Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Siu highlighted the $3 trillion global student loan market as a major untapped opportunity. Moving even 10% of this onchain, he argued, would dramatically accelerate the growth of DeFi.

“You basically more than quadruple TVL in all of DeFi,” Siu said, calling it a sign that the industry is still in its early innings.

Web3 Tools for the Unbanked

Siu also emphasized how Web3-based education finance could serve as a gateway for crypto adoption—particularly among the unbanked.

“The first unbanked are the kids,” he said. “If a student receives and repays a loan onchain—regulated, better, faster, cheaper—they’re onboarded for crypto for life.”

He likened the opportunity to the early success of PayPal and Venmo, which scaled by serving underserved users.

Animoca Bets on Blockchain-Based Student Loans

Siu spotlighted Animoca’s recent investment in Pencil Finance, a startup offering crypto-native student loans. Pencil Finance currently operates in the Philippines and Indonesia and plans to expand to the U.S.

On April 30, the company announced a $10 million initiative to issue blockchain-backed education loans at lower cost.

Siu said the industry needs more “positive-sum use cases” like student loans—solutions that are easy to understand and directly benefit users. “Students would be more pro-crypto,” he said, “if they had more real-world opportunities through crypto loans.”

The post Onchain Student Loans Could Quadruple DeFi TVL appeared first on Coindoo.

---

Filed under: Bitcoin - @ May 16, 2025 7:01 pm