Centrifuge is the RWA (real-world asset) tokenisation protocol and infrastructure that has moved from the original Maker-collateral, private-credit-pool model into the institutional side of the market through the Anemoy on-chain MMF (money-market fund) wrapper, the Janus Henderson AAA CLO (collateralised loan obligation) on-chain product, and a growing set of asset-manager partnerships. The protocol's design point is the legal-and-technical separation between the on-chain tokenised pool, the off-chain SPV (special-purpose vehicle) that holds the underlying assets, and the institutional asset manager that runs the strategy, with Centrifuge providing the platform layer that wires the three together. For an institutional tokenisation operator, Centrifuge is the most-cited example of a public-chain-native RWA protocol that has built credible institutional rails on top, and the natural counterpart to Securitize for asset managers wanting public-chain DeFi distribution rather than US-perimeter regulated wrappers.
What it is
Centrifuge is a tokenisation protocol with a multi-chain deployment (Ethereum, Base, and the Centrifuge Chain that originated as a Substrate-based parachain). The platform has historically sat at the intersection of two markets. On the DeFi side, Centrifuge originated as the bridge between on-chain credit pools (the Tinlake protocol) and Maker's DAI, with the early use cases concentrated in trade-finance, invoice-financing, and tokenised real-estate credit. On the institutional side, the protocol has progressively moved into more conservative asset classes (tokenised MMFs, tokenised CLOs) with regulated asset managers acting as the strategy operators.
The Anemoy programme is the most-cited Centrifuge product on the institutional side. Anemoy is a tokenised liquid-treasury fund originally launched on Centrifuge Chain, with subsequent multi-chain deployment and integration with Sky's Grove allocator system. Janus Henderson is an institutional asset-manager partner on the AAA CLO product, where the on-chain wrapper exposes investors to a traditional CLO strategy with on-chain settlement and transfer mechanics ([reportedly via the Centrifuge institutional documentation; specific live volumes should be verified against current disclosure]).
The structural primitive is the SPV-plus-tokenisation pattern. The underlying asset (Treasuries, CLO tranche, private-credit pool) is held in an off-chain SPV under whichever jurisdiction makes the credit, securities, and tax treatment work for the strategy. The on-chain token represents a beneficial interest in the SPV, with the legal documentation in the SPV's offering memorandum mapping the on-chain holder's rights to the off-chain asset.
Operating model
The Centrifuge platform separates the protocol layer from the SPV layer from the asset-manager layer. The protocol provides the on-chain wrapper, the issuance and redemption mechanics, and the cross-chain transfer rails. The SPV provides the off-chain legal entity that holds the underlying asset and contracts with the institutional asset manager. The asset manager runs the strategy.
The participation set varies by product. On the Anemoy side, Centrifuge as protocol, Anemoy as strategy operator, and (for the Grove allocation thread) Sky as the on-chain allocator deploying USDS into the tokenised pool. On the Janus Henderson side, Centrifuge as platform, the relevant SPV as legal issuer, Janus Henderson as the asset manager.
The cross-chain transfer model uses Centrifuge's own bridging primitives, with multi-chain deployment driven by the destination of institutional liquidity. Where institutional buyers concentrate (Ethereum mainnet for the largest pools, Base for some allocator integrations), the tokens are deployed; where DeFi-native treasuries hold balances (Solana, the broader L2 ecosystem), the deployment depends on the strategy.
The Grove integration is the most operationally consequential of Centrifuge's institutional partnerships. Sky (formerly MakerDAO) deploys DAI / USDS allocator capital into Centrifuge-hosted tokenised pools, with the Janus Henderson AAA CLO and other conservative-credit strategies as the named target allocations. The structural design is that the Sky governance approves a target allocation, the allocator routes the capital into the Centrifuge pool, and the on-chain token represents the resulting position. Janus Henderson runs the underlying strategy.
Why it matters
Three reasons. First, Centrifuge is the public-chain-native RWA protocol that has gone furthest in attracting institutional asset-manager partnerships. Most public-chain RWA protocols (Maple, Goldfinch, others) are concentrated in DeFi-native lending pools without TradFi asset-manager mandates; Centrifuge has cleared the institutional partnership threshold with Janus Henderson and through the Grove allocator. Second, the SPV-plus-tokenisation pattern is the structurally cleanest way to bring a TradFi asset-management strategy on-chain without requiring the asset manager to take direct on-chain operational risk. The asset manager runs the strategy, the SPV holds the asset, the protocol exposes the on-chain wrapper. That separation is replicable across asset classes. Third, the Sky/Grove allocator integration is a non-trivial signal: a major DeFi-native stablecoin issuer (Sky / DAI) is using a public-chain RWA protocol (Centrifuge) to deploy meaningful capital into a regulated-asset-manager strategy (Janus Henderson). This is the worked example of DeFi-to-TradFi capital flow through tokenisation, and it has implications for how the GENIUS Act and MiCA reserve-investment rules end up applying to stablecoin issuers reaching for yield through on-chain RWA wrappers.
The competitive map is partly Securitize and Tokeny on the regulated-platform side (although those operate in a different distribution perimeter), partly Maple Finance and Goldfinch on the DeFi credit side, and partly the bank-issued tokenised funds (BUIDL, FOBXX, OUSG) on the conservative-yield side. Centrifuge sits in the cross-cutting position of being public-chain-native but with an institutional asset-manager mandate base.
Recent moves
- 15 April 2026. Centrifuge V3 EVM migration completed, putting the protocol natively across nine ledgers (Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Solana via wrapped representations, plus the original Centrifuge Chain). The migration is the structural prerequisite for the Aave Horizon integration to scale across destination chains.
- 2025-2026. Sky/Grove allocator deployed USD 250m of JAAA on Avalanche, the canonical worked example of a DeFi-native stablecoin issuer using a regulated TradFi credit strategy at meaningful scale on a non-Ethereum L1.
- April 2025. Aave Horizon launches with JAAA, JTRSY, and BUIDL as launch collateral, with GHO as the borrowable asset; Horizon scaled to USD 100m TVL inside the first week (Aave Horizon launch). The launch is the first Aave-native institutional-collateral lane and the first publicly-documented case of Centrifuge-issued tokenised products being natively borrowable-against on a major public-chain DeFi venue. See Centrifuge V3 + Aave Horizon theme.
- 2024-2025. Anemoy on-chain MMF programme expanded across multiple chains, with Sky/Grove allocator deploying USDS into the tokenised pool.
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- Janus Henderson AAA CLO product launched on Centrifuge with on-chain access to the institutional credit strategy.
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- JAAA crossed USD 1bn TVL through the year, becoming the first tokenised CLO product on a public-chain RWA protocol to clear that threshold (Centrifuge writeup).
- Continued growth in TVL across Centrifuge-hosted RWA pools tracked broadly with the wider tokenised-MMF and tokenised-credit market through 2025-2026.
Open questions
- Period-specific TVL split across Centrifuge institutional pools (Anemoy, Janus Henderson AAA CLO, others). Aggregate figures circulate but the per-product breakdown is not consistently disclosed.
- Centrifuge's positioning under the GENIUS Act for any US-distributed product. The protocol is multi-jurisdictional but specific US-perimeter wrappers are not consistently disclosed.
- Whether Centrifuge follows Securitize and Ondo into the SEC-registered transfer-agent and broker-dealer perimeter, or stays in the public-chain-protocol perimeter.
- Cross-protocol composability of Centrifuge tokenised pools as collateral on other DeFi venues. The structural fit is obvious; the live integrations are not consistently disclosed.