The partnership pairs Pendle's yield-splitting mechanics with Centrifuge's tokenized credit, starting with a product tied to Janus Henderson's AAA CLO strategy
Centrifuge and Pendle Finance are teaming up to build fixed-rate markets for tokenized real-world assets on Base. The partnership was announced on November 3, 2026.
How the Centrifuge and Pendle setup works
The collaboration combines Centrifuge’s tokenization infrastructure with Pendle’s signature trick: splitting a yield-bearing asset into two parts.
Pendle turns those slices into separate tokens. The principal token (PT) lets holders secure a fixed yield. The yield token (YT) lets traders speculate on the floating yield the asset may produce.
The first product in the lineup is Centrifuge’s deJAAA. It is tied to Janus Henderson’s AAA collateralized loan obligation (CLO) strategy, which manages over $30 billion.
A CLO is a pool of corporate loans sliced into tranches by risk. The AAA tranche sits at the top of the stack, meaning it gets paid first.
The deJAAA market is already live
The partnership did not start with a press release and a promise. Pendle launched a market for deJAAA on October 21, 2026, ahead of the formal announcement.
That market carries a maturity date of November 26, 2026. Fixed-rate positions on Pendle are pegged to a specific end date, so buyers know exactly when their locked-in return pays out.
Why Pendle and Centrifuge make sense together
Pendle has been leaning hard into traditional credit. Real-world credit strategies accounted for 82% of Pendle’s total value locked as of September 30, 2026. Total TVL stood at $1.16 billion at that date.
Centrifuge, meanwhile, has positioned itself as a key tokenization provider on Base. In May 2026, Coinbase named Centrifuge its preferred tokenization partner after making a strategic investment in the company.
So one side brings the assets, and the other brings the market structure. Centrifuge turns credit into tokens. Pendle turns those tokens into instruments that can be priced, split, and traded around a fixed rate.
What this means for DeFi and institutional credit
For Pendle, the deal reinforces a strategic direction that its TVL composition already reflects. With 82% of deposits in real-world credit strategies, adding a Janus Henderson-linked product fits the pattern.
There are risks worth naming. CLOs are packaged corporate loans, and even top-rated tranches depend on the health of the underlying borrowers. Tokenizing them adds smart contract and platform risk on top of the credit risk.
Liquidity is another open question. Fixed-rate markets work best when there are enough buyers on both sides of the PT and YT split. Whether the deJAAA market draws that depth will shape how useful it becomes for larger players.
How the deJAAA market performs through its November 26, 2026 maturity will be the first real data point. Beyond that, the question is whether Centrifuge and Pendle extend the model to other tokenized products on Base.
