nvPRIME Deep Dive

nvPRIME is NUVA’s flagship private credit vault, offering a secure, permissionless, and liquid way to gain exposure to institutional-grade private credit assets. nvPRIME holds native PRIME tokens, which provides exposure to natively on-chain prime home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) originated by Figure Technology Solutions and its partners. NUVA is a primary distribution partner of PRIME on Ethereum Mainnet. With 100% on-chain proof of reserves, hourly compounding yield, and composable tokens, nvPRIME is designed to integrate seamlessly into DeFi strategies, empowering users to unlock high-yield opportunities in a crypto-native format. 

Quick Facts

  • Minimum Deposit: 1 USDC

  • Chains Supported: Ethereum (more chains to follow)

  • Token Standard: ERC-20

  • Liquidity Options: 24/7 minting and withdrawals on NUVA, as well as trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs)

  • Redemption Periods on NUVA: Withdraws can be initiated 24/7 - and redemptions can generally be processed hourly, with larger amounts taking up to two U.S. business days.

  • Target APY: ~8.0%*, compounded hourly

What Is a HELOC?

A Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) is a revolving credit facility secured by the equity in a borrower’s home. It allows homeowners to borrow against the equity they’ve built up in their property without refinancing their primary mortgage. Borrowers only pay interest on the amount drawn, and repayment periods typically range from 10 to 20 years.

HELOCs are particularly attractive in today’s market, where many U.S. homeowners hold low fixed-rate mortgages from the pre-2022 era. Instead of refinancing and losing these favorable rates, homeowners can use HELOCs to access liquidity for home improvements, debt consolidation, investments, or other needs.

  • Market Size: U.S. homeowners hold a record $17.6 trillion in home equity as of Q2 2025, with $11.5 trillion considered "tappable."

  • Origination Trends: In 2024, $24.8 billion in HELOCs were originated, with $167.4 billion in maximum credit extended to borrowers.

  • Market Appeal: HELOCs have emerged as a high-quality alternative asset class, supported by improving borrower credit scores and conservative Combined Loan-to-Value (CLTV) ratios.

Figure Technology Solutions has pioneered the use of blockchain technology to streamline HELOC origination, reducing costs and processing times. Figure has been originating approximately $1 billion in HELOCs per month since 2025, with a historically <1% loss rate on loans underwritten through its proprietary Loan Origination System, and has secured multiple rated securitizations, including AAA rated tranches from S&P and DBRS Morningstar.

What Is nvPRIME and How Does It Work?

nvPRIME is NUVA’s flagship private credit vault, designed to provide permissionless exposure to institutional-grade private credit in a composable, crypto-native format. The nvPRIME vault holds native PRIME tokens on Ethereum. When you deposit USDC into the vault, nvPRIME tokens are minted instantly to your wallet. These tokens are accretive and represent your proportional ownership of the vault’s PRIME holdings, meaning their value appreciates as the vault accrues yield from PRIME via Democratized Prime.

Under the hood, the nvPRIME vault acquires native PRIME tokens on Ethereum - this process is handled entirely by the vault. PRIME in turn gains exposure to HELOCs through Democratized Prime, a blockchain-based lending marketplace by Figure Markets. Specifically, PRIME taps into the HELOC+ Pool on Democratized Prime, entering into over-collateralized Repurchase Agreements (Repos) backed by natively on-chain prime HELOCs originated by Figure.

How It Works:

  • User deposits USDC into the nvPRIME vault which is on Ethereum.

  • NUVA’s nvPRIME vault, as PRIME’s exclusive distributor on Ethereum, converts USDC to wYLDS and stakes for native PRIME tokens.

  • User receives nvPRIME tokens representing their proportional share of the vault’s PRIME holdings.

  • PRIME deploys capital into the HELOC+ Pool on Democratized Prime, acting as a Repo Buyer and lending against the HELOC+ Pool collateral.

  • Figure Lending LLC, the Repo Seller, pledges eligible HELOCs as collateral and agrees to repurchase them at a later date.

