Animoca-backed Pencil Finance completes first fully on-chain student loan cycle with $1M deployment
More than 6,600 students across Southeast Asia benefited from the financing over the past year, the team said.
Pencil Finance has completed a $1 million student-loan financing cycle in which capital moved from funders to borrowers and back entirely on-chain, marking a first for student lending, according to the company.
The RWA protocol deployed the capital through education financing provider ErudiFi, helping more than 6,600 students across Southeast Asia over the past 12 months. The financing reached borrowers across 118 schools and universities in markets including the Philippines and Indonesia, with about 1,050 students receiving direct funding.
The bundle was funded by Animoca Brands, Open Campus and NewCampus and divided into senior and junior tranches. Senior investors received fixed returns, while junior investors took variable returns and first-loss exposure.
The financing targeted borrowers underserved by traditional lenders. ErudiFi’s portfolio is 50% female, 93% from lower-income households and 52% accessing formal credit for the first time.
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Pencil Finance said recording the entire cycle on the blockchain gives investors a transparent, auditable record of loan performance and could make future education-financing bundles easier to fund.