Pencil Finance completes $1 million in fully on-chain student loan financing and repayment cycle

Odaily News: Decentralized lending protocol Pencil Finance has completed the fundraising, disbursement, repayment tracking, and fund return of a $1 million student loan portfolio entirely on-chain, constituting a full financing and repayment cycle. Animoca Brands, Open Campus, and NewCampus provided funding for this portfolio in July 2025.

Education financing company ErudiFi disbursed the majority of funds through student loans and tuition financing in Southeast Asia, covering markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines. The portfolio ran for 12 months, supporting more than 6,600 students across 118 schools and universities, with approximately 1,050 students receiving funding directly attributable to Pencil Finance.

Investors were split into senior and subordinated tranches — the former receiving fixed returns with priority repayment rights, while the latter earned variable returns and bore the first losses from defaults. Pencil Finance claims this is the first fully on-chain student loan cycle, but did not disclose interest rates, investor yields, default rates, or blockchain transaction records. (Decrypt)