The Stablecoin Counter-Narrative: DeFi Technologies President Defends Strategy as Shares Plunge 81%

Amid an 81% stock plunge, DeFi Technologies' president argues critics overlook stablecoin market growth, with $150B in Treasury backing and 20-30% monthly volume gains.

DeFi Technologies president Andrew Forson has gone public with a defence of the company's position in the battered decentralised finance sector, arguing that critics are overlooking the explosive growth of the stablecoin market. The intervention comes at a precarious moment: the stock trades around €0.58, roughly 81% below its 52-week high of €3.14 and nearly 45% under its 200-day moving average.

The share price carnage has been consistent. Over the past twelve months, DeFi Technologies has lost more than four-fifths of its value, with the stock now trading 46% below its 200-day average of €1.05. Year-to-date, the decline stands at almost 23%. The sell-off has been relentless even after the company reported a profit in the first quarter of 2026.

That profit, however, came on vastly diminished revenue. In Q1 2026, DeFi Technologies booked $11.2 million in revenue and net income of $4.9 million. A year earlier, top-line numbers were $43.8 million and net profit reached $30 million, according to the company's filings. Operating core revenue fell to $6.3 million from $8.3 million in the prior-year period, reflecting the pressure on the firm's core ETF and brokerage offerings.

Yet the balance sheet retains notable strength. At the end of March, the company held $103.4 million in cash and stablecoins (USDT and USDC), alongside $23.5 million in digital assets and a venture portfolio worth $29.1 million. A broader look at the company's asset base puts total assets at €634.2 million, with €381.4 million in digital assets. Positive working capital of €47.3 million and cash holdings of €87.6 million suggest no immediate liquidity crunch.

Forson’s argument shifts the discussion away from the company's own earnings trajectory and toward the wider stablecoin ecosystem. He points to more than $150 billion in US Treasury bonds now backing stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, a figure the Bank for International Settlements estimated at over $153 billion as of December 2025. Monthly volume growth rates of 20–30% in stablecoins and an aggregate on-chain transaction volume exceeding $35 trillion in the past year, according to Chainalysis, are the pillars of his thesis. The recent Kelp DAO bridge hack, which cost roughly $292 million, and a $20 billion drop in total value locked across DeFi are, in his view, short-term noise.

The stock market is not buying it. Analysts now forecast that earnings will shrink by an average of 16% per annum in the coming years, underscoring the structural dependence of DeFi Technologies' business model on rising cryptocurrency prices. The company’s subsidiaries — Valour, which manages exchange-traded products and generated $3.3 million in fees, staking, and lending on $533.6 million in average assets under management, and brokerage arm Stillman Digital, which contributed $2.9 million in trading commissions — remain sensitive to market trends. The company did note positive net inflows in April 2026 as a potential early recovery signal.

Forson’s counter-narrative will be tested when second-quarter results are released. For the stock to regain its footing, the stablecoin infrastructure story must translate into higher management fees, more assets under custody, and a reversal in the operating revenue decline. Until then, DeFi Technologies remains a bet on velocity: whether the stablecoin market can expand fast enough to offset the contraction in its legacy crypto-related businesses.