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Pendle Finance’s creative yield-splitting and loyalty reward schemes propel the company’s assets to $6.4 billion.
TakeAway Points:
The assets committed to the protocol have increased from $250 million to $6.4 billion as a result of Pendle Finance’s integration of loyalty point programmes.
The platform creates a secondary market for trading crypto points and yields by dividing yield-bearing cryptocurrencies into two tokens.
Pendle intends to introduce conventional fixed-income securities to the blockchain, offering a substantial growth possibility despite criticism regarding increasing speculation.
Pendle Finance’s Rapid Expansion
Pendle Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project, has seen a meteoric rise in assets staked on its platform, reaching $6.4 billion from a modest $250 million earlier this year.
This surge is attributed to Pendle’s innovative approach of splitting yield-bearing cryptocurrencies into two tokens, akin to the traditional bond market’s separation of principal and interest payments. The project, which launched in 2020, had initially struggled to gain traction despite offering high returns of 30% or more on many of its stripped yield-paying tokens.
The turning point came in January 2024, when Pendle integrated airline-like loyalty points programs. These programs, which became popular in late 2023, offer rewards for participation instead of additional tokens.
Traders flocked to Pendle to speculate on these new rewards, which, despite having little intrinsic financial value, have created a secondary market for trading crypto points and yields.
Points of Loyalty and Market Dynamics
The introduction of loyalty points programs has been a game-changer for Pendle Finance. These programs, initially vague about the value of the points, have attracted traders who previously speculated on airdrops or token giveaways. Pendle’s platform connects users who want to accumulate points with those seeking higher yields, creating a marketplace for buying and selling these points.
TN Lee, co-founder of Pendle Finance, likened the points to “a lottery ticket,” emphasizing that the platform aims to provide clarity on returns paid out by borrowers of cryptocurrencies. “If money continues to flow into the crypto sector, the need for certainty will only grow,” Lee said, highlighting the demand for predictable annual percentage yields (APYs).
Interest-bearing cryptocurrencies gained popularity after Ethereum’s Merge upgrade, which allowed Ether token owners to stake their coins for transaction validation and network security in exchange for rewards. Projects like Lido Finance offer derivatives tokens of staked Ether, which can be used for trading, lending, and other activities, further raising the promised returns.
Risks and Reactions
Despite its success, Pendle Finance has faced criticism from within the DeFi industry. Some observers argue that pricing loyalty points add to the sector’s speculative and risky nature. Earlier this year, Pendle was embroiled in controversy when EigenLayer announced plans to distribute tokens based on points from its restaking project. Initially, EigenLayer excluded Pendle users, leading to an outcry and a subsequent reversal of the decision.
Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital, pointed out the speculative nature of points campaigns. “There’s a lot of speculative factors because if you’re doing a points campaign and maybe they airdrop 20% of the supplies to people with points, or maybe it’s 5%, or maybe it’s vested,” Ebtikar said, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the value of these points.
Pendle’s financialization of crypto loyalty points has also drawn comparisons to the collapse of the Terra algorithmic stablecoin project, which led to significant losses and a broader market meltdown. However, Lee remains optimistic about Pendle’s potential to bring traditional assets like fixed-income markets to the blockchain, viewing it as a powerful growth opportunity.
