Onchain Student Loans Could Quadruple DeFi TVL

Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Siu highlighted the $3 trillion global student loan market as a major untapped opportunity. Moving even 10% of this onchain, he argued, would dramatically accelerate the growth of DeFi.

“You basically more than quadruple TVL in all of DeFi,” Siu said, calling it a sign that the industry is still in its early innings.

Web3 Tools for the Unbanked

Siu also emphasized how Web3-based education finance could serve as a gateway for crypto adoption—particularly among the unbanked.

“The first unbanked are the kids,” he said. “If a student receives and repays a loan onchain—regulated, better, faster, cheaper—they’re onboarded for crypto for life.”

He likened the opportunity to the early success of PayPal and Venmo, which scaled by serving underserved users.

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Animoca Bets on Blockchain-Based Student Loans

Siu spotlighted Animoca’s recent investment in Pencil Finance, a startup offering crypto-native student loans. Pencil Finance currently operates in the Philippines and Indonesia and plans to expand to the U.S.

On April 30, the company announced a $10 million initiative to issue blockchain-backed education loans at lower cost.

Siu said the industry needs more “positive-sum use cases” like student loans—solutions that are easy to understand and directly benefit users. “Students would be more pro-crypto,” he said, “if they had more real-world opportunities through crypto loans.”

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