YZi Labs Invests in TermMax to Scale Fixed-Rate On-Chain Bond Infrastructure

Terms of the strategic investment were not disclosed, but the alignment carries weight: TermMax was selected for YZi Labs' EASY Residency Season 3, placing it inside a narrow cohort of projects the firm is actively shaping rather than simply funding. Live on mainnet since April 2025, the protocol now spans 10 EVM-compatible chains, runs 60 fixed-rate markets and 40 strategy vaults, holds tens of millions of dollars in total value locked, and counts more than 1.5 million registered wallets.

The Fixed-Rate Gap in On-Chain Liquidity

What TermMax is constructing, in essence, is an observable interest rate curve between assets that have so far traded in isolation — the exact absence Jerry Li, the protocol's co-founder and CEO, set out to address. In the announcement coverage he explains: "When I left banking, there were a few hundred billion dollars of assets sitting on-chain without a single directly observable interest rate curve between them. In traditional markets, that would be unheard of. That is what made me decide to build this infrastructure on-chain."

That framing maps neatly onto YZi Labs' own thesis. In an August 14 post outlining what it wanted to see built, the firm noted that tokenized blue-chip equities have reached meaningful volume — the category now sits at $2.48 billion with holder count up 165% in 30 days — but the surrounding layer of credit, collateral management, risk transfer, and structured products remains underdeveloped. Options and other risk-transfer products, in particular, YZi Labs observed, are conspicuously absent.

Ripple Effects Across the Liquidity Map

TermMax has moved to occupy that gap on multiple fronts. In January 2026 it integrated Ondo Global Markets to launch what the team describes as the first fixed-rate borrowing market accepting tokenized U.S. equities as collateral, then added Binance's bStock. More recently it went live on Robinhood Chain, where QQQ, SPY, and NVDA can be posted against USDG.

The more architecturally interesting decision sits inside TermMax Alpha, which introduces physical-delivery options with no liquidation before expiry. The conversion price fixes when the position opens, and settlement occurs by physical delivery at expiry. A directionally correct position therefore cannot be knocked out by a few minutes of volatile trading in thin liquidity — the precise failure mode that makes perpetuals structurally unsuitable at the illiquid end of tokenized equities. When liquidation does occur, it settles by physical delivery to the lender rather than selling into the market, an assumption that holds poorly for any tokenized equity with only a few million dollars of depth.

Institutional plumbing is also quietly forming around the protocol. TermPrime completed its first live trade on Canton Network at the end of June and has since grown its counterparty network to nine institutions. Curators managing strategy vaults include Keyrock, Hardcore Labs, Edge Capital, and Origami. The $TMX token completed its TGE on August 25. Earlier backers span Cumberland DRW, which led the 2023 seed round, HashKey Capital, Decima Fund, Longling Capital, and MZ Web3 Fund, with more than $8 million raised to date.

The open question — and the one worth watching — is whether fixed-rate borrowing and physical-settlement options can actually anchor the interest rate curves that tokenized equities require, or whether the illiquid tail of these assets will keep pulling the entire structure back toward perpetual futures. The capital alignment is in place; the curve itself is still being drawn.