Understanding Huma Finance: A Comprehensive Overview

Key Insights

• Huma Finance is a payment financing (PayFi) protocol, offering structured settlement liquidity for use cases like cross-border payments and credit card settlements. Huma addresses inefficiencies in traditional payment systems by connecting liquidity providers and borrowers through blockchain infrastructure.
• Huma Finance operates two distinct products for liquidity providers: Huma Institutional, a permissioned service requiring KYC/KYB verification, and Huma 2.0, a permissionless service targeted for retail investors.
• Huma Finance has originated $2.3 billion in credit for cross-border payments and other payment financing use cases, with $4.5 billion in total transaction volume. It operates on Solana, Stellar, and EVM-compatible blockchains, with 12 active lending pools, and acts as the financing layer of the PayFi stack.
• $50 million in USDC have been deposited into Huma 2.0 by 53,400 depositors since its launch on April 9. Of this, 66.1% ($32.9 million) were deposited into the Maxi mode, and 33.9% ($16.9 million) were deposited into the Classic mode.
• Huma has raised over $46 million in funding, including an $8.3 million seed round and a $38 million Series A led by Distributed Global. In 2024, Huma merged with Arf, a cross-border payments liquidity provider, to expand its reach in global payment financing.

Introduction

Payment financing is a financial primitive that helps users access credit, global trade finance, and remittance payments. Payment financing operates on the time value of money principle, which means that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future as it can be invested in a business or market to generate additional value over time. Payment financing is already a cornerstone of the traditional financial system, yet traditional offerings remain slow, expensive, and inefficient. Businesses, such as payment institutions, seeking liquidity for payment financing often face high fees, lengthy settlement times, and restrictive eligibility criteria. For example, traditional cross-border payment companies must prefund accounts in destination countries to enable same-day settlements for their clients. There is an estimated $4 trillion in prefunded accounts globally, while cross-border payments can still take days to settle. These limitations hinder economic participation, particularly in emerging markets, where many individuals and small businesses remain excluded from financial services.

Huma Finance is a financing infrastructure platform designed to address these inefficiencies by bringing payment financing (PayFi) onchain. Huma enables lenders to deposit capital and earn returns, and offer borrowers access to structured credit facilities with faster settlement times and a broader range of collateral options.

Borrowers access the liquidity on Huma through a range of commercial structures, including receivables-backed credit lines supported by RWA-backed lending. Their modular approach allows borrowers to customize their fee schedules and tranche structures to adapt to various financial use cases.

Lending on the Huma protocol is offered in two forms, Huma Institutional and Huma 2.0 (Permissionless). Huma Institutional is a permissioned service that requires KYC/KYB approval and is tailored for institutional and professional investors to lend capital into a specific Huma-operated pool, such as the Arf pool on Solana for cross-border payment financing. Huma 2.0 is a permissionless service tailored for retail investors to lend capital to a vault where a strategy manager allocates capital across a combination of Huma-operated pools and DeFi protocols like Kamino, Aave, and Pendle. As of May 21, Huma has originated $2.3 billion in credit for cross-border payments and other payment financing use cases, with $4.5 billion in total transaction volume.

Background

Team

• Richard Liu (Co-Founder and Co-CEO): Liu has an engineering background and significant experience at Google as an Engineering Director, where he launched multiple products, including Google Fi. He was previously the CTO at EarnIn and has entrepreneurial experience from founding Leap.ai, which Facebook acquired. Liu also has experience as a Venture Partner at Foothill Ventures, a technology-focused venture fund investing in seed to series-A round startups in the United States.
• Erbil Karaman (Co-Founder and Co-CEO): Karaman has a background in product and growth strategy. He previously led product and growth efforts at Lyft, EarnIn, and Meta (formerly Facebook). He has also been involved in various startups and investments in technology and finance, founding istanbul.500.co, a micro fund helping Turkish founders build globally successful companies.
• Patrick Campos (Chief Business Officer): Campos joined Huma in February 2025 with a background in finance, blockchain, and regulation, with expertise in liquidity, capital efficiency, and market infrastructure. He was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Securrency, focusing on institutional-grade blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology. He has been a strategic advisor to Huma and Arf, contributing to their liquidity and financial infrastructure design.

