Oct 26, 2022
DeFi Credit Protocol Goldfinch announces Membership Vaults
Novel system empowers investors to enhance their participation in Real World Asset (RWA)-backed lending
[October 26, 2022 — Oakland, CA] Goldfinch, a decentralized credit protocol focused on connecting the world’s capital to the world’s growth by creating a single global credit marketplace, today announced the launch of a novel Membership Vault system to continue driving participation on the Goldfinch protocol.
Two-year old Goldfinch, a decentralized credit protocol, is a marketplace for lending stablecoins (USDC) to viable off-chain businesses worldwide. The protocol’s loans are fully collateralized off-chain with real-world assets and income streams, and borrowers on the protocol are established credit funds and fintechs in emerging markets where financing can be difficult or expensive to access. The protocol is backed by industry leaders including a16z, Coinbase Ventures, and Variant, and crossed over $100M in USDC loaned earlier this year with no losses to date.
While crypto markets have continued to experience bearish conditions amidst economic tightening and the fallout of May’s crypto market downturn, the collapse in crypto yields is drawing DeFi’s attention to projects that can offer investors models for long-term stability.
“The collapse in crypto yields is drawing DeFi’s attention to projects that can offer investors models for long-term stability, which has always been a core focus of Goldfinch. We have been looking forward to the next step of this with the launch of Membership Vaults as a key way to continue empowering Goldfinch’s participants since it was approved by the community,” said Mike Sall, Goldfinch Co-Founder and Warbler Labs CEO. “All the participants in Goldfinch truly support the protocol’s mission of expanding access to capital in the world and having real impact, and this is a really unique approach to strengthen the community’s alignment.”
Expanding participation
Goldfinch’s Membership Vault system is the first phase of a broader tokenomics redesign (Tokenomics v2), which was approved by the protocol’s community earlier this year, and focuses on enhancing the utility of GFI, Goldfinch’s native token. Membership is designed to empower Goldfinch investors to support the protocol’s security and expansion while increasing their participation.
Goldfinch Members will receive yield enhancements via Member Rewards, which have been earmarked from the Goldfinch treasury and will be distributed pro-rata, based on one’s Member Vault position. In addition, Members will gain access to exclusive communication channels, special offers, and more.
The protocol launched a waitlist for Membership this morning. Waitlist participants will be alerted when the first Member Vault goes live, ensuring they can be first-in on Goldfinch’s enhanced participation. Early participation in Membership is incentivized as Member Rewards are distributed pro-rata from a set percentage of the Goldfinch treasury.
“It won’t be long until the full Membership Vaults launch,” noted Goldfinch Co-Founder and Warbler Labs CTO Blake West. “Our team at Warbler Labs is going through security reviews and audits right now, and we’re excited to ship this for the Goldfinch community.”
To become a Member, a participant must be an active Goldfinch investor who holds GFI. Members will be able to deposit staked Goldfinch Senior Pool tokens (FIDU), or Backer NFTs, which represent interests in specific Goldfinch borrower pools, into the Member Vaults, plus GFI. Member Rewards will be paid weekly in FIDU. The deposited FIDU, Backer NFTs, and GFI can be withdrawn from Member Vaults at any time.
By encouraging Goldfinch investors to hold GFI, Goldfinch hopes to increase participation in governance — which requires GFI — as well as to further align and incentivize Goldfinch investors’ interest in the long-term success of the protocol. Membership also encourages the single biggest lever for network growth, increased TVL, resulting in a more robust and secure protocol ecosystem while also rewarding the global community of Goldfinch participants who continue to contribute to Goldfinch’s growth and resilience.
Real-world stability
While the TVL within the DeFi ecosystem has declined by 65% according to data from DeFi Llama, the interest rates on stablecoin lending have held steady on Goldfinch, an early indicator of the potential long-term benefit of that bringing real-world lending on-chain and expanding DeFi beyond crypto-native activities can offer the industry.
Goldfinch’s Membership Vault launch comes on the heels of a year of growth. In January of this year Goldfinch raised a $25M round led by a16z, with the aim to match the 154x growth the protocol saw in its first year of operation. Over the last year, the protocol crossed over $100M in active loans, reached over 1M people and businesses across 20+ countries with financing via the protocols Borrowers, and was noted as having one of the highest yields for USDC lending in DeFi. The launch of Membership Vaults is expected to continue that growth trajectory over the rest of the quarter.
About Goldfinch
Goldfinch is a decentralized credit protocol on a mission to connect the world’s capital to the world’s growth, by creating a single global credit marketplace. That means everyone, from startups in Lagos to institutions in New York, can borrow from the same capital markets and that all investors can access those deals directly.
Goldfinch’s USDC yields come from real-world lending to proven emerging market businesses, and investments are fully collateralized off-chain by real-world assets, making Goldfinch distinctly different from the highly volatile DeFi lending you may be familiar with.
Learn more at goldfinch.finance
