Private credit is moving on to the blockchain. Maple Finance is a blockchain-based asset manager that now oversees roughly $4.7 billion in assets across lending and yield products. Its latest move is bringing its lending product to Robinhood's blockchain. Joining me is Sid Powell, CEO and Co-Founder of Maple Finance. Sid, it's great to have you on the show.
Hey, Johny. Thanks for having me.
For viewers new to this space, what does it mean to be an on-chain asset manager and how does Maple differ from a traditional lender?
What makes Maple distinct is that all of the loans we do, all of the positions we take in asset management — which is primarily credit — sit on a blockchain. All loans are tokenised. We originate all of our credit, which has been over $22 billion since we started, in stablecoins. And we accept tokens — crypto and tokenised collateral — to secure those loans. It could be Bitcoin, tokenised funds, and soon tokenised equities. That is what it means to be an on-chain asset manager.
You just launched a product on Robinhood's blockchain. What is it and why are fintech and retail users driving so much of your growth?
We are super excited about the Robinhood partnership. Maple forms part of Robinhood's Earn programme, working alongside other blue chips in the crypto space like Morpho. Part of the yield going to Robinhood users is coming from loans originated by Maple — the type of institutional loans we specialise in. What is really exciting is that Robinhood users do not have to do blockchain approvals. They do not have to manage wallets. Robinhood has done a fantastic job of abstracting away all the inconvenient parts of using a blockchain and creating a very slick user experience. But on the back end, all of this is powered by stablecoins and decentralised finance and smart contract protocols. That is going to drive a ton of adoption over the next few years as more fintechs and neobanks try to offer dollar stablecoin yield to their users.
Your assets under management are up sharply from a year ago. Where do you see the broader market right now?
It has been an interesting 12 months. In some ways Maple is a little counter-positioned — we often see more dollar inflows as people seek yield when crypto prices are a little suppressed or trading sideways. Right now we are seeing the market heat up a little. Bitcoin is up about 40% from the July lows, sitting in the low to mid 80s. It is really hinging on what happens over the next month from a macro perspective — the CPI print mid-October, the FOMC. The pundits are around 50/50 on whether we see another hike from here. Brent is still just above $100. So we are in a range-bound area very dependent on what plays out from a macro perspective, particularly from an energy and inflation lens.
What does the regulatory picture look like right now for companies like yours?
I have a more balanced perspective. Obviously it would have been fantastic to have clarity through the Clarity Act — but that is not holding the space back. You have seen real traction and adoption over the last 12 months. We have Stripe entering the space. We have Robinhood. We have neobanks like Revolut. The SEC and the CFTC have picked up the slack — offering the innovation exemption, rulemaking that is going to be helpful. The only thing we are missing is the codified law. But since we have engagement from regulators and rulemaking, that is going to enable more institutions to come in. And in all of our private conversations, we continue to see strong interest in bringing assets on-chain through tokenisation — and real interest in allowing investors to get utility against those tokenised assets by borrowing from someone like Maple Finance.
Why does the Middle East excite Maple specifically?
The Middle East sits at the crossroads between Europe, the US, and Asia. You have a lot of very forward-thinking investors from the sovereign wealth side, as well as financial institutions who have taken advantage of the more innovative regulatory position in the Middle East. You have VARA, you have the green light for dirham stablecoin. We have conversations with banks and financial institutions who are looking to either borrow against their digital asset holdings or create new tokenised products. We have seen a lot of interest in tokenised real estate — real estate development has been booming in the Middle East for over a decade. When you can tokenise an asset, you can distribute it to global investors. And if you have high quality assets, there is a strong desire for yield-producing assets with good downside protection. Real estate is going to be a very important growth asset there.
Congratulations on a very strong year. Thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks Johny. My pleasure.
