Gate News message, April 23 — Pre-launch DeFi lending protocol Lotus has integrated WisdomTree’s Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX) as part of the reserve framework backing LotusUSD, its core vault token. This marks one of the first instances of a money market fund being referenced within a DeFi lending protocol.
WTGXX currently tokenizes over $857 million in U.S. Treasuries across Ethereum and Arbitrum, with a 7-day APY of 3.49%. The integration is designed to provide lenders with baseline yield even at zero utilization, addressing a structural problem in standard DeFi lending where returns decline when borrowing demand is low. LotusUSD reserves are composed of USDC and tokenized short-duration U.S. Treasuries.
The integration was enabled by WisdomTree’s recently granted SEC exemptive relief, which permits 24/7 instant settlement of WTGXX shares—a critical requirement for compatibility with around-the-clock DeFi infrastructure. “We are seeing growing interest in connecting regulated financial assets, such as WTGXX, with blockchain-based infrastructure,” said Maredith Hannon, head of business development for digital assets at WisdomTree.
The announcement follows the Kelp bridge exploit, which resulted in an attacker minting unbacked rsETH and using it as collateral on Aave to borrow nearly $200 million, leaving Aave facing between $124 million and $230 million in bad debt. Lotus founder and CEO David Reising directly linked the protocol’s design to this event, stating that DeFi lending yields are overly reliant on risky, volatile collateral. Lotus addresses this by implementing a tranched market structure, allowing lenders to select explicit risk profiles within a single connected liquidity pool.
Lotus pre-deposit vaults are scheduled to open in May 2026, with general availability to follow. Early access requests are open on the protocol’s launch page.
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