Fundraising

Source: Huma blog

Huma Finance has successfully raised capital through two fundraising rounds:

• Seed Funding Round- Feb. 23, 2023: Huma Finance raised $8.3 million from investors including Distributed Global, Race Capital, ParaFi Capital, Circle Ventures, and Folius Ventures.
• Series A Funding Round- Sept. 11, 2024: Huma Finance raised $38 million. Distributed Global led the round with significant participation from Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, the Stellar Development Foundation, and TIBAS Ventures, the CVC arm of İşbank, the largest private bank in Turkey. Part of this raise was invested in Arf’s high-yield RWA assets. The Stellar Development Foundation provided a $10 million investment. In April 2024, Huma merged with Arf, a cross-border payment liquidity provider, to expand its capabilities in the payment financing space.

Huma Institutional

Overview & Key Features

Huma Institutional has 12 total active lending pools: six on Solana, two each on Polygon and Celo, and one each on Stellar and Scroll.

Arf operates eight pools, six on Solana, one on Stellar, and one on Scroll. Jia has two pools, one each on Polygon and Celo. Rain has a pool on Celo, while BSOS operates a pool on Polygon. Each of these pools has been audited.

Huma Institutional operates in a modular system that supports payment financing applications by connecting borrowers, lenders, PayFi dApps, and underlying blockchain infrastructure through its core protocol and lending pools.

Users interact with the protocol through the Huma Institutional application or integrate directly via the SDK. Borrowers use this interface to request credit lines backed by future receivables or expected cash flows, while lenders allocate capital to various financing pools.

At the core are Huma Pools, where lending and borrowing activities occur. These pools are governed by the Huma Protocol Core, a set of parameters defining borrower requirements for credit issuance and repayment. The protocol also includes Structured Finance Modules that allow pool owners to customize pool parameters from the Huma Protocol Core, such as repayment schedules, fee structures, and tranche configurations. This flexibility enables pools to be adapted for different borrower profiles and financial products.

Huma’s pools include a risk management framework incorporating evaluation agents for credit assessment. Evaluation agents are third-party entities responsible for assessing borrower creditworthiness, approving credit requests, setting terms such as interest rates and limits, and managing defaults or restructuring events. Huma Institutional uses third-party service providers to conduct KYC/KYB checks and verify investor eligibility based on regulatory and jurisdictional requirements.

Lenders

Source: Huma Institutional application

Lenders on the Huma Institutional protocol supply tokens to lending pools in exchange for a share of the pool’s profits, as seen in the Arf pool on Solana. This model enables capital providers to generate yield to facilitate the protocol’s lending functions. Participation in Huma Institutional’s lending pools is subject to specific redemption mechanics that affect liquidity access and yield distribution.

Lending pools implement a lockup period, requiring lenders to wait a specified number of days before withdrawing their deposits. The pool pictured above has two lock-up period options: 3 months and 6 months. Each time a lender adds new funds to the pool, the lockup period resets. For example, if a lender deposits $1,000 on Jan. 1 into a pool with a 3-month lockup period, the funds become eligible for withdrawal on April 1. However, if the same lender adds an additional $1,000 on Feb. 1, the lockup period resets for the entire $2,000. As a result, the full $2,000 balance cannot be withdrawn until May 1.

Source: Huma Institutional Application

As exemplified in the pool above, each Huma pool offers two tranche structures: a uni-tranche structure, with only the junior tranche active, and a two-tranche structure, which includes both senior and junior tranches. Each tranche has distinct risk and reward profiles.

The Senior Tranche is a lower-risk investment that offers lower yields relative to the junior tranche. In the event of a default, lenders in this tranche are paid first in the loss recovery distribution process, making it a more secure option than the junior tranche.

