PANews reported on April 24th, citing The Block, that JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated that persistent decentralized finance (DeFi) security vulnerabilities and sluggish growth continue to limit institutional interest in the DeFi space. The Kelp DAO-related attack has wiped out approximately $20 billion in total value locked (TVL) in DeFi within days, with attackers minting $292 million in uncollateralized rsETH tokens and borrowing real ETH on Aave, resulting in approximately $230 million in bad debt. The analyst points out that DeFi's interconnectivity can become a weakness in adverse events, and despite improvements in smart contract auditing, cross-chain bridge security challenges remain. The relatively flat TVL in ETH terms raises questions about DeFi's ability to achieve the organic growth needed to support institutional adoption. Furthermore, the analyst believes that recent vulnerabilities are driving users to the USDT stablecoin, which appears to be the preferred hedging tool for quick on-chain exits.