Tag: DeFi

Figure Lending LLC offers a service that allows individuals to borrow cash by using their cryptocurrency holdings as collateral. This product aims to provide borrowers with liquidity without the need to sell their digital assets, thereby potentially avoiding taxable events and preserving future upside.

Understanding Crypto-Backed Loans

The core concept behind Figure’s crypto-backed loan service is to present an alternative to selling cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana. By leveraging these assets as collateral, users can obtain cash loans. According to Figure Lending LLC, this approach enables borrowers to maintain ownership of their crypto while accessing funds, a feature particularly beneficial for long-term holders.

Key Features and Terms

Key features of Figure’s crypto-backed loans include fixed interest rates for the duration of the loan, same-day funding, and no requirement for a credit score. Loan approval is contingent on the value of the collateral. The loans offer a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 75%, meaning borrowers can potentially borrow up to 75% of the value of their pledged cryptocurrency.

Figure Lending LLC is a licensed lender, holding NMLS ID #1717824. The company states that its crypto-backed loans carry a fixed rate for the life of the loan, ensuring consistent monthly payments regardless of market fluctuations. The maximum Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for these loans is reported as 12.62%, which includes a 1% origination fee. Specifically, interest rates are cited as 8.91% (9.999% APR) at a 50% LTV, and 11.50% (12.62% APR) for LTVs up to 75%. The repayment period for these loans is 12 months.

A representative example provided by Figure illustrates a $10,000 loan at a 50% LTV, with an 8.91% interest rate and a 1% origination fee. This scenario results in 12 monthly payments of $74.25, with the origination fee amounting to $100.

Liquidation Protection and Risks

Figure also offers optional Liquidation Protection in select states. This protection is designed to safeguard against margin calls and liquidations specifically due to price declines. It is important to note that this protection applies only to price volatility and does not cover missed payments or defaults. Liquidation protection is available in states including California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Utah.

While borrowing against crypto is generally considered non-taxable, the company emphasizes that liquidation triggers a taxable sale. This information is not tax advice, and individuals are advised to consult with a professional regarding their specific tax situation.

Regulatory and Availability Details

Figure Lending LLC is not authorized by the New York State Department of Financial Services for mortgage solicitation. Crypto loans are offered to U.S. borrowers by Figure Lending LLC but are not available to residents of Washington D.C., Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, or Virginia. Figure Payments Corporation, which offers cryptocurrency services, has NMLS ID 2033432 but is not licensed with the SEC or CFTC, nor is it a Member of NFA. Crypto loans are also offered through Figure Markets Credit LLC to residents of New York and international customers, with a list of excluded jurisdictions.

Potential borrowers should be aware that system access and trade placement can be delayed or fail due to factors such as market volatility, quote delays, and system errors. The exact interest rate and terms may vary based on the application date and LTV ratio.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: Figure Lending LLC provides a service where individuals can use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana as collateral to obtain cash loans. The exact interest rate will depend on the date of application and factors such as LTV ratio.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: The category has matured fast.

Deposits Open for hBTC, Hilbert Group’s BTC Basis+ Strategy Vault Token

Road Town, British Virgin Islands – August 10th, 2026 – Syntetika, a platform designed to bring regulated investment strategies onto the blockchain, announced today that deposits are now open for its inaugural strategy: BTC Basis+, managed by the publicly traded Hilbert Group.

Syntetika aims to provide direct wallet access to investment strategies operating within regulated funds. Each fund maintains independent custody, and its net asset value (NAV) is verified by an independent third party at the close of each investment cycle. This verified NAV then dictates the price at which vault tokens are issued and redeemed.

The BTC Basis+ strategy is a Bitcoin basis strategy that maintains Bitcoin exposure while capitalizing on the funding spread between spot and futures markets. Its returns are denominated in Bitcoin. Investors can deposit cbBTC into the strategy via the Syntetika platform in a permissionless manner. These deposits are processed in a queue and subscribed to the fund during the next cycle, at which point hBTC tokens are minted at the attested NAV. Redemptions follow the same cycle.

