State Street says institutions want improved blockchain security in wake of recent DeFi attacks

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email State Street says institutions want improved blockchain security in wake of recent DeFi attacks Angus Fletcher, State Street’s head of digital assets said the young crypto industry needs to find solutions now before trillions in RWAs come on-chain. By Ian Allison | Edited by Stephen Alpher May 5, 2026, 9:27 p.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Angus Fletcher, State Street’s head of digital assets (left) and Morpho head of institutional, Dennis Bree What to know : Morpho’s Dennis Bree said April was probably the month that has so far seen the most hacks in DeFi. DeFi curators are doing a lot more diligence, particularly in the wake of recent attacks. The young crypto industry needs to find solutions now, said State Street's Angus Fletcher. Big traditional finance firms need guardrails in a world of blockchain-based assets, particularly given how decentralized finance (DeFi) remains so susceptible to hacks and losses, the head of digital assets at custodial banking giant State Street said on Tuesday at Consensus Miami. Still fresh in people’s minds, last month turned out to be a hacker’s bonanza in DeFi, with on-chain lending protocol Drift suffering a $295 million exploit early April, followed by a similarly sized attack on KelpDAO later in the month. Speaking about the future of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), Angus Fletcher, State Street’s head of digital assets, said the young crypto industry needs to find solutions now. “What are the things we actually need to solve now for a future where we've got trillions of dollars worth of activity on-chain? We need to start to unpick those issues now,” Fletcher said. For institutions, interoperability between blockchains needs to be clearly defined and understood, Fletcher said, for crypto to safely scale. “There has to be an understanding of what is the legal title and legal right when you have a token on one chain versus on another, on a cross chain basis. Our customers need to know and understand that. As institutions, it's critical we get there,” he said. The head of institutional at the blockchain lending protocol Morpho, Dennis Bree, said April was probably the month that has seen the most hacks in DeFi so far. “I think there's just a general sense of understanding the security vectors, the underlying assets that are used as collateral. And we're starting now, certainly to see curators do a lot more diligence as we think about the risk of some of those assets,” Bree said. The everyday barriers to institutional involvement included a plethora of regulatory gray areas, Bree said. He said Morpho has curators coming to them with $10 to $15 billion in assets under management, seeking to understand how a digital vault manages that capital. “For example, when you've got your capital, and you bring it into a blockchain, you have a receipt token, and instead of receipt tokens just increasing by number, they increase by value. So how does the CFO of a treasury firm think about the accounting treatment of that?” Consensus Miami 2026 More For You Crypto's 'barbell': speculation and stablecoin payments drive adoption, Tempo's Romero says By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher 2 minutes ago Stablecoins are quietly powering real-world money flows as other crypto experiments than speculative trading have failed to scale, Romero said at Consensus 2026. What to know : Crypto usage is consolidating around two core areas: speculative trading and stablecoin payments, said Dan Romero, Stripe-backed blockchain Tempo's go-to market lead. Tempo is leaning into payments, building a network for enterprises with compliance and control in focus. Stablecoins are gaining traction in real-world use cases like remittances and global... Read full story Latest Crypto News Crypto's 'barbell': speculation and stablecoin payments drive adoption, Tempo's Romero says 2 minutes ago Citi exec says fragmented crypto systems risk repeating old banking problems 4 minutes ago Overseas demand for U.S. equities is growing, says Robinhood's Johan Kerbrart 8 minutes ago Crypto ETFs go mainstream as traditional finance locks in 10 minutes ago Kelp claims that LayerZero approved the setup it blamed for $292 million bridge hack 1 hour ago Strategy posts $12.54 billion Q1 loss on declining bitcoin price 1 hour ago Top Stories Bitcoin extends gains to $81,500 as tokenization push lifts Bullish, Galaxy, Centrifuge 2 hours ago Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Clarity better than chaos as Senate hits key moment 4 hours ago Consensus Miami Day 1: Real-time coverage and highlights from on the ground 7 hours ago Figure targets Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in mortgage push, citing massive cost cuts for borrowers 4 hours ago Coinbase cuts 14% of staff as AI reshapes how crypto companies operate 9 hours ago Crypto.com’s high-rolling head of marketing to leave after almost six years 7 hours ago