Source: Concrete Protocol

Introduction

The volatility of the crypto market presents both opportunities and risks for traders. While it can allow for significant earnings, it can also lead to severe downturns, as seen in rapid corrections—such as the Crypto Crash in May 2021—and black swan events like the FTX and Terra crashes. These events resulted in unprecedented liquidations throughout the market.

Concrete Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that creates capital-efficient solutions for on-chain debt and credit management to help mitigate the risks associated with trading. This includes protecting leveraged positions against collateral depreciation by calculating how likely the collateral’s value will drop, and automatically providing extra funds to prevent liquidation if at risk.

What is Concrete Protocol?

Concrete Protocol is a multi-chain DeFi platform that enables users to borrow, safeguard, and earn on their cryptocurrency assets while benefiting from guaranteed liquidity protection and yield optimization. Developed by Blueprint Finance, a team of seasoned experts from traditional and decentralized finance.

Concrete Protocol was created in response to the FTX crash in 2022, which resulted in significant financial losses for many traders. The platform aims to provide a safer environment for crypto trading and investment.

Concrete Protocol Team

Nic Roberts-Huntley

Nic is the CEO and co-founder of Blueprint Finance, the company responsible for developing Concrete Protocol. He previously served as vice president at a venture capital firm in the USA.

Nic holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Dillon Lang

Dillon is the co-founder of Blueprint Finance. He has previously worked in venture capital, where he raised funds for various businesses. Dillon graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in the United States.

Fundraising

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Protocol raised $7.5 million in a funding round led by Hashed and Tribe Capital. Other investors include SALT, Kyber, Hypersphere, Awesome People Ventures, Avalanche Foundation, and Terra Nova.

Main Features of Concrete Protocol

Concrete Earn

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Earn offers a streamlined approach for liquidity providers to maximize returns without incurring additional fees. By depositing assets into Concrete’s ERC-4626 standard vaults, users benefit from automated yield optimization across multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

Once deposited, users receive Concrete Assets (e.g., ctETH) representing their holdings in the vault, these tokens can then be used as collateral or staked within the Concrete ecosystem.

Yield Vaults and The ERC-4626 Standard

Yield vaults are decentralized finance (DeFi) instruments that automate the process of generating returns on deposited assets. They receive funds from multiple users and manage them through predefined smart contract strategies, such as lending and liquidity provision, often across multiple chains. The profits generated are either distributed among depositors or reinvested to compound returns.

The ERC-4626 standard is a protocol on the Ethereum blockchain for creating tokenized vaults representing shares of yield-bearing tokens within a smart contract. As an extension of the ERC-20 standard, users can deposit ERC-20 assets and receive shares proportional to their stake in the vault. The assets can also be withdrawn by burning these shares in exchange for the underlying tokens.

For a project like Concrete protocol, the ERC-4626 standard makes it easier to manage multiple yield-bearing tokens in one vault. The idea of a trusted and tokenized standard also guarantees security.

Concrete Borrow (Lite)

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Borrow provides users with access to optimal lending rates across leading DeFi money markets, such as Aave, Radiant, Silo, and Compound. Concrete covers the gas fees associated with initiating loans; the platform provides a unified portfolio page where users can monitor and manage their loans across multiple lenders and chains.

Concrete Protect

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Protect offers credit lines that improve the loan’s ‘Loan-to-Value’ (LTV) ratio, protecting users from liquidation when the collateral value falls.

This layer of protection is added on top of Concrete Borrow and deploys capital in tranches, each providing an extra buffer against liquidation. If all protection tranches are exhausted, Concrete ensures a more favorable exit by returning any remaining assets, minimizing the impact of liquidation. Borrowers can activate Concrete Protect by paying a small fee.

Probability Engine

The Probability Engine employs quantitative methodologies to calculate the likelihood of collateral depreciation and establish automated protection agreements to fund positions nearing liquidation thresholds.

How Does Concrete Protocol Work?

Architecture: Concrete Chain

Source: Concrete Protocol

The Concrete Protocol is structured as a Hub and Spoke model to integrate with different blockchain environments, including EthereumVM, SolanaVM, and MoveVM. In this design, the Concrete hub is hosted on its dedicated appchain, acting as the central point managing products, and using LayerZero messaging to communicate with the connected Spoke Chains.

Concrete Vaults

Source: Concrete Protocol

The Concrete vaults are yield-bearing vaults, specifically designed as an Ethereum standard to provide easier access to yield across various applications. In addition to generating yield, Concrete will also utilize the vaults to support the platform’s liquidation protection system.