Syntetika is launching with key partners: Tulipa Capital for strategy curation, Ember Protocol for vault infrastructure, and Yield Network as its Liquidity Syndication Partner. The platform will operate on the Base network. Furthermore, the reserves backing its tokens will be publicly verifiable through Chainlink Proof of Reserve.

“Today, Syntetika opens its doors with BTC Basis+,” stated Jorge Cuartero, CEO of Syntetika. “What we are truly launching is the underlying platform: infrastructure built to accommodate a growing array of regulated strategies onchain. This marks the first day of our roadmap.”

The BTC Basis+ strategy is currently open for deposits at syntetika.io.

About Syntetika

Syntetika functions as a tokenization hub for regulated investment strategies. Each strategy is housed within a regulated fund that features independent custody and third-party NAV attestation. Access to these strategies is provided onchain through a vault token, which is issued and redeemed at the verified NAV.

Deposits of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on decentralized platforms more than tripled to $7.4 billion in the year ending Q2 2026, while overall DeFi deposits decreased by approximately 15% during the same period, according to a joint report by CoinShares and Token Terminal. This divergence highlights a notable trend in market activity within the decentralized finance space.

The report, covering the period from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026, indicates that trading volumes for tokenized RWAs rose by roughly 220%, contrasting with a 70% decline in aggregate spot volumes on decentralized exchanges. RWA positions now represent over a quarter of open interest on perpetual futures venues, signaling their growing significance in on-chain derivatives markets.

Analysis of tokenized assets shows a focus on traditional finance instruments such as Treasuries, gold, and stock market indices, rather than crypto-native assets. Tokenized Treasury and multi-strategy funds, private credit products, and delta-neutral strategies constitute the largest share of RWA deposits. Tokenized gold leads spot trading volume, while perpetuals activity concentrates in commodities, major stock indices, and technology stocks.

Nearly 70% of RWA deposits are held on lending venues built on Ethereum. However, application revenues have fallen across both lending and trading platforms over the past year. The report characterizes this trend as an “early stage of adoption” for hybrid finance models. Hyperliquid stands out as an exception, generating substantially more application revenue than other venues and surpassing Solana and Ethereum in revenue generation.

In February, tokenized real-world assets grew 8.7% to $24.8 billion, while DeFi’s total value locked fell 25% to $94.8 billion. The report likens the current scale of tokenization in global equity markets to stablecoins in 2019, suggesting that while growth is significant, overall market penetration remains modest.

BlackRock has expanded its offerings with additional tokenized money market funds and tokenized share classes for European money market funds. This move by a traditional finance player underscores the increasing integration between traditional and decentralized finance.

However, the analysis is limited to ‘distributed assets’—those transferable outside the issuing platform—excluding networks like Canton and Provenance. The report acknowledges uncertainties regarding the long-term impact of these trends on venue revenues and overall DeFi adoption, and whether the current scale of tokenization will lead to broader market acceptance.

This trend matters because the growth of tokenized real-world assets on decentralized platforms, even as the broader DeFi market contracts, indicates a notable activity in market focus and adoption within decentralized finance, with implications for asset management and blockchain utility. The figures come from The Growth of Hybrid Finance, published by CoinShares and Token Terminal.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: The figures come from The Growth of Hybrid Finance, published Thursday by asset manager CoinShares and on-chain data provider Token Terminal.

Uniswap Enters Launchpad Arena with Pools.

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Decentralized exchange giant Uniswap has officially entered the burgeoning token launchpad market with the debut of Pools.trade. The new platform, built on Robinhood Chain and powered by Uniswap’s v4 protocol, aims to streamline the process of launching new tokens, including memecoins.