The Junior Tranche is a higher-risk investment that offers higher potential returns than the senior tranche. If a default occurs, lenders in this tranche are paid only after the senior tranche, but they benefit from pool-wide first loss covers. This tranche assumes greater risk but benefits from higher yields when payments are made on time.

First loss covers partially or fully cover losses from defaults when borrowers default on payment obligations. These safety measures cover losses before they are passed on to the lenders. In Huma Institutional, each pool can have up to 16 different first loss covers, including:

• Extra collateral from the borrower.
• A reserve fund provided by the Pool Owner and the evaluation agent.
• Insurance. This option is listed for future consideration.

Pool Operators select one of two yield distribution methods for lenders. One is automatic yield payouts directly credited to lenders’ wallets on each periodic repayment date, while the other method’s yield is reinvested into the pool to compound returns. This structure allows capital to remain productive while ensuring a controlled distribution of yield. Lenders may also need separate approvals to provide liquidity across different tranches within the same pool.

Huma Institutional has two yield distribution policies, fixed yield and risk-adjusted yield. In fixed yield distribution, the yield for the senior tranche remains constant, except in the instance of risk loss. For risk-adjusted yield distribution, yields are adjusted based on the senior-junior asset ratio. A portion of the return is transferred from the senior to the junior tranche. For example, a 20% adjustment implies that 20% of the return shifts from the senior to the junior tranche.

Lending pools on Huma Institutional are permissioned, meaning lenders must be approved to join. Lenders must be qualified or accredited investors from a non-restricted country, complete a KYC/KYB (Know Your Customer/Know Your Business) check, and then review and accept legal documents. Once this is done, the system automatically adds that person as an approved lender.

Pool Operators have the discretion to remove a lender. If removed, the lender can no longer supply additional liquidity to the pool. However, the lender’s existing funds will stay in the pool, continuing to generate yield, and can be requested to redeem at any time.

Borrowers

Borrowers on Huma Institutional are participants seeking financing, such as small business owners needing short-term loans. Borrowers must fulfill their obligations by making timely repayments according to the specific pool’s terms. The first step for borrowers is to receive credit approval from the evaluation agent. Some key parameters agreed upon in a credit approval include the credit limit, loan duration, yield due for each payment period, and late fee amount.

Once a borrower receives credit approval, they can draw down funds from the lending pool. This drawdown can be conducted through the Huma Institutional application or the contract. The payment schedule is determined during the borrower approval process and may be monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.

At the end of each payment period, borrowers are expected to make the required payments, with a grace period granted for late payments (usually 5 days). Borrowers can also pay through AutoPay, which automatically deducts the amount from their wallet. Once the credit is fully paid off, it will be automatically closed.

Lending Pool Operations

Each pool has a set of admin roles to ensure its safe operation.

Pool Owners

Pool owners are responsible for creating and managing pools. They set key parameters, select the pool’s evaluation agent, and determine its fee structure. Key parameter examples include the maximum credit line for borrowers, the minimum deposit for lenders, and the grace period for late payments. Pool owners earn a share of the pool’s income as compensation and must be approved by the protocol owner. The protocol owner is responsible for administrative tasks, including adding and removing pool owners and pausers, unpausing the protocol, and transferring protocol income from the pool wallet to the protocol treasury. Executing protocol owner tasks requires a majority vote from a multi-sig wallet with a minimum of three signees.

Pool Operators

Pool operators act as operational staff supporting the pool owner. They review the results of KYC/KYB, accreditation, and approve lenders. Pool operator accounts do not need to be multisigs. Only the pool owner or pool operator can disable a pool, in rare circumstances, such as a borrower payment default. Once a pool is disabled, borrowers can no longer draw down funds, and lenders can no longer deposit funds.

Evaluation Agents (EA)

EAs act as the underwriter for the pool. They are responsible for approving or disapproving credit requests and declaring default if it becomes apparent that the borrower won’t be able to repay their obligations in full within a reasonable timeframe. The EA decides on the exact credit terms if a borrower is deemed eligible for credit. These terms include credit limit, duration, yield due each payment period, late fee rate, committed loan amount, and more. EAs can also restructure credits by updating the yield due each payment period and credit limit, or waiving late fees. A single EA manages each pool.

