields near 65 % APY, a reflection of the heavy fee generation from the heightened trading flow.

Why it matters – Ostium shows that synthetic, leveraged exposure to traditional markets can be delivered entirely on‑chain without issuing tokenised assets. By sidestepping custody and issuance challenges, the protocol reduces regulatory friction while still requiring robust oracle data to maintain price fidelity. The growth suggests strong demand from traders and institutions seeking 24/7, on‑chain hedging or speculative tools.

2. Robinhood & Susquehanna Move into Prediction Markets

In a joint venture announced in November 2025, Robinhood Markets and Susquehanna International Group acquired a 90 % stake in the MIAX Derivatives Exchange, leaving the exchange with a 10 % minority share. The acquisition gives the pair control of a CFTC‑regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, paving the way for the launch of event‑based derivatives and prediction‑market products as early as Q2 2026.

Weekly trading volume on major prediction‑market platforms has just breached the $6 billion threshold for the first time, signalling rapid user adoption. Concurrently, Susquehanna has expanded its internal market‑making team to roughly 60 traders who provide liquidity on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

Why it matters – The entry of regulated exchanges and sizable brokerage firms into prediction markets adds institutional depth, risk‑management expertise and distribution reach. This infrastructure could transform what has been a largely retail‑focused niche into a credible, cross‑venue arbitrage arena for professional traders, supporting more efficient price discovery for future‑based contracts.

3. Steakhouse Financial Hits the $2 B Vault Milestone

Steakhouse Financial announced that its curated vaults on the Morpho protocol now hold over $2 billion in assets, up from roughly $1.5 billion at the start of 2026. Notably, the Base L2 chain has overtaken Ethereum as the platform’s largest deployment, with about $1.4 billion of USDC deposited on Base versus $1.2 billion on Ethereum. The vaults focus on lending against stablecoins, blue‑chip crypto and RWA collateral and have reported zero bad‑debt events to date.

Morpho’s total deposits crossed the $10 billion boundary in January, buoyed by a growing roster of professional curators—including Gauntlet, MEV Capital and Block Analítica—who manage risk parameters and yield strategies for the protocol.

Why it matters – The scaling of curator‑run vaults points to a new layer of expertise within DeFi, akin to active‑management in traditional asset‑management. By delegating capital‑allocation and risk‐monitoring to specialised entities, lending protocols can offer more predictable returns and tighter risk controls, making on‑chain credit more attractive to institutional capital.

4. Ondo Expands Tokenised Equities to Solana

Ondo Finance extended its Global Markets platform to the Solana ecosystem, launching more than 200 tokenised U.S. stocks and ETFs. The move enables 24‑hour, near‑instant settlement for equities on a high‑throughput L1, positioning Ondo as one of the largest issuers of tokenised securities on Solana by asset count. Across Ethereum, BNB Chain and now Solana, the platform’s total value‑locked exceeds $2 billion, driven chiefly by tokenised short‑term Treasury holdings (over $820 million in T‑bill tokens) and a cumulative trading volume exceeding $6.8 billion.

The expansion mirrors the burgeoning interest in on‑chain equities demonstrated by projects such as Backed Finance’s xStocks, which already manages more than $200 million in assets.

Why it matters – Solana’s low‑cost, high‑speed environment is becoming a viable distribution layer for tokenised securities, complementing rather than replacing legacy markets. The ability to trade equities around the clock and integrate them with DeFi primitives (lending, DEXs, wallets) broadens the use‑cases for tokenised assets and may accelerate institutional adoption of on‑chain equity exposure.

5. Zama’s Public Auction Showcases On‑Chain Confidentiality

Zama has introduced a confidentiality layer for public blockchains based on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). The technology allows computations to be performed on encrypted data, meaning balances and transaction amounts stay private while still being verifiable on‑chain. Zama’s implementation follows the emerging Confidential Token standard (ERC‑7984) engineered with the Confidential Token Association, enabling selective disclosure and compliance controls for stablecoins, securities and DeFi tokens.

The company’s recent sealed‑bid Dutch auction, executed entirely within its FHE framework, attracted roughly 3 500 participants who placed over 6 400 bids, locking about $935 k of confidential USDT. To date, more than $35 million worth of cUSDT has been shielded on the network.

Why it matters – As tokenisation spreads into private‑credit, private‑equity and other institutional finance domains, confidentiality becomes a structural requirement rather than a nice‑to‑have feature. Zama’s stack demonstrates that privacy can coexist with composability and auditability, potentially unlocking new on‑chain use‑cases such as confidential lending, sealed‑bid token sales and privacy‑preserving compliance workflows.

Key Takeaways

• Real‑world asset perpetuals are gaining traction – Ostium’s surge shows robust demand for synthetic macro exposure on cheap L2 infrastructure.
• Prediction markets are moving toward institutionalisation – The Robinhood‑Susquehanna acquisition brings regulated clearing and market‑making depth to an emerging asset class.
• Vault curation is emerging as a professional service – Steakhouse’s $2 B milestone underscores the shift toward specialised risk‑management in DeFi lending.
• Tokenised equities are expanding across chains – Ondo’s Solana launch adds high‑throughput, 24/7 trading to the growing on‑chain equity ecosystem.
• Confidential computation is becoming production‑ready – Zama’s public auction proves that FHE can support real‑world financial workflows without sacrificing transparency.

Together, these developments illustrate a broader trend: DeFi infrastructure is evolving from experimental smart‑contract prototypes to a multi‑layered financial ecosystem capable of supporting high‑volume derivatives, institutional liquidity, cross‑chain asset issuance and privacy‑preserving transactions. As on‑chain markets mature, the line between traditional finance and decentralized protocols continues to blur, setting the stage for more seamless integration in the months and years ahead.

Source: https://dune.com/blog/dune-digest-043