Token launchpads have become a significant force in the cryptocurrency space, enabling users to create and deploy new tokens rapidly. This model has fueled the memecoin boom, with platforms like Pump Fun achieving billion-dollar valuations on Solana and driving considerable activity on Robinhood Chain this past summer. Now, Uniswap, a dominant player in decentralized trading, is making a direct play for this lucrative segment.

The launch itself experienced some initial turbulence. Uniswap founder Hayden Adams reported that early versions of the smart contracts were discovered by traders before the user interface was fully operational. This led to over $150 million in trading volume being processed through these pre-release contracts, forcing the development team to simultaneously support both test and final versions and delaying the official rollout. Adams acknowledged that Uniswap has, in essence, been functioning as a launchpad and providing launchpad infrastructure for over eight years, as new tokens have historically been launched into Uniswap pools.

Pools.trade distinguishes itself through several key features. It offers immediate integration across the Uniswap web app, wallet, and trading API, as well as support from third-party platforms like Bitget, Fomo, GMGN, and OKX Wallet.

The platform provides two distinct launch methods: an “instant launch,” which mirrors the functionality of existing launchpads, and a “crowd launch.” The latter is designed to promote greater fairness and mitigate “bundling,” a tactic where early participants or insiders secure large token allocations at the outset.

This move represents a strategic power play by Uniswap. Already the default exchange on Robinhood Chain, Pools.trade creates a vertically integrated pipeline for token creation and trading on the same network where competitors like Pons have been vying for market share. Notably, Pools.trade operates with a zero-fee structure, a rare offering that few platforms can afford. Uniswap can offset this by earning fees through other mechanisms, a luxury not available to many competing launchpad teams.

The impact on Robinhood Chain has been swift. Decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes have seen a 50% rebound from recent lows, and daily transactions have also increased by 50%. Pools.trade has quickly captured a significant portion of the market, accounting for 50% of launchpad volume and 40% of newly launched tokens. These figures are expected to continue climbing.

While the platform is still in its beta phase, and its ability to attract high-quality projects versus simply increasing token churn remains to be seen, the entry of the largest liquidity venue in decentralized finance into this space warrants close observation.

XRP Enters Institutional DeFi Lending Via FXRP on Ethereum

Flare has announced a significant development for XRP within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, enabling its FXRP token to be utilized as collateral within Sentora’s RLUSD vault on the Morpho protocol. This integration allows XRP holders to access lending markets on the Ethereum blockchain without the need to liquidate their existing XRP holdings.

The move follows Sentora’s official approval of FXRP for its institutionally managed RLUSD vault, which was announced on August 3, 2026. The vault currently holds approximately $280 million in RLUSD and has now established a dedicated FXRP/RLUSD market on Morpho Blue.

According to a press release, this marks the first instance of an XRP derivative being accepted as collateral within an institutional lending vault on the Ethereum mainnet. Users can generate FXRP through Flare’s FAssets system, subsequently transfer it to Ethereum via the Stargate bridge, and then borrow RLUSD while retaining their exposure to XRP.

The newly launched lending market is accessible to all users without requiring prior whitelisting. A supply cap has been implemented at the outset, with expectations that this limit will be adjusted as liquidity within the market expands.

Flare Co-founder and CEO Hugo Philion commented on the milestone, stating that limited infrastructure had historically constrained XRP’s utility in decentralized finance. He emphasized that this approval signifies a shift in perception, with institutional risk managers now recognizing FXRP as legitimate collateral on Ethereum, rather than merely another bridged asset.

Sentora Co-founder and Chief Technology and Product Officer Jesus Rodriguez echoed this sentiment, highlighting that the integration effectively brings XRP into on-chain credit markets. He further noted that this development broadens the practical applications of XRP across decentralized lending platforms.

Prior to approving FXRP, Sentora conducted a comprehensive review encompassing market behavior, price oracles, liquidity, and liquidation mechanisms. The company has indicated that FXRP will continue to be subject to the same ongoing monitoring processes applied to all other approved collateral assets.

