The Hitchhiker's Guide to Onchain Credit

When we set out to write a report on the State of Onchain Credit, we knew we’d need to map the stack. We aimed to answer: Who are the players that make up the onchain credit ecosystem, and which categories matter?

Over the past two months, we at @serotonin_hq mapped over 160 startups, protocols, and institutions across four main categories (Credit Issuance, Capital Allocation, Infrastructure, and Risk Management).

In this article, we describe the mental model that accompanies each of the 19 sub-categories identified across this stack. The asset layer is the foundation of the onchain credit ecosystem. Let’s begin with Credit Issuance.

Credit Issuance

Credit Issuance is the core asset layer where credit is originated and tokenized. Assets stemming from this layer span institutional credit funds from Apollo and Fasanara, tokenized offchain credit from Figure, and a range of onchain origination models, including overcollateralized lending, peer-to-peer lending, InfraFi, and PayFi.

Institutional Funds

Asset managers like Apollo, which has over $938.4 billion in AUM, are tokenizing existing private credit vehicles. Tokens like $ACRED and $ACRDX serve as feeder funds, funneling onchain investments into special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) that hold the underlying fund shares.

This model is being used by institutions to expand product offerings to crypto-native capital. Access to these products remains restricted to KYC-accredited investors, often with high minimum investment requirements. However, as these assets are integrated as collateral in money market protocols like Morpho and Kamino, the broader DeFi ecosystem stands to benefit from their adoption through higher stablecoin lending rates.

Serotonin’s 8 players within Credit Issuance (Institutional Funds): @JHIAdvisors | @apolloglobal | @FasanaraDigital | @BNYglobal | @glxyresearch | @hamilton_lane | @WisdomTreePrime | @BaillieGifford

Tokenized Offchain Credit

Tokenized offchain credit uses blockchain as a transparent, 24/7 record-keeping and reconciliation layer for loans originated offchain. Assets in this category are often “Represented Assets” that cannot be transferred between wallets. Figure is the poster child for this category, having modernized legacy infrastructure to originate and tokenize Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs). By using its Provenance blockchain as the ledger of record for origination data and loan payments, Figure has removed intermediaries and reduced what can be a months-long funding cycle to days, saving ~120 basis points in per-loan costs.

Tokenizing offchain credit can also expand the surface area for investment. Tradable sources onchain capital that is invested into bespoke single-borrower deals offchain. Entities like RockawayX, FalconX, Valos, and Mu Digital source capital through onchain vaults, which is then deployed into offchain credit strategies. The corresponding receipt tokens often function as Distributed Assets, allowing tokenholders to benefit from DeFi composability, similar to select institutional credit funds.

Serotonin’s 15 players within Credit Issuance (Tokenized Offchain Credit): @Figure | @FalconXGlobal | @Rockaway_X | @MercadoBitcoin | VERT Capital | @Valos_io | @alpha_ledger | @goldfinch_fi | @betrmortgage | @YieldNestFi | @MuDigitalHQ | @ZivoeProtocol | @Credix_finance | @KasuFinance | @csigmafinance

Onchain Origination

Credit’s intersection with crypto lies not only in tokenizing offchain credit and institutional funds, but in transitioning the broader credit cycle onchain. Credit protocols are the most crypto-native credit issuers, sourcing capital and originating credit onchain. Yield-bearing tokens serve as the vehicle for yield accrual and often feature onchain liquidity that broadens access, in addition to integrations across DeFi.

The 23 players within this category are extremely diverse and could easily be broken down across a third layer of categorization. Maple Finance is this category’s figurehead, extending credit to crypto-native institutional borrowers via overcollateralized crypto-backed loans. Its $syrupUSDC / $syrupUSDT tokens are yielding 4.8% and are heavily used across money markets.

Cap and its $stcUSD operates similarly but under a wildly different risk-management structure, with loan overcollateralization stemming from shared security networks like Symbiotic. Onchain origination also features small-scale unsecured lending from the likes of Credit by Divine Research and 3Jane, which leverage onchain and offchain information to assess the creditworthiness of individual borrowers.

Infrastructure Finance (InfraFi) and Payment Finance (PayFi) round out the category. InfraFi protocols like USDAI and Daylight source onchain capital to finance real-world physical infrastructure such as GPUs, solar, and batteries. While still early in its adoption curve, InfraFi presents novel, high-potential networks that could democratize and accelerate capital formation to scale capital-intensive physical infrastructure. PayFi protocols like Credit Coop, BlackOpal, and TIX provide asset-backed financing secured by various types of payment receivables, offering products that yield upwards of 10% APY.

