Animoca-backed NUVA has launched a marketplace connecting $19 billion of tokenized assets from Figure Technologies to Ethereum’s DeFi markets.
Summary
- NUVA debuts with a Treasury-linked yield vault and a token tied to Figure’s $18B home equity credit portfolio.
- Users deposit stablecoins into vaults and receive ERC-20 tokens that can be traded or used as DeFi collateral.
- CEO Anthony Moro says the platform fills a gap in global distribution for institutional-grade blockchain assets.
NUVA, developed by Animoca Brands and Nuva Labs, is now live on Ethereum, giving retail and institutional users access to real-world asset products that previously sat on the Provenance Blockchain.
The platform launched with two flagship vaults: one linked to Figure’s SEC-registered YLDS yield stablecoin and another tied to a pool of home equity lines of credit with over $16 billion funded to date.
Figure Technologies, founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, is one of the largest issuers of blockchain-native private credit products. Cagney said: “We’re excited NUVA has decided to launch using Figure’s HELOCs and $YLDS as initial assets. It is good to see the platform leverage the unique capabilities of the Provenance Blockchain and contribute to continued expansion in DeFi.”
What NUVA’s model changes for DeFi
Users deposit stablecoins into NUVA vaults and receive ERC-20 tokens representing ownership in the underlying assets. Those tokens can then be traded, lent, or posted as collateral across Ethereum-based protocols, turning institutional credit products into composable DeFi instruments.
Anthony Moro, CEO of Nuva Labs and a former BNY executive, described the core problem the platform is solving. “Nobody really has that unified global distribution layer for blockchain-native assets,” Moro said. “We thought what was missing was a platform where users could access institutional-grade assets in a simple, composable format.”
Broader context in the RWA market
The NUVA launch arrives as tokenized real-world asset activity continues to accelerate. Total tokenized RWAs onchain surpassed $12 billion by March 2026, more than doubling from $5 billion at the start of 2025, according to RWA.xyz data. Ethereum currently hosts over 60% of that value by chain.
Animoca, which is targeting a Nasdaq listing through a reverse acquisition of Currenc Group, is positioning NUVA as the commercial distribution layer for that RWA activity.
Moro said future plans include expanding to other blockchains and adding asset classes beyond Figure’s current product set. “Cheaper, faster and safer will win,” he said. “That’s how all financial assets eventually come onchain.”
