Key facts
- Pencil Finance has completed its first fully onchain student loan cycle.
- The protocol provided $1 million in financing to 6,600 students in Southeast Asia.
- The loan cycle was funded by Animoca Brands, Open Campus, and New Campus.
- The loans targeted students underserved by traditional lenders, with a significant portion being female and from lower-income households.
Pencil Finance, a protocol focused on student loans as real-world assets (RWAs), has announced the completion of its first fully onchain lending cycle. The initiative provided $1 million in financing to approximately 6,600 students across 118 educational institutions in Southeast Asia, targeting individuals underserved by conventional financial institutions.
The loan cycle, funded in July 2025, was structured with a senior tranche offering fixed returns and a junior tranche with variable returns and first-loss risk. Borrowers repaid the capital with yield to the funders. Of the 6,600 students financed, about 1,050 received direct funding. The program emphasized inclusivity, with 50% of borrowers being female and 93% originating from lower-income households.
This development highlights the growing use of tokenized RWAs in financial markets. Recently, Brazil's B3 stock exchange facilitated a loan secured by tokenized cows, demonstrating the diverse applications of blockchain technology in collateralizing loans.