EAs earn a portion of the pool's income as a reward for their services. Both EAs and pool owners must invest capital in the pools they oversee before any capital can be accepted from other lenders. The combined minimum deposit amount from the pool owner and EA must be at least the amount outlined by the minimum liquidity parameter of the admin’s first loss cover.

Pool Ecosystem Overview

Huma currently supports 12 active lending pools across four different PayFi protocols. Arf operates eight pools, six on Solana, one each on Scroll and Stellar. Jia has two pools, one each on Polygon and Celo. Rain has a pool on Celo, while BSOS operates a pool on Polygon.

The following summaries describe the purpose of each protocol with an active lending pool on Huma and highlight their roles within the broader PayFi ecosystem.

• Arf is a global liquidity platform offering short-term, USDC-based financing for cross-border payments, eliminating the need for prefunded accounts. Leveraging onchain liquidity, Arf enables fast, low-cost settlements while reducing counterparty risk. In April 2024, Arf merged with Huma to expand its liquidity solutions.
• Rain is a digital asset-backed business credit card allowing Web3 companies and DAOs to spend USDC wherever Visa is accepted. It is built on Polygon and facilitates fast, low-cost transactions with mobile wallet integration.
• BSOS provides blockchain-based trade finance solutions, offering liquidity to startups and fintechs through short-term credit backed by projected revenue. Its Green Finance Pool enables accredited investors to fund projects like ChargeSmith’s EV charging network in Taiwan, with collateralized loans supporting infrastructure expansion.
• Jia is a blockchain-based microfinance platform that provides revenue-backed loans to small businesses in emerging markets like Kenya and the Philippines. It supports sectors such as healthcare, consumer goods, and transportation, offering capital for growth while rewarding borrowers with Jia tokens for timely repayment.

As of April 30, Arf was the largest active pool on Huma, accounting for 98% of the total credit originated. Moreover, monthly credit originated through Arf has grown from $65.7 million in May 2024 to $197.3 million in April 2025, a 200% year-over-year increase. In comparison, other active pools, operated by Rain, Jia, and BSOS, have originated a combined total of $1.26 million in credit.

This scale reflects Arf’s close collaboration with the Huma team. It aligns with their April 2024 merger, bringing Arf’s global transaction infrastructure and liquidity capabilities together with Huma’s platform for tokenized, real-world financial services. The integration aims to improve cross-border payments by removing working capital requirements and enhancing settlement speed through blockchain-based infrastructure. Arf and Huma brands continue to operate independently under a unified holding company.

Huma 2.0 (Permissionless)

Overview

Launched on April 9, Huma 2.0 (Permissionless) is the second PayFi infrastructure platform developed by Huma Finance. Huma 2.0 operates exclusively on the Solana blockchain and is the focus of Huma Finance going forward. It does not require KYC/KYB verification for depositors and allows users to provide liquidity unless they operate from a restricted country or the wallet is flagged by Chainalysis screening.

The protocol offers liquidity providers two participation options: Classic Mode and Maxi Mode. Users mint PST (PayFi Strategy Token) after supplying USDC to Classic Mode and mPST (Maxi PayFi Strategy Token) after supplying USDC to Maxi Mode.

Huma 2.0 also introduced a new rewards system, Huma Feathers, replacing the prior Huma Points program at a one-to-one conversion ratio. Huma Points previously earned remain accessible through the Huma Institutional application.

Both modes operate on the same underlying pool mechanics and LP token structure, but differ in how returns are allocated between fixed yield and protocol rewards. Classic Mode pays LPs through a USDC yield, currently 10.5% APY, and Huma Feather rewards. Participants can opt into no-lockup, three-month, or six-month lockup periods. No early redemptions are allowed for funds committed to a lockup period.

