The price of MORPHO, the native token of the Morpho protocol, rose more than 30% to reach a new all-time high as the cryptocurrency posted notable gains on New Year's Eve.

The Morpho token reached an intraday high of $3.61, setting a new all-time high amid a 153% surge in trading volume. During the past 24 hours, trading volume reached $144.7 million. MORPHO price has risen more than 160% in the past month.

The DeFi protocol's gains have pushed the total value locked on Morpho to $5.26 billion.

The protocol's TVL fees, daily fees, and monthly active users have risen amid its expansion into Ethereum's layer 2 network ecosystem.

As an on-chain loan infrastructure platform, Morpho provides diverse use cases, including credit and savings card functionality, permissioned markets, and bridge asset deposits. The protocol features notable integrations with platforms like Moonwell, Centrifuge, and Coinbase.

Thus, interest in its product attracted not only traders but also large institutional investors. This is what appeared in the project recently Raised a $50 million funding roundwhich attracted the forces of crypto venture capital.

Ribbit Capital led the strategic round, but also backing Morpho are VC giants a16z, Pantera Capital, Fenbushi Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. This support provides a great foundation for Morpho, with investors optimistic about the long-term potential. The election of Donald Trump last November also buoyed the broader industry, with several DeFi tokens surging amid a bull market rally.

It is worth noting that the recent step taken by the US Internal Revenue Service has angered DeFi supporters Against broker reporting rules.