The Morpho Blue protocol’s architecture isolates each lending market, thereby confining potential risks to the specific FXRP/RLUSD pool. This design also grants each market its own independent oracle system and liquidation parameters.

Under this framework, borrowers will incur interest charges based on market utilization and must maintain sufficient collateral to prevent liquidation. Flare is actively developing Smart Accounts, which are intended to facilitate the entire process directly from XRP Ledger wallets. The company is also pursuing the development of direct FXRP transfers from the XRP Ledger to the Ethereum network.

Flare has released version 1.3 of its Smart Accounts, an upgrade designed to simplify decentralized finance (DeFi) access for XRP holders. The update introduces a single-wallet-signature process, eliminating the need for separate wallets, manual asset bridging, or gas token management.

According to a press release sent to CryptoPotato, users now need only one signature from their XRP Ledger wallet to access DeFi services, a change from the previous two-approval requirement. The system converts XRP to FXRP, which is then automatically deposited into a chosen yield vault. Flare stated that the original XRP remains locked on the XRP Ledger at a one-to-one ratio throughout this process, ensuring users maintain non-custodial control over their assets.

The Flare Data Connector verifies the XRP Ledger transaction before a smart contract finalizes the deposit into a yield vault. This simplification coincides with an expansion in FXRP activity within DeFi. Since February, the amount of FXRP deployed across DeFi applications has grown by nearly 75%, increasing from 82 million to 144 million. Flare also reported that over 40 million XRP is currently generating yield through Smart Accounts, utilized by nearly 24,000 accounts.

Filip Koprivec, Chief Product Officer at Flare, commented that many XRP holders have sought DeFi access but found the existing experience too complex. He noted that version 1.3 allows users to transition from XRP to yield generation with a single wallet signature while remaining fully non-custodial.

The update broadens available yield options with the introduction of the Clearstar Flare XRP Yield Vault, complementing the existing Monarq vault. The Clearstar vault utilizes on-chain lending and liquidity strategies, distributing FXRP across protocols such as Avant and Euler. According to the company, Clearstar has previously managed over 33 million FXRP in earlier deployments, with all positions remaining publicly visible.

Furthermore, wallet support has been expanded to include Ledger, Xaman, Joey Wallet, WalletConnect, Bifrost, and D’CENT. Notably, Joey Wallet has integrated the Smart Accounts interface directly into its application, allowing users to complete the process without leaving the wallet environment.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: Flare’s Smart Accounts v1. The simplified process comes as FXRP activity across decentralized finance platforms continues to expand.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: Flare has introduced Smart Accounts version 1.3 to simplify how XRP holders access decentralized finance (DeFi) without changing their existing wallet.

1inch has launched Aqua, its shared liquidity layer, making it available to all users across 13 EVM chains after an eight-month developer-only phase. The protocol aims to provide risk-controlled execution with full self-custody by functioning as a registry rather than a traditional liquidity pool.

Aqua went live on Tuesday, accessible on chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, and Robinhood Chain. In this registry model, liquidity providers approve token balances and create positions that draw on these approved amounts without depositing tokens into a smart contract. Swaps are executed atomically, with the protocol pulling tokens and returning proceeds and fees when a swap matches a position’s terms.

According to 1inch, Aqua is positioned as the first risk-controlled liquidity venue, signaling a move toward what the company describes as ‘risk-controlled and regulated DeFi.’ The protocol enforces on-chain verification of counterparties at the time of a swap. 1inch defines a ‘verified counterparty’ as a market maker or arbitrage bot that has undergone verification.

Liquidity providers on Aqua set approvals per token and per chain, which can be revoked. The system caps exposure by a provider’s actual holdings, not by the combined size of their positions. For instance, a $100,000 balance could support multiple positions, but a swap can only execute against available tokens in the wallet, as nothing is borrowed.