For each 1 USDC deposited in Classic Mode, LPs earn 1 Feather with no lockup, 3 Feathers for a three-month lockup, and 5 Feathers for a six-month lockup.

Maxi Mode offers only Huma Feather rewards and no direct USDC yield. For each 1 USDC deposited in Maxi Mode, LPs earn 5 Feathers with no lockup, 10.5 Feathers for a three-month lockup, and 17.5 Feathers for a six-month lockup.

LPs can switch between these two modes anytime, paying only gas transaction fees. When switching modes, a user’s current token (PST or mPST) is burned, and the corresponding token is minted, but the lockup status remains unchanged.

PST tokens are integrated with Orca, Jupiter, Meteora, and RateX. Orca, Jupiter, and Meteora enable direct swaps of PST to USDC. Huma’s partnership with RateX lets users trade PST tokens for one of two strategies, Yield Tokens (YT-PST) for amplified, high-risk yield returns or Principal Tokens (PT-PST) for stable, fixed returns. Huma Finance plans to integrate with Kamino Finance to enable borrowing against PST collateral, but the liquidity provision of PST on Kamino is live.

The mPST token does not currently support DeFi composability.

Users can swap their PST tokens for USDC before a lockup ends, but the Feather rewards earned by transferred PST tokens will be treated as ‘no-lockup’ tokens.

For example, if an LP deposits $1,000 into Classic mode with a 3-month lockup, this yields 3,000 Feathers at the end of 3 months. After two months, if the LP swaps $500 of the position on Jupiter for USDC, that portion will be treated as unlocked from the start. The revised Feather reward at the end of the 3-month lockup period would be 2,000 Feathers:

• $500 (treated as no-lockup) = 500 Feathers
• $500 (3-month lockup) = 1,500 Feathers

Any LP tokens transferred to another wallet will also lose their lockup status and be rewarded as no-lockup tokens. Once a lockup period is complete, users can redeem their LP tokens for rewards, unless the configurable daily redemption cap has been reached. Redemptions usually take 1 day to complete, up to a maximum of 7, but in April 2025, the median redemption time was four minutes.

Huma 2.0 also has a referral program in which users earn an additional 10% of the Feathers their referred friends collect during their first year of participation.

Liquidity Providers’ deposited USDC is operated by a strategy manager who deploys approximately 80% of capital into PayFi pools such as the Arf Pool on Solana, generating over 12.5% yield, and 20% into liquid DeFi strategies like Kamino, Aave, and Pendle, which return around 7%. After fees, the system delivers a net protocol yield of approximately 11%, with a cost of capital of about 10.5% paid to LPs.

Halborn audited Huma 2.0 in March to verify that funds are ‘correctly managed and only accessible by correct entities,’ referring to LPs and the pool’s strategy manager, but the pool’s capital allocation breakdown is not publicly available. Huma Co-Founder Richard Liu noted that deposited USDC is transferred into a Fireblocks multi-sig wallet managed by the strategy manager, and while underlying credit management remains offchain, all capital movements are recorded onchain and reported through the Huma Dune dashboard.

Borrowers exclusively interact through Huma Institutional for approval and credit line issuance, and do not engage with Huma 2.0. Liquidity deposited in Huma 2.0 subsequently funds borrowers’ PayFi needs.

Performance

Huma 2.0 has significantly increased depositor activity since launching on April 9, with the cumulative number of depositors on the entire Huma Finance platform rising 9.5x from 5,600 to 53,350 as of May 21. Within Huma 2.0, users have deposited $50 million in USDC to mint PST shares in the Classic mode and mPST shares in the Maxi mode. Of this, 66.1% (32.9 million) of shares were minted in the Maxi mode, while 33.9% (16.9 million) were in the Classic mode. The two most popular commitment terms are the six-month lockup in the Maxi mode, representing 33.2% (16.5 million) of total PST/mPST shares, and the no-lockup option in the Classic mode, accounting for 23.7% (11.8 million). These figures highlight the strong early traction of Huma 2.0, with users showing a clear preference for the Maxi mode and longer lockup commitments to maximize Feather rewards.