Credit protocols within onchain origination are broadening access to unique yield-bearing opportunities by bringing them onchain. They are introducing exogenous yields, feeding a stablecoin ecosystem that continues to grow while being starved of yield. Simultaneously, this is presenting looping opportunities that are pushing stablecoin lending rates higher.

Serotonin’s 23 players within Credit Issuance (Onchain Origination): @maplefinance | @CapApp | @HastraFi | @ArkisXYZ | @ValinorDigital | @RiverFND | @daylightenergy | @USDai_Official | @dawninternet | @PluralEnergy | @gaib_ai | @humafinance | @creditcoop_xyz | @blackopal_fi | @tixprotocol | @3janexyz | @DivineResearch | @techdollarhq | @credifi | @tmrwfinance | @sprinter_ux | @Tulpea_org | @stable_tweets

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Peer-to-peer lending is included in our market map under credit issuance, whereas standard peer-to-peer lending is excluded. The reasoning is that peer-to-peer lending protocols like Wildcat diverge from pooled money markets, allowing individuals to lend and/or be matched with a single counterparty.

In the case of Wildcat, users lend stablecoins that serve as unsecured credit lines to single institutional borrowers, like Wintermute. The new Offerbook product by Jupiter features peer-to-peer markets with customizable collateral types, interest rates, loan sizes, and durations. Lastly, protocols like Centuari feature central limit order books (CLOB) for fixed-rate loans, which ultimately match peers via the order book.

Peer-to-peer lending is a small but growing niche within onchain credit, offering opportunities for bespoke underwriting and yield potential.

Serotonin’s 11 players within Credit Issuance (Peer-to-Peer Lending): @WildcatFi | @JupiterExchange | @term_labs | @CentuariLabs | @Zharta | @ClearpoolFin | @TenorFinance | @avon_xyz | @BrilaFinance | @Textileprotocol | @FloeLabs

Capital Allocation

The Capital Allocation layer is where liquidity flows to onchain credit. The players in this category transparently route stablecoins into onchain credit opportunities. This takes three different forms: Sky and its ecosystem of Agents with exposure to onchain credit, vault curators that underwrite risk across onchain credit money markets, and yield-bearing products that invest in onchain credit assets.

Sky Ecosystem

The Sky ecosystem is the largest capital allocator to onchain credit. As Sky’s capital base grows, its “Agent” protocols borrow $USDS that is used to deploy capital into yield-generating opportunities. This structure contributes to the Sky Savings Rate of 3.65% and is playing an outsized role in the capital flowing into onchain credit.

Agents include Grove Finance, which has deployed $586.6 million across onchain credit assets like $JAAA, $STAC, and $ACRDX. Spark has historically allocated to Maple, although that allocation was recently removed in the fallout of the $rsETH exploit. Obex made a splash when it unveiled its inaugural cohort of eight protocols, which is dominated by onchain credit issuers who are now set to receive $1 billion in allocations.

Serotonin’s 4 players within Capital Allocation (Sky Ecosystem): @SkyEcosystem | @grovedotfinance | @sparkdotfi | @obexincubator

Curators

Vault curators underwrite risk and supply liquidity across money markets through actively managed vaults. For example, Steakhouse Financial's Smokehouse and High Yield Instant vaults allocate primarily to onchain credit and are among its highest-yielding vaults. Other curators like Sentora, RockawayX, and Gauntlet lead deployment into Maple, Figure, and FalconX markets.

Only curators who actively allocate to onchain credit markets are included in our market map. These curators enable the productive use of onchain credit assets as collateral, though allocations have shifted drastically post-Aave exploit. Notably, yield-bearing tokens that invest reserves into onchain credit assets and have their own money markets are included as “onchain credit markets” for our purposes.

Serotonin’s 18 players within Capital Allocation (Curators): @SteakhouseFi | @SentoraHQ | @gauntlet_xyz | @Loopscale | @Rockaway_X | @AllezLabs | @elementaldefi | @ClearstarLabs | @hyperithm | @0xAlphaping | @kpk_io | @MEVCapital | @yearnfi | @keyrock | @august_digital | @flowdesk_co | @Re7Labs | @avantgardefi

Yield-bearing Products

Yield-bearing products include synthetic stablecoins, with the lone exception being Kraken's Earn vaults. Included products include those that allocate reserves into onchain credit assets to any extent. These vary from allocating heavily to onchain credit, like InfiniFi and Noon, to Avant and Yuzu Money, which allocate a portion of reserves to established issuers like Maple. Notably, Ethena is included due to its recently announced shift in collateral strategy, which will now include onchain credit.

