{"id":129383,"date":"2025-05-16T09:18:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T09:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129383"},"modified":"2025-05-16T09:18:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T09:18:44","slug":"animocas-yat-siu-says-student-loans-can-supercharge-defi-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129383","title":{"rendered":"Animoca\u2019s Yat Siu says student loans can supercharge DeFi growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsBringing student loans onchain would increase the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) by more than four times, supercharging the industry, according to Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands.<br \/>\nSpeaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Siu pointed to the $3 trillion global student loan market as an untapped opportunity for the crypto industry. He said moving even 10% of that market onchain could significantly boost DeFi\u2019s growth.<br \/>\n\u201cYou basically more than quadruple TVL in all of DeFi,\u201d he said, underscoring how the industry is still in its early stages.\u00a0<br \/>\nConsensus chairman Michael Lau (left) with Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu (right) at the Consensus mainstage in Toronto, Canada. Source: CointelegraphWeb3-based education tools to drive crypto adoption<br \/>\nSiu said that Web3-based financial tools for the education sector could drive mass crypto adoption, especially among the young and unbanked.<br \/>\n\u201cThe first unbanked are the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a student receives a loan onchain and pays it back onchain \u2014 which is regulated, better, faster, cheaper \u2014 they become onboarded for crypto for life.\u201d\u00a0<br \/>\nSiu compared the situation to how PayPal and Venmo scaled by offering essential services to underserved users. He suggested that student loans could serve as crypto\u2019s entry into the mainstream.<br \/>\nThe executive also highlighted Animoca Brands\u2019 recent investment in Pencil Finance, a startup providing crypto-native student loans. Siu said the project operates in the Philippines and Indonesia, and plans to expand to the US.\u00a0<br \/>\nOn April 30, Pencil Finance announced a $10 million student loan financing initiative to provide cheaper, blockchain-backed loans.\u00a0<br \/>\nSiu previously said in an interview that the industry needs these \u201cpositive-sum use cases\u201d that everyone understands. He said students would be more pro-crypto if they had more opportunities through crypto loans.\u00a0<br \/>\nRelated: NFT founder stole millions from Bitcoin project, investors allege<br \/>\nEducation is a natural Web3 use case<br \/>\nSiu also told the Consensus audience that education is a natural use case for Web3. He highlighted YouTube and TikTok, platforms that are often dismissed as entertainment applications. Siu said these social media apps are now the largest informal learning platforms in the world.\u00a0<br \/>\nHe said everything is tied to education and that Web3 could do something similar. \u201cEducation is actually fundamental, something we do all the time,\u201d Siu said.\u00a0<br \/>\nHe suggested that by integrating financial infrastructure into educational experiences, Web3 could turn learning communities and reputational networks into capital assets, forming the basis of a new, decentralized financial ecosystem.<br \/>\nMagazine: Binance Wallet \u2018killing\u2019 MetaMask and airdrops, Chinese RWA tokens: Asia Express<a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/defi-student-loans-onchain-education-wave?utm_source=rss_feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"feedzy-rss-link-icon\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsBringing student loans onchain would increase the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) by more than four times, supercharging the industry, according to Yat Siu, chairman&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}