To incentivize participation, the 1inch Foundation has committed 10 million 1INCH tokens for provider rewards, and 500,000 USDC from the 1inch DAO will be distributed through Merkl. Aqua has undergone eight independent audits by firms including OpenZeppelin, Nethermind, Hexens, and Bailsec, according to 1inch.

1inch has cautioned that Aqua is built for ‘experienced users,’ noting that fees are not guaranteed, prices can move against a position, and providers inherently carry market and smart contract risk. The exact launch date of Tuesday was not specified, and the full list of 13 EVM chains was not provided.

1inch claims Aqua has the potential to ‘transform how capital and yield strategies operate in DeFi,’ aiming to provide deeper liquidity across the industry and reduce fragmentation. The protocol’s design emphasizes self-custody and risk control to address challenges in decentralized finance liquidity provision.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: 1inch has made its shared liquidity layer, Aqua, available to all users after an eight-month developer-only phase. The exact date of the Tuesday launch is not specified.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: 1inch has opened Aqua, its sharedDeFiliquidity layer, to all users, eight months after releasing it to developers only.

RISEx has officially launched its ‘Ignite: Season 1’ loyalty and ecosystem points program, a move that follows a deliberate strategy by RISEx and RISE Labs to prioritize the stability and performance of its core exchange engine before introducing incentive programs. The program aims to reward genuine participation within the RISEx ecosystem.

According to RISEx, the ‘Ignite: Season 1’ program is engineered to reward long-term ecosystem participation over speculative activities like Sybil farming and wash trading. The platform emphasizes that 100% of RISE points are allocated directly to RISEx users, including traders, liquidity providers (LPs), and builder code integrators. This approach contrasts with reward structures that might distribute incentives across a broader, more diffuse ecosystem, focusing instead on activity directly on the RISEx venue.

Sam Battenally, CEO and co-founder of RISE Labs, stated that the decision to delay the launch of the incentives program was to ensure the core exchange infrastructure was fully stable. “Too often, points programs are deployed prematurely to mask unfinished infrastructure or buy empty, temporary volume,” Battenally explained. “We spent the last few months doing the hard engineering work instead by stabilizing core features like reduce-only GTC and bootstrapping deep, quality liquidity.” RISEx claims that this product-first approach ensures that rewards track real product progress rather than a marketing calendar.

Technological Foundation: RISE Chain

The RISEx exchange is built on RISE Chain, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 network designed for high-performance decentralized finance. RISE Chain reportedly delivers 5 Ggas/s throughput and 1-millisecond latency, utilizing a proprietary Shreds architecture. This technological foundation allows RISEx to achieve centralized-exchange execution speeds while maintaining full self-custody for users. The exchange features an on-chain orderbook that shares state and liquidity with the entire RISE DeFi ecosystem within a single transaction, enabling features like cross-asset netted-margining and native Real-World Asset (RWA) trading.

Early Traction and Market Context

During an invite-only beta phase, RISEx generated over $3 billion in cumulative trading volume. This early traction is presented as evidence of user engagement and liquidity bootstrapping that occurred while the core infrastructure was being stabilized. The launch of ‘Ignite: Season 1’ is positioned as the next phase in RISEx’s ecosystem rollout. The launch of RISEx’s rewards program occurs amidst a broader market trend where decentralized perpetuals are increasingly gaining market share from centralized venues. RISEx plans to expand its offerings to include equities, forex, and commodities, in addition to its current crypto perpetuals trading.

Uncertainties and Future Outlook

However, several aspects of the ‘Ignite: Season 1’ program remain unspecified. The exact duration and specific milestones for Season 1 are not fully detailed, nor are the precise metrics used to evaluate user contribution beyond general ‘health metrics.’ Further details on future token distribution are also pending. Users can visit rise.trade to check their retroactive allocations for Season 0 and begin earning Season 1 points.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: RISEx, a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on RISE Chain, has launched its public rewards program called ‘Ignite: Season 1’. The exact duration and specific milestones for Ignite Season 1 are not fully detailed.