When earners deposit assets into Concrete’s vaults, the funds are divided into two main categories: A portion of the deposited assets is actively managed through various money markets and strategies to optimize returns. In contrast, another portion is specifically reserved to support the loan protection feature.

As of the time of writing (February 2025), the vaults operate a deposit and yield model, allowing assets to provide liquidity across various markets. Concrete Protocol has partnered with notable projects, including Morph, Berachain, Ethena Labs, and Movement, to create vaults within their ecosystem.

Depositors will receive ct[ASSET] vault shares, and Users can freely use ct[ASSET] tokens within the Concrete ecosystem. Earners will also receive some of the fees generated from Concrete’s loan protection services. This includes fees for opening and canceling protection plans, and claims triggered during protection.

Concrete Assets (ct[assets])

Concrete assets are yield-bearing tokens issued to users when they provide liquidity to Concrete’s vaults. Each ct[asset] represents the underlying asset deposited plus any yield accrued during the holding period. For example, when users deposit into an ETH vault, they receive ct[ETH] tokens, which function as proof of their stake in the vault, and when users choose to withdraw their assets, they redeem their ctETH tokens.

Concrete’s system ensures sufficient liquidity to facilitate withdrawal by managing the funds set aside for loan protection and yield generation. If liquidity is temporarily limited, the withdrawal request enters a redemption queue.

Concrete X Movement Labs

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Protocol and Movement vault provides users access to earn yields in the Movement ecosystem. This will also generate liquidity and increase adoption for Movement. The vault supports BTC, stablecoins, and $MOVE, which are sourced from various leading asset issuers.

Concrete protocol manages the vault for stablecoins supporting Ethena’s USDe.

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete X Morph Vault

Source: Concrete Protocol

Concrete Protocol is partnering with Morph, an Ethereum L2 with a hybrid scaling solution, combining optimistic and ZK Roll-ups. Concrete will unlock access to automated yields on Morph’s DeFi ecosystem.

Supported assets include: AUSD, USDe, sUSDe, weETH, WETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT.

Concrete Protocol Ecosystem

Concrete protocol partners with various projects from Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains to DeFi and Infrastructure projects to create a vibrant and interactive ecosystem.

Blockchains

Movement Network

Movement Network is a modular and configurable Move Roll-up that provides a platform for deploying interoperable, application-specific chains. Concrete Protocol manages a deposit vault on the Movement network, where users can earn yields from their ecosystem.

Berachain

Berachain is an EVM-identical Layer 1 blockchain that uses Proof-of-Liquidity as a consensus mechanism to encourage users to provide liquidity to DeFi applications and create a synergy between validators and the ecosystem. In partnership with Ethena, Concrete protocol managed the Boyco deposit campaign. Boyco is a cross-chain order book for yield farming on Berachain dApps.

Note: As of the time of writing (February 2025), the campaign has ended.

DeFi

Lombard

Lombard Protocol enhances the utility of Bitcoin by enabling it to be used within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem through a liquid, yield-bearing token called LBTC (Liquid Bitcoin Staked Token), which users can deposit in Concrete vaults.

Solv Protocol

Solv Protocol allows Bitcoin holders to easily stake their Bitcoin and generate yield by bridging the gap between the Bitcoin network and DeFi through its Staking Abstraction Layer. Users can deposit their BTC in Concrete vaults through Solv Protocol.

Ethena

Ethena is a synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum that provides a crypto-native solution for money through its products; USDe, sUSDe, and ENA. Ethena users can earn yields on their assets by depositing USDe and sUSDe in Concrete vaults.

Infrastructure

Conduit

Conduit is a Rollup-as-a-Service that supports Optimism and Arbitrum frameworks where clients can deploy a Mainnet or Testnet Roll-up through their permissionless web application.

News on Concrete Protocol

Concrete Protocol Acquires Jet Protocol

Source: Concrete Protocol

To expand its reach beyond the EVM network, Concrete announced the acquisition of Jet Protocol on October 29, 2024, in a statement on Mirror. Jet Protocol, which shut down in May 2024, was one of the early money markets on the Solana network.

The new version of Jet Protocol will be deployed on Solana and the Atlas blockchain.

Conclusion

Concrete Protocol seeks to redefine credit, debt, and structured products in the crypto industry by offering innovative financial solutions. It offers liquidity providers attractive yield opportunities, reducing idle capital while maximizing returns. In a market known for high volatility, borrowers benefit from the liquidation protection feature, which ensures stability during extreme market corrections.