  • The Repos are over-collateralized, with HELOCs discounted at an advance rate to ensure a margin of safety.

  • Interest is earned hourly through Dutch auctions, and yield flows from HELOC Repos → PRIME → nvPRIME vault → nvPRIME token holders. The yield is directly accrued in the value of nvPRIME tokens - no claiming required.

How nvPRIME and PRIME Generate Yield: Key Features of the Democratized Prime HELOC+ Pool:

  • Proportional Exposure: Every Repo Buyer lends against the same collateral pool, with exposure defined as their ratable benefit.

  • Smart Contract Automation: Interest and repayment are managed by smart contracts, ensuring transparency and efficiency. Repo Buyers receive their ratable share of the Repurchase Price and any liquidation proceeds.

  • Collateral Rules: HELOCs are only eligible for use as collateral if they meet platform-defined rules. HELOCs 60+ days past due are automatically removed from the collateral pool.

All HELOCs in the pool are visible on the Provenance Blockchain, ensuring full transparency. The pool is governed by a Master Repurchase Agreement (MRA) and an Addendum, which define the terms and conditions for all participants.

Why Choose nvPRIME?

The nvPRIME vault addresses key challenges accessing private credit, offering unique benefits that set it apart:

  • Liquidity and Accessibility: nvPRIME tokens are minted instantly, and redemptions can generally be processed hourly.

  • Permissionless Access: nvPRIME provides permissionless access with no minimums or mandatory holding periods, enabling seamless participation in DeFi.

  • Multi-Chain Ready: nvPRIME is live on Ethereum, with more chains to follow

  • Deploy Freely Across DeFi: As a composable ERC-20 accrual token, nvPRIME integrates seamlessly into DeFi strategies, enabling use as collateral, for lending, leverage looping, and more.

  • Truth Over Trust: With 100% on-chain proof of reserves, the underlying PRIME tokens are visible on Ethereum, and the HELOCs backing PRIME’s repos are visible on the Provenance Blockchain. nvPRIME delivers institutional-grade transparency and auditability - which you can verify anytime.

  • Boost Earnings with NUVA Points: By participating in the nvPRIME vault, you earn NUVA Points, which unlock future opportunities within the NUVA ecosystem.

Together, these features position nvPRIME as a pioneering private credit vault that combines the high-yield potential of HELOCs with the permissionless innovation of DeFi.

How to Deposit and Withdraw

  • Deposits: You can deposit USDC into the nvPRIME vault via app.nuva.finance. Upon deposit, nvPRIME tokens are minted to your wallet - this is a non-custodial process.

  • Withdrawals: You can redeem nvPRIME tokens for USDC at any time via NUVA or access liquidity on supported DEXs. Withdrawals on NUVA are typically processed hourly.

Risks

What Are nvPRIME Risk Factors?

A participation in nvPRIME is subject to risks and users could lose money by depositing in the vault. Before depositing in nvPRIME, users should consider carefully the risks disclosed in NUVA’s Terms of Service, the Democratized Prime HELOC+ Master Repurchase Agreement and Addendum, as well as risks inherent to holding PRIME tokens.

What Legal Rights Do the nvAsset Token Holders Have With Respect to the Underlying Assets?

NUVA SPC Ltd., for and on behalf of the relevant segregated portfolio, has all applicable legal rights to the underlying assets in each vault. NUVA users do not have any direct claim against the underlying assets. nvAsset token holder rights are limited to the terms of the nvAsset token (i.e. the right to receive the applicable amount of USDC proceeds following its 'withdrawal' of its nvAsset token holdings). The ERC4626 vault module defines a mechanism in the protocol whereby USDC is swapped-in to the vault and returns a commensurate amount of nvAsset token (and vice versa). The nvAsset tokens are ledgered on-chain as immutable and absolute representations of ownership.

FAQs About nvPRIME and Democratized Prime

What Is the Democratized Prime Platform?