PayFi Stack

The PayFi stack, initially proposed by Huma Finance and outlined in Messari’s PayFi Ecosystem Analysis report, is a modular, open framework designed to facilitate efficient and compliant payment financing solutions. It comprises six layers: transaction, currency, custody, compliance, financing, and application. Each layer plays a distinct role in building scalable solutions to global payment finance challenges.

The transaction layer focuses on high throughput, low cost, and fast settlement, leveraging blockchain platforms such as Solana and Stellar. The currency layer uses stablecoins to provide price-stable digital money, while the custody layer ensures secure asset management. The compliance layer integrates regulatory solutions to mitigate illicit activity, and the financing layer supports specialized payment financing protocols. Finally, the application layer leverages all components to enable real-world use cases.

Huma is a pivotal player in the PayFi stack, operating within the financing layer. It applies the PayFi model to address liquidity gaps in traditional finance by combining blockchain security with stablecoin efficiency. Through integrations with leading blockchain platforms and compliance providers, Huma Finance plans to continue working alongside other protocols in the PayFi stack to help reshape global payment infrastructure.

Tokenomics

Purpose and Utility

The HUMA token is a utility and governance token for the Huma protocol with a maximum total supply of 10 billion tokens. The token will be used to compensate liquidity providers (LPs), community contributors and ecosystem partners, such as protocols integrated with Huma.

Token holders can stake HUMA to receive staking rewards and participate in governance decisions. Governance decisions will cover the allocation of incentives for LPs, ecosystem partners, and community contributors and adjustments to protocol parameters. Longer staking durations result in greater voting power. Specifics on Huma’s governance processes will be released a few months after the token generation event (TGE). In the future, HUMA may also be used to pay for new protocol functionality, such as real-time redemptions.

At TGE, the initial circulating supply of the HUMA token was 17.33% of total supply (1.733 billion HUMA). This included the full allocations for the initial airdrop (5% of total supply; 500 million HUMA), CEX listings and marketing (7% of total supply; 700 million HUMA), and market making and onchain liquidity (4% of total supply; 400 million HUMA). It also included 1% of total supply (100 million HUMA) from the protocol treasury allocation, and 0.33% of total supply (33 million HUMA) from the LP and ecosystem incentives allocation for a token swap with Jupiter DAO. The below section details the token allocation for the total supply of HUMA tokens.

Token Allocation

Liquidity Provider and Ecosystem Incentives — 31.0% (3.10 billion HUMA)

Allocated to reward both LPs and ecosystem contributors. LP rewards are based on deposit size and lockup duration. Ecosystem contributor rewards are based on Huma partners’ contribution to the protocol’s performance, including transaction volume and revenue generation.

Within this allocation, 0.33% of the total supply (33 million HUMA) was used for a token swap with Jupiter DAO. These tokens were included in the initial circulating supply.

A second airdrop of 2.1% of the total supply (210 million HUMA) under this allocation will occur about three months after TGE. Subject to governance voting changes, the release schedule of the remaining tokens in this category will decay by 7% every quarter.

Investors — 20.6% (2.06 billion HUMA)

Allocated to Seed and Series A investors. Tokens are subject to a one-year lock-up followed by linear quarterly vesting over three years.

Team — 19.3% (1.93 billion HUMA)

Allocated to core contributors and advisors of Huma Finance. Tokens are subject to a one-year lock-up followed by linear quarterly vesting over three years.

Protocol Treasury — 11.1% (1.11 billion HUMA)

Reserved to fund long-term development, grants, partnerships, and protocol-owned liquidity. 1% of total supply (100 million HUMA) under this allocation were unlocked at TGE; the remaining 10.1% (1.01 billion HUMA) will follow a linear quarterly vesting schedule over two years.

CEX Listings and Marketing — 7.0% (700 million HUMA)

Allocated to secure centralized exchange listings and global marketing campaigns. This category was fully unlocked at TGE.

