A blockchain protocol developed by Ant Group, the Chinese fintech giant behind Alipay and affiliated with Alibaba Group,
has launched the first institutional onchain repository focused on consumer lending in emerging markets, Investing.com has learned.
R25, which originates from the development of Ant Financial protocols, is expected to announce today the launch of the Axil Consumer Credit Vault on the Pharos blockchain, which raised $50 million in pre-deposits and reached its limit within 48 hours.
The vault launched with $35 million in confirmed deposits and offers returns of up to 15% per annum, driven by underlying consumer lending assets and protocol incentives.
The launch comes as there are clear signs of stress in the traditional private lending market. The $1.8 trillion private credit market is experiencing a sharp contraction, with sales of BDCs (business development companies) falling 40% and a number of evergreen funds introducing repayment limits.
The repository is positioned as a structural alternative to this market, providing access to hundreds of thousands of small-value retail loans with low correlation to corporate credit, denominated in USDC.
According to sources, the storage smart contracts were audited by blockchain security company SlowMist. The Pharos core network raised $44 million in a Series A round focused on tokenizing real-world assets.