Democratized Prime is a borrow/lend marketplace from Figure Markets that connects Lenders’ cash or crypto directly with Borrowers seeking short‑term, collateralized funding, primarily against tokenized real‑world assets like Home Equity Line of Credit (“HELOC”) and other loan collateral. It uses on‑chain infrastructure and Dutch auctions to set interest rates in real time, aiming to give both retail and institutional users access to “prime‑style” credit yields that were traditionally only available to institutions.

How Does NUVA Utilize Democratized Prime?

NUVA’s nvPRIME Vault holds native PRIME tokens on Ethereum. PRIME in turn deploys into the HELOC+ Pool on Democratized Prime.

How Does the HELOC+ Pool Work?

The HELOC+ Pool works under a Repurchase Agreement (“Repo”). The “Repo Seller”, or the Borrower, is Figure Lending LLC. The “Repo Buyers” consist of Lenders, including PRIME participants, that participate through the Platform. Demo Prime Trust 2, a Figure subsidiary, acts as Administrative Agent for the Repo Buyers, through its independent Trust Administrator and Liquidation Agent, which is independently administered by Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB (“WSFS”).

Repo Seller means the party seeking short-term collateralized funding, pledging the HELOCs to Demo Prime Trust 2 for use as Collateral, and agreeing to repurchase the HELOC obligations from the Repo Buyers. For the HELOC+ Pool, this is Figure Lending LLC. Borrowing in the HELOC+ Pool is over-collateralized by the unpaid balances of these HELOC loans, discounted at an Advance Rate.

For each one-hour Settlement Period, the Repo Seller grants a first-priority perfected security interest in designated HELOC Collateral to Demo Prime Trust 2 for the ratable benefit of the Repo Buyers, together with a simultaneous obligation to repurchase such interest at the Repurchase Price at the end of the period. The security interest is effectuated through Figure’s digital lien registry (“DART”), which records the title transfer on-chain, within its electronic lien registry located on the Provenance Blockchain. Repurchase Price means the Purchase Price plus the Repo Rate accrued during the period, plus any applicable fees paid by the Repo Seller.

Every Repo Buyer lends against the same Collateral pool, and each Repo Buyer’s exposure is proportional — defined as their ratable benefit. Repo Buyers contribute YLDS and set an offer consisting of 1/ offer amount and 2/ minimum Repo Rate. Repo Buyers decide if they wish to participate in the market by evaluating the credit profile of the Collateral pool.

Repo Buyers participate in an hourly Dutch auction, which sets the Repo Rate for each Settlement Period, where Purchases occur at 00:00 and Repurchases occur at 59:59. This rate will be reflected as a percentage representing the total annualized appreciation of the Repo if financed at that rate for an entire year. Winning bids earn interest over the next hour, then are rebid the following hour.

Interest and repayment is managed by the smart contract. Interest accrues hourly, and Borrowers can pay down loan balances at any time. Repo Buyers can also withdraw their offer request at any time. At withdrawal, if the Repo Buyer’s offer is not borrowed, the entire offer amount will be returned. If the Repo Buyer's offer is borrowed or partially borrowed, Democratized Prime will raise the Repo Buyer’s offer Repo Rate to the Maximum Pool Rate (30%) at the end of the current lending period, so that another offer can take over the borrowed balance and return the Repo Buyer’s assets.

The Maximum LTV Ratio for the HELOC+ Pool helps ensure that all Democratized Prime loans are over-collateralized, currently set at 98% for the HELOC+ Pool. Loan-to-value thresholds are subject to change but are generally expected to reflect the broader market.

What Are the Key Structural Protections for Lenders in the HELOC+ Pool?

  1. Continuous Hourly Accrual: Yield accrues via an hourly repurchase agreement with Figure Lending LLC, decoupling earnings from underlying homeowner payment schedules.

  2. Credit Enhancement: Loans are legally deemed "Ineligible Collateral" and must be substituted by the Seller (or marked to zero value) if they become 60 days delinquent.

  3. Bankruptcy Isolation: Assets are held in a legally separate Trust, distinct from Figure’s corporate balance sheet. If Figure becomes insolvent, these assets are treated as independent from the company, ensuring they are ring-fenced for Lenders and cannot be claimed by Figure’s general creditors.

