Tala Launches Tokenized Lending Platform to Serve Unbanked Global Borrowers
Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO, Tala./FILE
Financial infrastructure firm Tala has unveiled a pioneering tokenized lending platform aimed at providing credit to borrowers without a banking history worldwide.
The company plans to deploy a $50 million credit facility via the platform in USDC, enabling blockchain-powered, permission-less lending for millions of global customers.
The platform, developed in partnership with Huma Finance, is the first of its kind in Kenya and operates on Solana, supported by USDC liquidity through the Huma Protocol.
By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) underwritten consumer lending, Tala offers faster access to credit, competitive rates, and a portable digital reputation for consumers historically excluded from traditional financial systems.
Tala’s existing customer base of nearly 13 million across multiple emerging markets provides immediate scale for blockchain adoption.
Shivani Siroya, Tala’s founder and CEO, said the platform combines Tala’s trusted lending infrastructure with blockchain technology to expand financial access, eliminate systemic inefficiencies, and enable millions to participate in the global digital economy.
The solution is powered by Tala’s proprietary credit engine, trained on $7 billion in lending performance data, allowing the evaluation of borrowers who have been previously overlooked.
By tokenizing these loans in an overcollateralized facility and connecting them to Huma’s liquidity pools, Tala introduces a new funding mechanism for emerging market credit, bringing global capital directly to high-demand markets efficiently and transparently.
Erbil Karaman, Co-Founder of Huma Finance, emphasized that the collaboration sets a new standard for overcollateralized, data-driven, fully digital tokenized lending, delivering on the promise of an open and efficient global financial system.
Huma Finance provides compliant, transparent on-chain infrastructure, connecting digital assets to over 100,000 liquidity providers worldwide.
The partnership moves loan disbursement and repayment on-chain, enhancing transparency, lowering costs, and opening access to global liquidity.
Solana Foundation’s Maya Caddle highlighted the initiative as a major step toward scalable, accessible internet capital markets, bringing millions of emerging market consumers into the global blockchain ecosystem.
Through tokenized lending, lenders gain a new asset class backed by verified repayment behavior, while processes such as risk management, fractionalization, and smart contract automation improve efficiency, transparency, and balance sheet management, positioning Tala as a global leader in blockchain-enabled financial inclusion.