Maple is bringing capital markets on-chain by building cutting-edge digital asset technology that enables differentiated real world lending opportunities and solutions. In the 18 months since launch, we have only made a small dent in the market. We welcomed strong and reputable partners to Maple as Lenders, Borrowers and Delegates. We established partnerships with key ecosystem players that have long-term value for Maple and the broader crypto-economy. Building capital markets on-chain takes time, and moving into 2023 after a year of ups and downs, we have never been more convinced by our mission and certain of the steps to get there.

Today, we released Maple 2.0. New contracts, product features and improvements, and take this opportunity to share our three strategic focus areas going into 2023.

Maple 2.0 - New smart contract architecture and product features

Maple 2.0 is a fundamental overhaul of the smart contract architecture that improves on current flaws and provides a flexible and strong base to scale. The contracts are modular, so iterative development of new features, loan structures and strategies can be more efficiently delivered. The first version of the protocol enabled Maple to grow from zero to $2 billion in loan originations. Maple 2.0 facilitates scaling into the tens of billions and beyond.

New product features along with UX and UI improvements are also revealed today. These developments are informed by experience, community feedback and user testing with long-term partners and users. Take a look around.

What’s new:

- Withdrawals can now be scheduled and prorated. Withdrawals can now be scheduled and prorated for everyone who has requested a withdrawal in that window. This provides more certainty as to when positions can be withdrawn and ensures withdrawals cannot be gamed.

- First Loss Capital is now solely provided in the pool asset. First Loss Capital is now provided solely by the Pool Delegate and denominated in the pool asset only. This aligns incentives between Lenders and Delegates to ensure underwriting standards are maintained. MPL is removed from First Loss Capital, stabilizing the value in default scenarios.

- Lenders can request to withdraw at any time. Lenders are now able to deposit and request to withdraw without waiting for the existing 30 day capital lock-up to lapse.

- Automatically compounding interest. Interest earned will automatically be reinvested into the pool, removing the administration of redepositing.

- New and more immediate default process. In the instance when a borrower meets a condition of default, a Pool Delegate will be able to declare an early default. This declaration will bring the loan payable immediately. When a borrower doesn’t pay within the grace period the Delegate can liquidate the loan, and all lenders in a pool will realize a loss immediately whilst recovery is pursued.

- Adoption of ERC-4626 standards for interoperability within DeFi. Adoption of the ERC-4626 standard will unlock opportunities for DeFi integrations and partnerships.

- Improved Data & Dashboards. The WebApp now displays more on-chain loan descriptions and history. We are hard at work creating more views into loan payment dates, refinance history, and charts reflecting historical data.

Maple 2.0 - Strategic focus areas for 2023

From the improvements made to our smart contracts, and our collective learnings from a rollercoaster 2022, Maple has a stronger foundation from which to continue building our business. We are energized as a driver of blockchain technology adoption to facilitate true commercial value and opportunities.

1. Diversified lending opportunities

Maple found product-market fit with Delegates that issued credit to crypto market-makers, scaling to $2BN in loans originated from the protocol. The power of Maple’s tech is clear. The next stage in our evolution is to onboard a broader range of Delegates to make use of Maple’s infrastructure, and in turn provide lenders with differentiated opportunities to deploy capital.

Looking forward, Maple can be the marketplace where Lenders explore and choose from a variety of lending options that suit their risk appetite, term-preferences, and chosen industry vertical. Within the nascent industry of crypto there are a limited number of lending opportunities. Outside of crypto, the lending opportunities are abundant. With Maple’s infrastructure, these opportunities can be facilitated on-chain and made more efficient, accessible and transparent.

• Diversification within crypto. Now, and into 2023, we will continue our plans to help facilitate ecosystem growth. First on the ‘intra-crypto lending pool’ list are web3 infrastructure providers and node validators. These mid-sized firms have predictable cash flows, strong balance sheets and operations stress tested through multiple crypto cycles.

• Diversification into the real-world. Maple will soon bring real-world lending opportunities on-chain. Treasury, insurance and trade receivables products are potential opportunities that present lower-risk lending alternatives in an uncertain economic environment. With 6 months of volatility behind us, we look forward to providing crypto participants with access to real-world, secured lending opportunities on-chain.

2. Attract new and reputable Delegates

The catalyst to Maple’s scalability is in onboarding more Delegates to the platform. In 2023 we intend to attract more Pool Delegates with diverse expertise in varied markets. Maple’s bundled technology and commercial services replace the status-quo systems in traditional finance, and is the reason why many firms will elect to launch a Pool on Maple. By continuing to build the required full-service tools to run efficient lending businesses, Maple can become the go-to technology provider for credit professionals and established funds.

• Full suite of loan products. Collateralized and uncollateralized; open-term and short term; fixed and variable. We will build a full-suite of loan products so any and all Delegates can launch a lending pool, unique to their strategy on Maple.

• Data, dashboards and reporting. Maple will support new and existing Delegates by providing data tooling to actively assess risk and manage their loan books. Institutions require monthly invoices and statements for reporting and auditing purposes. The team will build the tools so this is both easily accessible and automated.

• Legal recourse. Currently, all borrowers sign loan agreements which provide a venue for arbitration and litigation as necessary and appropriate. As we move to provide our services to a broader range of Delegates and institutional borrowers we will continue to strengthen our legal protections.

3. Build cutting-edge digital asset technology on Ethereum

Having a singular focus on Ethereum will enable our team to innovate our smart contracts on the strongest platform and ecosystem. The commercial, product and engineering teams will continue active consultation and development with high-value ecosystem players, to understand needs, requirements and remove all frictions for composability and integration. We will release our 2023 product roadmap which supports our strategic objectives in the coming weeks.

• Focus on the dominant chain. We have made the strategic decision to discontinue Maple Solana. At the turn of the year, we were excited about the ecosystem opportunities on the “challenger-chain” as well as benefits to our users. By making improvements to the Maple Ethereum App as well as Ethereum’s move to Proof of Stake, we are confident that frictions on Ethereum will no longer be prohibitive to current and prospective users of the Maple protocol. More than that, the Ethereum ecosystem is thriving and the obvious entry point for institutions participating in digital asset technology. We want to be a key contributor to its undeniable value.

• Compose and build with partners. In 2023 we will roll-out the Maple SDK leveraging the new smart contract infrastructure. Custodians, exchanges and other institutional service providers will be able to integrate with Maple directly to provide the diversified lending opportunities to their customers.

The future of on-chain capital markets is the efficiency of blockchain technology combined with best in class risk management. We are convinced that by blending both worlds, with strong partners, Maple can transfer the value of capital markets on-chain.

2022 has highlighted opportunities for improvement at a protocol and industry level. We hope that Maple 2.0 is evidence of our commitment to continuous improvement and that the Maple team endeavors to be a long-standing, credible ecosystem player. We understand the responsibility we have as a leading protocol and welcome any and all feedback and enquiries as we build the future of capital markets.