What Is Figure Lending LLC’s Role?

Origination and Servicing. Figure and more than 175 originator partners issue HELOCs using Figure’s proprietary technology that creates digitally native loans on Provenance Blockchain.

How Is the Yield of nvPRIME Determined?

nvPRIME passes through the yield accrued by the underlying PRIME tokens, which in turn reflects the Repo Rate earned on Democratized Prime.

The Repo Rate on Democratized Prime is market-driven via hourly Dutch auctions. For each Settlement Period, where Purchases occur at 00:00 and Repurchases occur at 59:59, Repo Buyers submit offers in YLDS. The exchange matches the best offers with the available borrowing capacity. The lowest rate that clears the market sets the Repo Rate for that hour, and all successful Repo Buyers earn that rate. This rate will be reflected as a percentage representing the total annualized appreciation of the Repo if financed at that rate for an entire year. The Repo must be repaid by the Repo Seller at the end of the one-hour Settlement Period.

To illustrate, if all Repo Buyers submit bids above the current average clearing rate  in the hourly Dutch auction, i.e. 12% instead of the current clearing rate of 8.5%, 12% becomes the rate that would be charged to borrow. The Repo Seller could refuse to borrow at that rate and reduce their borrowing overall which would leave those positions unfilled.

How Is Loan Ownership Tracked?

For each one-hour Settlement Period, the Repo Seller grants a first-priority perfected security interest in designated HELOC Collateral to Demo Prime Trust 2 for the ratable benefit of the Repo Buyers, together with a simultaneous obligation to repurchase such interest at the Repurchase Price at the end of the period. The security interest is effectuated through Figure’s digital lien registry (“DART”), which records the title transfer on-chain, within its electronic lien registry located on the Provenance Blockchain. This ensures that Repo Buyers’ claims to yields or principal are insulated from Figure’s financial health.

DART is Figure’s lien and eNote registry technology that is built on Provenance Blockchain for originators and users to manage and track the ownership of loans as they move throughout the capital markets. DART addresses a significant market pain point in the mortgage industry—the complexities associated with manual assignments and systems, such as the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (“MERS”). DART effectively “listens” to the immutable activity on Provenance Blockchain and automatically updates loan ownership information accordingly.

Is the Democratized Prime Structure Bankruptcy Remote?

Yes, Democratized Prime is designed to be bankruptcy remote, ensuring that the assets in its lending marketplace—such as tokenized HELOCs or other RWAs—are protected from the insolvency of Figure Technology Solutions or its affiliates.

Democratized Prime operates through SPVs or trusts (i.e. Demo Prime Trust 2) that hold the tokenized assets (i.e. HELOCs). These SPVs are legally separate entities from Figure’s corporate balance sheet, meaning their assets are not available to Figure’s creditors in a bankruptcy scenario. This mirrors standard securitization practices, where Collateral is ring-fenced to protect users.

For the HELOC+ Pool, under the Master Repurchase Agreement that the Borrower signs with the Trust, if the Borrower goes bankrupt, the assets are sold to the Trust, which is remote from Figure, with the independent Trust administrator charged with administering the auction and distributing the proceeds from the seized Collateral.

Assets are tokenized on Figure’s Provenance Blockchain, which uses UCC-compliant Security Entitlements to establish clear ownership of Provenance-native digital assets. In U.S. jurisdictions that have enacted the UCC Article 12, Democratized Prime is structured so that Demo Prime Trust 2 obtains “control” of the relevant controllable electronic records / controllable payment intangibles through authoritative DART entries on Provenance Blockchain, thereby perfecting its first-priority security interest under Article 12. In states that have not yet adopted Article 12, Figure instead relies on Provenance-native, UCC-compliant Article 8 security entitlements so that Lenders and Repo Buyers' interests in the tokenized HELOC Collateral remain perfected and senior in priority.


*Digital assets involve risk and any rates are indicative, variable, and not guaranteed.