These products offer passive, diversified exposure to onchain credit, and are a small but growing segment of capital allocation to the asset class.

Serotonin’s 13 players within Capital Allocation (Yield-bearing Products): @infiniFi | @ethena | @krakenfx | @noon_capital | @paretocredit | @avantprotocol | @multiplifi | @YuzuMoneyX | @yield | @piku_dao | @0xCoinshift | @falconfinance | @ResolvLabs

Infrastructure

The Infrastructure layer provides the plumbing that makes credit issuable and composable onchain. Without these players, onchain credit would remain isolated, and the potential benefits of tokenizing credit would be severely handicapped.

Money Markets

While peer-to-pool lending, broadly, is excluded from our market map, the money market category does include peer-to-pool protocols that offer onchain credit markets. These protocols provide the infrastructure that is a prerequisite for onchain credit becoming productive. Liquid markets enable high-yield onchain credit to be borrowed against and looped.

Morpho and Kamino are far and away the leaders in terms of onchain credit collateral and borrowing activity. As DeFi lending rates have compressed to under 3% amid this bear market, supplying stablecoins to onchain credit markets offers yields that more than double the average DeFi lending rate.

Serotonin’s 10 players within Infrastructure (Money Markets): @Morpho | @kamino | @aave | @JupiterExchange | @Loopscale | @eulerfinance | @0xfluid | @SiloFinance | @mystic_finance

Tokenization

Tokenization platforms provide infrastructure to tokenize offchain credit products. Platforms from Securitize and Centrifuge specialize in providing this service for institutions, taking offchain funds and minting their onchain representations. Others like PACT Finance and Tradable specialize in tokenizing individual credit instruments, overlapping heavily with the Tokenized Offchain Credit sub-category under Credit Issuance.

Serotonin’s 12 players within Infrastructure (Tokenization): @Securitize | @centrifuge | @tradable_xyz | @pactfinance | @stokr_io | @KAIO_xyz | @AssetoFinance | @intainft | @fence_finance | @Brickken | CRX | @ari_networks_

Vaults

Vault infrastructure providers allow investment into externally managed strategies. Vaults act as liquidity layers, funneling capital into strategies and issuing receipt tokens, such as those for Fasanara on Midas or the FalconX and RockawayX vaults on Pareto.

For end users, the product is effectively that of tokenization platforms. Tokenization platforms simply tokenize fund shares, retaining their underlying fixed redemption schedules. Vault providers construct onchain products around institutional strategies, with vaults serving as a more flexible layer that enables capital pooling and liquidity features such as instant redemption.

Serotonin’s 8 players within Infrastructure (Vaults): @MidasRWA | @paretocredit | @NestCredit | @AccountableData | @golieth_io | @ipor_io | @EmberProtocol | @opentrade_io

Blockchains

Special-purpose blockchains actively pursuing onchain credit projects are included in our market map. Provenance and Plume are live in production, with Rialo and Pharos still pre-mainnet. The latter two raised $20 million and $44 million in their most recent rounds, respectively. Notably, general-purpose blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, ZKsync, and Aptos lead onchain credit activity, but are excluded to make this a more targeted sub-category.

Serotonin’s 4 players within Infrastructure (Blockchains): @provenancefdn | @plumenetwork | @RialoHQ | @pharos_network

Oracles

Oracles that actively provide price data for real-world assets, including onchain credit, are included in our market map. Legacy protocols like Chainlink, RedStone, and Chronicle serve as general-purpose price oracles powering money markets. Others like Canary Protocol and EO focus exclusively on RWAs, offering products such as net asset value (NAV) and proof-of-reserve feeds.

Serotonin’s 5 players within Infrastructure (Oracles): @redstone_defi | @ChronicleLabs | @chainlink | @canary_proto | @EO_Network

Interoperability

Interoperability protocols that actively power interoperability for onchain credit assets are included in our map. Protocols like Wormhole and LayerZero are most active here, enabling onchain credit assets to move across blockchains and allowing the asset class to expand outside of singular deployments.

Serotonin’s 2 players within Infrastructure (Interoperability): @wormhole | @LayerZero_Labs

Risk Management

The Risk Management layer is most critical to onchain credit’s next phase of growth. That growth hinges on the continued maturation of diverse liquidity options that enable composability and confidence among capital allocators, as well as robust risk management infrastructure that prices and transfers risk.

