The permissionless credit protocol for DeFi
Programmable custody lets lenders extend undercollateralized loans to anyone. t1's verifiable computation infrastructure constrains how borrowed funds can be used and ensures lenders are fully repaid
Permissionless credit in DeFi has never been possible
Each one is a tax on capital efficiency, and each one closes the door on permissionless users.
Programmable custody
t1 provisions a TEE-controlled margin account for each user. The verifiable code running inside the TEE enforces loan policies to ensure lender repayment. The key signs a transaction only if it satisfies the loan policy. The margin account, not the borrower becomes the counterparty. This is called private key encumbrance in academia. We call it programmable custody.
The lender and the borrower sit outside a trusted execution environment. The lender's capital and the borrower's transaction intent both flow into it. Inside are an immutable loan policy, a keypair generated in the environment whose private half never leaves it, and a signature gate that signs trades permitted by the policy and refuses a withdrawal to the borrower. Signed transactions flow out to the trading venues.
t1 also proves state across chains in real time, which is how positions held on separate venues resolve into one margin account. See the docs →
Why this is the only architecture that works
Programmable custody
Smart contract models can only enforce inside smart contract environments. Execution is moving off-chain and cross-chain: Polymarket, Hyperliquid, and Lighter all run off-chain orderbooks. A TEE-held key is the only non-custodial way to enforce policy across all of them.
A transparent risk engine
Institutional lenders will not deploy against an opaque liquidation model. Real-time position monitoring, dynamic LTV, cross-chain price feeds, and liquidation execution are too complex and too gas-expensive to live in a smart contract. TEEs run that logic off-chain and attest results on-chain.
t1's credit infra already powers two applications
Provide liquidity to t1 lending pools to enable onchain leverage
Either set your own lending pool or deposit funds to an existing pool. Margin accounts enforce loan policies and ensure repayment
- Open-source risk engine
- Liquidations attested in real time
- Risk parameters customizable per vault
- No counterparty legal exposure
- Permissionless borrowers, no KYC to administer
Access credit without giving up custody
Co-founder of Secret Network, the first TEE-powered privacy L1 — $1.5B market cap, $60M+ raised. Previously MIT and McKinsey.
X →Previously an engineer at Scroll. Co-founded Knit and Cara Care, acquired by Bayer.
X →