DeFi offers an alternative to all aspects of finance, including lending and borrowing. However, access to services may be cumbersome due to the fragmented nature of the space.
"Crosschain lending today doesn't feel connected. It's difficult to access opportunities across chains without bridging assets. What’s missing is an experience that allows users to take advantage of any lending opportunity,” said Ahmed Serghini, CEO of Soul Protocol, during a recent Cointelegraph X Spaces session.
🎙️ Unlocking liquidity on multiple chains without bridges? We talked about that recently on our X Spaces with @0xSoulProtocol.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 11, 2025
Check out the details in the recap:https://t.co/OMmDAmeR7D
Soul Protocol addresses this issue by offering a unified lending ecosystem across multiple blockchains and platforms. Launching its testnet in April 2025, the platform already boasts 235,000 users, 107,000 unique wallets and over 1 million transactions.
Solving fragmentation
As Serghini noted, they don’t compete with other lending protocols; rather, they connect them.
"In practice, this means that a user who deposits assets on Aave through the Ethereum chain using Soul can use the same collateral to borrow from Venus on the BNB Smart Chain or any other supported protocol without bridging funds,” the speaker explained. “So, we’re not moving assets between chains. We send messages from one chain to another using crosschain messaging infrastructures like LayerZero, Axelar, Wormhole, CCIP and others. That allows us to track users’ positions across networks and enable lending actions.”
While users enjoy a seamless experience, the system runs on a technically complex infrastructure. One of the team's biggest challenges was designing a scalable model that also protects users' positions on base protocols.
"We solved that problem by implementing a structure where they can never be liquidated. Liquidity supplied to Soul is deposited into the protocol selected by the user, and Soul manages borrowing against that collateral in a way that ensures liquidations only happen on Soul’s side. This allows us to transfer the entire liquidation logic to Soul itself. It reduces risks and creates an additional revenue stream for us,” said Serghini.
The speaker also shared scenarios for possible Soul income streams. “We can apply a reserve factor to both the supply and borrow sides, in addition to what the base protocol already applies. We can also implement a fee for every crosschain borrowing interaction. It’s especially powerful since it’s tied to transaction volume rather than total value locked (TVL). In this case, we won't split fees with liquidity providers."
Additional revenue may also come from liquidation penalties, flash loan fees and integrations with services like Stargate. Through them, Soul can collect a portion of the routing fees from external liquidity paths.
Serghini emphasized the protocol’s cautious approach to expansion: “Soul is chain-agnostic, but we’re starting conservatively. We only integrate lending protocols and chains with proven track records, significant market share and strict security standards. Later, our community and SToken holders will vote on new integrations and expand Soul's activity.”
Rethinking value and utility
SO Token, the project’s governance token, unlocks value for holders by capturing protocol fees generated through user activity. Its value is directly aligned with the protocol’s growth, as all revenue is derived solely from fees paid for using the platform.
In addition to governance power, the Soul Protocol team plans to implement a buyback mechanism for SO Token. As Serghini explained, all protocol revenue will be used to purchase SO Tokens from the open market. "This will create constant buying pressure for the token, as well as drive trading volume. The repurchased SO Token will then be redistributed across money markets to boost yields, ensuring that Soul always offers more attractive returns than base protocols alone,” he noted.
Continuing, the CEO said: "Additionally, SO Token holders will help shape the protocol's future through a system of gauges and emissions. They will decide which money market receives the redistributed revenue and how much is allocated to it. We will also introduce a position-boosting module. Users who supply liquidity and boost their positions with SO Tokens will earn a share of the revenue.”
"We can't wait to finally launch Soul on the mainnet. We want to give back to our users through the public sale and increased SO Token allocation to the community. Our next steps include bringing RWAs, such as treasury bonds, stocks and tokenized real estate, as collateral,” Serghini said.
He concluded, saying: "We want users to access liquidity in a trustless, crosschain way, no matter where their assets are. Our ultimate goal is to build a sustainable ecosystem rooted in utility and long-term growth.”
Find out more about Soul Protocol
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