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Maple Finance: Bridging the Gap of TradFi and Onchain Markets?
Jake Kennis
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Introduction

Maple Finance is a leading lending platform focused on institutional credit markets. Maple connects lenders seeking yield with corporate and institutional borrowers seeking capital, using smart contracts to manage professionally underwritten, overcollateralized loans. After surviving the late-2022 crypto credit meltdown, Maple has staged a striking comeback with assets under management (AUM) surging nearly 10x since January 2025, reaching an all-time high above $2.35b. Active loans similarly increased to roughly $885m outstanding, making Maple one of the largest crypto lenders.

Dune
Source: Dune

This resurgence is underpinned by Maple’s shift to a safer lending model, focusing on short-term, overcollateralized loans via its in-house "Maple Direct" lending arm. Maple’s revival has been profitable, with monthly revenue surpassing $1.06m in May 2025, marking three consecutive months of record revenue. For the month of June, it looks like this uptrend will continue as they are near $900k of revenue as of June 20th.

Dune
Source: Dune

Maple generates meaningful cash flow, with 20% of these fees going to buy backs of SYRUP tokens for stakers. As for price action, SYRUP has performed extremely well YTD and is up over 3x as shown below.

TradingView
Source: TradingView

The market has begun to take notice of SYRUP’s growth as seen with the market cap reaching over $540m, but what is next for Maple and SYRUP?

Setting the Scene: Market Opportunity and Growth Metrics

Maple is bringing more users onchain and has shown some very positive metrics:

  • Total Value Locked (TVL): AUM surged from ~$445m on January 1, 2025, to over $2.35b by June 18th. Notably, Maple’s flagship syrupUSDC pool surpassed $1b AUM in May and is now well over $1.5b.
  • Loan Volume: Active loans approached $1b in June, nearly doubling from two months prior. Maple is nearing $8b in total loan originations since inception, featuring borrowers such as Circle and BlockTower.
  • Revenue and Yields: April 2025 revenue hit a then-record $622K, swiftly overtaken by May’s over $1m and June looking to continue the trend. Maple offers competitive yields up to 9.5% APY.
  • User Base: Institutional borrowers and accredited lenders participate via KYC-gated pools. Retail users engage permissionlessly via Syrup, with significant adoption growth noted. As for SYRUP the token, as of June 20th, 7,747 unique wallets are holding at least $1 of SYRUP, showing further growth and decentralization of the holder base.
  • Geographic Reach: Maple serves U.S. institutions through regulated entities and global crypto users permissionlessly onchain. Expansion includes notable institutions globally, like Cantor Fitzgerald, Circle, and Animoca Brands.

Notable Developments and Catalysts

Maple’s recent success stems from many catalysts including strategic developments and partnerships:

  • Institutional Allocations: Notable allocations include Spark’s $325m+ already allocated into syrupUSDC from the Spark Liquidity Layer and Bitwise’s first-ever DeFi allocation of over $1m into Maple.
  • Cantor Fitzgerald Partnership: Maple secured a BTC-backed credit line with Cantor Fitzgerald, bridging TradFi and DeFi, enhancing liquidity and credibility.
  • Solana Expansion: Using Chainlink’s CCIP, Maple re-entered Solana, swiftly accumulating over $30m in deposits. Integration included mSOL collateral, tapping new liquidity sources.
  • Liquid Staking Collaboration: Partnership with Lido Finance enables stablecoin credit lines backed by stETH, providing liquidity without sacrificing staking yields.
  • Protocol Upgrades and Governance: Recent governance (MIP-016 and MIP-017) enhanced SYRUP tokenomics and streamlined governance. Tech upgrades emphasized risk control and onboarding efficiency.
  • Integration with DeFi: Yield aggregators like Kamino Finance adopted syrupUSDC, expanding Maple’s composability and visibility within DeFi ecosystems.

Onchain Flows

On top of its positive price action, SYRUP has seen some notable onchain flows over the last month. Specifically, smart money and funds have seen large outflows. Blocktower, for instance, has deposited over 10.5m SYRUP (over $4.2m at the time of writing) to a Binance exchange wallet over the last 34 days. Similarly, Dragonfly has sent over $1.75m of SYRUP to a known FalconX wallet over the last few days. The same is also true of Maven11, having sent SYRUP to an intermediary wallet and then to Binance, worth over $2m at the time. On an aggregated level for the last 90 days, smart money holdings are down over 83%:

Nansen
Source: Nansen

In the same picture, we also see exchange balances increasing over a staggering 96%. As seen with just a few onchain digging, a lot of investor flows have been moved to CEXs like Binance.

Additionally, whales appear to be bullish as we have seen whale balances grow over 116,000% over the last 90 days, now accounting for 11.63m SYRUP or $5.6m+ of tokens at the time of writing.

Conclusion

Maple Finance’s resurgence demonstrates a compelling DeFi turnaround. Maple has rapidly scaled its platform and has seen its metrics grow rapidly into 2025, with over $2.35b in AUM and onboarding notable institutions. Moving forward, the clear regulatory landscape for DeFi protocols and the value accrual of Maple Finance paired with its adoption metrics, make it an interesting project to keep an eye on. Maple’s strong fundamentals and innovative approach position it uniquely to bridge traditional finance with broader onchain markets.

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Disclosure: The authors of this content and members of Nansen may be participating or invested in some of the protocols or tokens mentioned herein. The foregoing statement acts as a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and is not a recommendation to purchase or invest in any token or participate in any protocol. Nansen does not recommend any particular course of action in relation to any token or protocol. The content herein is meant purely for educational and informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as financial, investment, legal, tax or any other professional or other advice. None of the content and information herein is presented to induce or to attempt to induce any reader or other person to buy, sell or hold any token or participate in any protocol or enter into, or offer to enter into, any agreement for or with a view to buying or selling any token or participating in any protocol. Statements made herein (including statements of opinion, if any) are wholly generic and not tailored to take into account the personal needs and unique circumstances of any reader or any other person. Readers are strongly urged to exercise caution and have regard to their own personal needs and circumstances before making any decision to buy or sell any token or participate in any protocol. Observations and views expressed herein may be changed by Nansen at any time without notice. Nansen accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or liabilities arising from the use of or reliance on any of this content.