Liquidity

Liquidity protocols are being developed to address the inherent illiquidity of onchain credit, which holds back its use as trusted collateral. Without reliable exit paths in times of stress, arbitrageurs and liquidators must be willing to absorb risk. As liquidity mechanisms diversify beyond native redemption, the potential onchain credit product set expands dramatically.

Protocols like 3F and Keyring Network enable one-click leveraged looping, while protocols like Multiliquid and Fission are building liquidity to power liquidations and instant redemption options for onchain credit assets. By purchasing assets at a discount during redemption spikes and when liquidatable positions surface, then holding through redemption, the yield stemming from liquidity premiums is realized.

Serotonin’s 7 players within Risk Management (Liquidity): @3f_xyz | @KeyringNetwork | @multiliquid_xyz | @FissionXYZ | @agra_gg | @RavaMoney | @KamuiFinance

Tranching

Tranching protocols split yield-bearing tokens into junior and senior tranches. Junior unsecured pools earn a risk premium while senior secured pools exchange a portion of yield for risk protection. The spread itself helps price the underlying risk being transferred.

Cork Pools are a prime example, in which two assets with differing liquidity, duration, and credit risks, such as $USDC and a vault receipt token or a tokenized institutional fund, are combined. Participants can sell conversion rights to earn a risk premium, with buyers earning the right to exchange for the reference asset until the pool’s expiration.

Tranching offers a primitive that prices and transfers risk while guaranteeing liquidity. Notably, Pendle is included for its tranching and transfer of yield, rather than risk.

Serotonin’s 4 players within Risk Management (Tranching): @Corkprotocol | @strata_markets | @roycoprotocol | @pendle_fi

Risk Analysis

Risk analysis providers offer risk ratings, frameworks, and underwriting. Services firms like Cicada and Particula provide asset audits, Credora provides a framework and risk scoring for vaults, while Chaos Labs and Block Analitica serve as risk professionals aiding in underwriting. These providers help underwrite and price risk across onchain credit.

Serotonin’s 7 players within Risk Management (Risk Analysis): @chaoslabs | @cicadacredit | @xerberus | @particula_io | @CredoraNetwork | @Qiro_Finance | @BlockAnalitica

Reserve Verification

Reserve verification providers offer independent attestation that supports transparency for onchain credit assets. Accountable headlines the category, offering real-time, proof-of-solvency data feeds that verify total offchain and onchain assets and liabilities across banks, custodians, exchanges, wallets, and protocols. Cryptographic proofs of offchain financial data are maintained while preserving privacy through zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs).

LlamaRisk provides independent verification of offchain documents while vlayer offers their cryptographic notarization, powering data verifiability for tools like the Midas Attestation Engine.

Serotonin’s 5 players within Risk Management (Reserve Verification): @AccountableData | @LlamaRisk | @spaceandtime | @vlayer_xyz | @afiprotocol_xyz

Risk Coverage

Risk coverage providers offer protection against risks that materialize into losses. Nexus Mutual is a long-time DeFi insurer. Vault-specific insurance is emerging with OpenCover and Catalysis. Also included are shared security networks like Symbiotic and Eigen, where restaked assets are now being used to provide risk coverage for Cap and Catalysis. While difficult to price and scale, these players offer an invaluable option for those willing to sacrifice yield for security and peace of mind.

Serotonin’s 6 players within Risk Management (Risk Coverage): @NexusMutual | @OpenCover | @0xcatalysis | @symbioticfi | @eigencloud | @SpiceProtocol

Asset Managers

Asset managers serve as the bridge between onchain capital and tokenized offchain credit. A prime example is M11 Credit, which serves as the vault administrator for the FalconX vault on Pareto, managing its credit reporting and epoch cycles.

Serotonin’s 6 players within Risk Management (Asset Managers): @M11Credit | @BirchHill_io | @anemoycapital | @FiveSigmaCap | @R25Official | @paretocredit

What's Next?

This article provides context on the mental models that formed when mapping the onchain credit ecosystem. For comprehensive analysis on the leading startups, protocols, and institutions that make up this stack, the State of Onchain Credit by @serotonin_hq will be published tomorrow, on Wednesday, April 28th, 2026. For immediate access, sign up on se.ro!

A lot of work was put into the research and writing of this report. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback. My DMs at @Solofunk are always open.