Maple Finance Launches Maple Direct

The development team of the Web3 lending platform Maple Finance declared the launch of a direct lending program on June 28 in a fact sheet.

The program is designed to supplant the services formerly offered by Celsius, BlockFi, and other defunct lenders.

The first lending pool will be available in July, according to the company.

Maple Finance is a blockchain-based capital market for institutions. Web3 enterprises use it to obtain loans, enabling them to finance product launches and expansions.

In the past, capital for these loans was provided by “pool delegates,” credit professionals. In February 2022, for instance, Celsius utilized Maple to establish a Wrapped Ether (WETH) lending pool.

However, in the mid-to-late 2022 bear market, several of the largest Web3 lenders failed. Celsius shut down in July, BlockFi declared bankruptcy in November, and Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January.

The Maple team announced on June 28 that it will now serve as a lender on the platform in certain circumstances. It will provide creditworthy borrowers with capital from institutional allocators using its credit underwriting expertise.

This means that if a potential consumer cannot obtain loans from one of the other lenders, Maple’s Maple Direct program may be able to help.

According to the Maple team, this new program is required because major Web3 lenders have “exited the space, and traditional lenders like banks “do not have the necessary focus or expertise to underwrite the innovative group” of Web3 technology companies.

In July, the team will launch its first direct lending pool, focusing on lending to “infrastructure, asset management, and  liquidity providers.”

The team has invited capital allocators to participate in the program, stating that it meets the requirements of “Crypto Funds, DAOs, VCs, HNWI, Yield Aggregators, [and] Family Offices,” seeking a return on their investments.

Maple will also “continue to expand its existing services,” according to the announcement, implying that Maple Direct will not replace the existing platform that hosts competing lenders.

In November, the bankruptcies of FTX and Alameda Research harmed Maple Finance’s lenders.

Due to these events, borrower Aurus Global missed a payment, and Maple severed ties with borrower Orthogonal Trading over what it perceived to be misrepresentations.

But the platform soon recovered, releasing software version 2.0 in December.