Securitize and Gauntlet have launched a levered real-world asset (“RWA”) strategy, powered by Morpho using ACRED on Polygon PoS, the tokenized version of an Apollo managed multi-asset credit fund, and Securitize’s sToken vault technology. This collaboration bridges TradFi and DeFi by increasing the utility of RWAs on-chain, offering potentially enhanced yields currently unavailable in TradFi formats.

Investors can deposit their ACRED tokens on Polygon PoS into a Gauntlet-curated vault, which automatically executes the optimized strategy within a sophisticated risk management framework, eliminating manual position management. The vault deposits ACRED as collateral on Morpho and borrows USDC against it. The USDC is used to purchase more ACRED, which is again deposited as collateral. The loop remains active subject to risk levels established by Gauntlet’s quantitative optimization engine, which monitors yield and borrow rates across DeFi. As newly-minted ACRED enters the market, liquidity builds, and competitive risk-adjusted yields are generated.

This levered RWA strategy marks one of the first major institutional deployments of sTokens, a new standard developed by Securitize to enable responsible use of RWAs in permissionless DeFi. By issuing an sToken on ACRED, or sACRED, the strategy is powered by Morpho while retaining regulatory safeguards and investor protections to ensure the RWAs remain financeable and usable within the broader DeFi ecosystem.

The first iteration of the strategy is run on Compound Blue (powered by Morpho) on Polygon PoS. Following a successful pilot program, the strategy is expected to expand Ethereum Mainnet and other chains.

In January 2025, Securitize and Apollo formed a partnership to tokenize investment opportunities, starting with the launch of ACRED. Managed by Securitize, ACRED is a tokenized feeder fund that invests into Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, a diversified global credit strategy investing across corporate direct lending, asset-backed lending, and performing, dislocated, and structured credit.

“This is a strong example of the institutional-grade DeFi we’ve been working to build: making tokenized securities not only accessible, but compelling to crypto-native investors seeking strategies that objectively outpace their traditional counterparts,” said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize. “Offering this structure on ACRED demonstrates how real-world assets can sit at the center of a permissionless, composable yield strategy that could become competitive with stablecoin approaches.”

“Our collaboration with Securitize, Morpho, and Polygon delivers risk-optimized performance to ACRED holders through a measured process powered by Gauntlet’s unmatched blockchain-based risk management capabilities,” said Rahul Goyal, Gauntlet’s Head of Institutional Partnerships. “ACRED holders can optimize their performance through efficient on-chain rails, demonstrating the powerful capabilities decentralized finance can deliver for institutions.”1

“The leveraged RWA strategy using ACRED on Morpho is expected to deliver the institutional-grade DeFi that our industry has promised for years. This use case uniquely demonstrates how DeFi enables investors in funds like ACRED to access financial composability that is simply not possible on traditional rails,” said Paul Frambot CEO and Co-founder of Morpho.

“By bringing together Securitize, Gauntlet, and Morpho, we’re exploring the real potential of tokenized RWAs to deliver yield in a secure, regulated, and scalable way,” said Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon founder. “Polygon’s infrastructure offers a strong foundation for building and deploying advanced financial products—low-cost, high-throughput, and designed for security. With one of the highest numbers of RWA protocols after Ethereum, Polygon is the dominant player in the RWA and payments space.”

¹ This quote reflects the personal views of the Gauntlet team and should not be interpreted as a guarantee of future performance or an endorsement by Securitize.

Source: Securitize

The strategy allows permissioned ACRED holders to loop yield via a @gauntlet_xyz optimized vault on @MorphoLabs.

✔️ ACRED as collateral
✔️ Borrow USDC
✔️ Reinvest in ACRED
✔️ Repeat—automatically, within Gauntlet’s risk framework. pic.twitter.com/eg3AqWnWoy

— Securitize (@Securitize) April 30, 2025

This is institutional DeFi in action—combining the strengths of @apolloglobal, @gauntlet_xyz, @MorphoLabs, @0xPolygon, and Securitize to make tokenized credit more powerful, programmable, and productive.

🔗 Read the full announcement: https://t.co/6gUr6sVX1z

— Securitize (@Securitize) April 30, 2025