Initial Airdrop — 5.0% (500 million HUMA)

The initial airdrop of HUMA tokens is being distributed to three groups, liquidity providers (LPs), ecosystem partners, and community contributors.

LPs who provided liquidity to any Huma Institutional or Huma 2.0 pools will receive 325 million HUMA (65% of initial airdrop), allocated proportionally based on Feathers earned at the snapshot time of May 18. These tokens are fully unlocked at TGE (except for institutional LPs with pre-defined vesting schedules).

Ecosystem partners will receive 125 million HUMA (25% of initial airdrop) allocated based on the amount of facilitated transaction volume and revenue generated for the Huma protocol. One-third of the allocation (41.7 million HUMA) vests at TGE, one-third (41.7 million HUMA) vests three months after TGE, and the final third (41.7 million HUMA) vests six months after TGE.

Community contributors will receive 50 million HUMA (10% of initial airdrop), fully unlocked at TGE. Contributors include active participants in social campaigns on Discord or Kaito, or open-source contributors to protocol development.

Market Making and Onchain Liquidity — 4.0% (400 million HUMA)

Allocated to ensure liquidity and reduce slippage across CEXs and DEXs. These tokens were fully unlocked at TGE for immediate deployment through strategic partnerships with institutional market makers.

Pre-Sales — 2.0% (200 million HUMA)

Allocated to early contributors and strategic backers involved in Huma’s foundational development. Vesting terms have not been publicly disclosed.

Roadmap

Huma Finance’s roadmap centers on scaling its platform, deepening its role in cross-border payment financing, credit card financing, and advancing the broader PayFi ecosystem through infrastructure, composability, and education.

Over the longer term, Huma is focused on supporting same-day (T+0) settlement financing for cross-border payments. Today, many international transactions settle in T+3 or T+4, creating inefficiencies for businesses. By targeting T+1 and, ultimately, T+0 settlement over the next decade, Huma aims to improve capital efficiency and reduce friction in global commerce, positioning PayFi as a viable alternative to legacy payment rails.

A key technical priority for Huma is addressing composability challenges between PayFi and DeFi. Huma is committed to advancing PayFi education and community development across crypto-native and traditional financial sectors. As co-founder Richard Liu noted, broad-based education is essential for PayFi to achieve mainstream adoption. Following the inaugural PayFi Summit at Token2049 Singapore in 2024, Huma and the Solana Foundation plan to continue co-hosting PayFi summits globally, which began with Consensus Hong Kong in February 2025 and Accelerate NYC in May 2025.

In the near term, Huma plans to expand the number of financing pools available on its applications and continue supporting new financing initiatives. With growing institutional and protocol demand, Huma is projecting to reach $10 billion in their all-time payment financing transaction volume by the end of 2025.

Closing Summary

Huma Finance is a payment financing (PayFi) protocol, offering structured settlement liquidity for use cases like cross-border payments and credit card settlements. Huma addresses inefficiencies in traditional payment systems by connecting liquidity providers and borrowers through blockchain infrastructure.

The platform operates two distinct lending models: Huma Institutional, a permissioned service for institutional investors requiring KYC/KYB verification, and Huma 2.0, a permissionless service for retail investors deploying capital across Huma pools and selected DeFi protocols.

To date, Huma has originated $2.3 billion in credit for cross-border payments and other payment financing use cases, with $4.5 billion in total transaction volume. The protocol currently supports 12 active lending pools: six on Solana, two each on Polygon and Celo, and one each on Stellar and Scroll. Backed by $46 million in funding and a leadership team with deep fintech experience, Huma is positioned to scale its infrastructure for institutional and real-world use.

The protocol aims to reach $10 billion in all-time transaction volume by the end of 2025 while enabling same-day cross-border settlement, improving DeFi–PayFi composability, and expanding global education through ongoing ecosystem initiatives and PayFi summits. Additionally, Huma plans to further engage the community in protocol participation through the future launch of a governance token and an associated airdrop.

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