TermMax Mainnet Launch: Fixed-Rate Lending Protocol Reshaping the DeFi Lending Model

DeFi Fixed Income Revolution: From Rate Volatility to Deterministic Yields

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is undergoing a paradigm shift from “floating interest rate–dominated” models to “structured product–driven” ones. On April 15, 2025, TermMax launched synchronously on both the Ethereum and Arbitrum mainnets, marking a new phase in this process. As the first protocol to combine fixed-rate lending with leverage strategies, TermMax provides risk-controlled yield instruments for both retail and institutional investors through one-click operations and customized interest rate curves. Its design has been compared to “Uniswap V3 for the lending market.”

Technical Architecture: AMM Innovation and Interest Rate Curve Construction

TermMax’s core breakthrough lies in its “customized AMM interest rate range order book.” Similar to Uniswap V3, this model allows market makers to set interest rate ranges based on asset types, risk preferences, and duration, while also supporting one-sided market making (only deposits or loans), thereby breaking through the limitations of traditional curves. For example, users can choose to provide lending quotes in the ETH/USDC market with a collateral ratio of 90-110%, and the system will automatically match the optimal rate.

The underlying support of this architecture is derived from Uniswap V4’s Singleton contract and Flash Accounting features, which reduce the management cost of cross-term order books by 40%. Furthermore, TermMax introduces Pendle Finance’s PT token as collateral, enabling users to convert yield-bearing tokens (such as stETH) into fixed income assets, thereby achieving yield stacking. Testnet data shows that the annualized interest rate volatility in the ETH/USDC market drops from 35% in floating rate protocols to 8% in fixed-rate schemes, validating its stability.

Market Significance: Filling a Trillion-Dollar Demand Gap

Traditional DeFi lending protocols (such as Aave and Compound) using floating interest rate models suffer from two major pain points: interest rate volatility leads to unpredictable yields, and cross-protocol leverage operations are complex with high Gas costs. TermMax’s solution directly addresses these issues by:

1. Ensuring Deterministic Yields:
   Through an auction mechanism, locking in borrowing rates to hedge against market volatility;

2. Simplifying Operations:
   Offering a one-click circular holding function that supports leverage up to 5x, eliminating the need for manual fund allocation across platforms.

According to Coinbase’s 2025 DeFi Outlook Report, the market for fixed-rate instruments is expected to grow from the current US$20 billion to US$2 trillion, and TermMax’s differentiated “interest rate range order book + leverage integration” model, compared to Notional and Yield Protocol, may attract traditional financial institutions to participate through a KYC-compliant TSI network.

Industry Trends: RWA Integration and Yield Curve Maturation

TermMax’s long-term value lies in driving the standardization of DeFi yield curves. By aggregating fixed-rate lending demands for different terms, the protocol can generate a complete yield curve for assets such as ETH and USDC, becoming the “risk-free rate benchmark” for on-chain financial markets. This process is synergistic with the trend of tokenizing real-world assets (RWA)—for instance, assets such as mortgage-backed tokens and government bond tokens can be hedged through TermMax, lowering the entry barrier for traditional financial institutions.

Notably, TermMax plans to support cross-chain interest rate arbitrage on Solana and Base in Q3 2025. If integrated with APIs from exchanges like JuCoin, users will be able to directly connect platform assets to the TermMax strategy pool, optimizing multi-chain capital efficiency.

Challenges and Future Roadmap

Despite its promising prospects, TermMax still faces two main risks:

1. Reliance on Liquidation Mechanisms:
   An initial collateral ratio of 150% may trigger cascading liquidations during extreme market conditions, necessitating a dynamic collateral ratio adjustment model;

2. Regulatory Compliance:
   The cross-border KYC process for the institutional TSI network must conform to frameworks such as MiCA, which might limit the speed of global expansion.

Over the next six months, TermMax will launch the Vault Aggregator, allowing liquidity to be automatically allocated to the optimal interest rate market, and will deeply integrate with concentrated liquidity pools from protocols such as Curve V2 and Uniswap V4. For developers, its SDK supports custom yield strategies and can connect to JuCoin’s quantitative tool interfaces to build institutional-grade hedging solutions.