Interpreting Figure Q3: Why is it the undisputed first RWA stock?

Creator: @BlazingKevin_ , the Researcher at Movemaker

1 Analysis Summary

Figure Expertise Options (hereinafter known as “Figure”) is at the forefront of the transformation of the monetary providers business, devoted to reshaping conventional lending and capital markets via blockchain expertise. As a vertically built-in fintech firm, Figure is not solely the largest non-bank Dwelling Fairness Credit score (HELOC) originator in the United States, but in addition a key infrastructure supplier in the discipline of Actual-World Asset (RWA) tokenization. As of December 2025, Figure had efficiently accomplished its IPO, with a steady market capitalization between $7.5 billion and $9 billion.

The core argument of this report is that Figure represents the third stage of fintech growth: from “on-line” (comparable to Rocket Mortgage) to “platform” (comparable to SoFi), and now to “on-chain”. Figure, leveraging its Provenance Blockchain public chain constructed on the Cosmos SDK, has efficiently solved the most difficult “center and back-office effectivity” drawback in conventional finance. By minting, registering, and buying and selling property (comparable to mortgages and possession information) immediately on-chain, Figure can cut back the price of mortgage origination and securitization by greater than 100 foundation factors and shorten processing time from the conventional 30-45 days to lower than 5 days.

2025 was a turning level for Figure. The corporate not solely achieved GAAP profitability, with Q3 internet revenue approaching $90 million, but in addition accomplished its strategic merger with Figure Markets, reintegrating its lending enterprise and digital asset buying and selling platform. This transfer created a closed-loop ecosystem: shoppers can acquire funds by mortgaging their houses, with the funds issued in the type of interest-bearing stablecoins ($YLDS), which will be immediately invested on the Figure Markets alternate or re-staking via the Democratic Prime protocol. This integration of the “asset facet” and the “funding facet” demonstrates the final imaginative and prescient for the RWA (Retail Asset Wafer) sector.

This report will analyze Figure’s Q3 monetary report and assess whether or not its “blockchain-native” technique constitutes a real moat, in addition to its long-term funding worth in the more and more crowded RWA sector, primarily based on latest updates to its income streams and enterprise mannequin.

2. Enterprise Segments and Product Traces

Following its merger with Figure Markets in July 2025, Figure’s enterprise structure grew to become extra tightly built-in and vertically aligned. Figure’s core competitiveness lies in digitizing the complete asset lifecycle (origin, registration, buying and selling, financing, and settlement) via the Provenance blockchain. **Primarily based on this, we have now summarized Figure’s 4 core enterprise fashions: RWA asset origination and distribution, capital safety and securitization, DeFi financing and lending, and interest-bearing stablecoins and cost settlement.** As proven in the diagram beneath, we have now linked these 4 companies collectively to make clear Figure’s full enterprise mannequin.

2.1 RWA Asset Initiation and Distribution

2.1.1 HELOC

This is Figure’s core enterprise, designed to deal with the ache factors of conventional credit score markets: handbook operations, paper-based reliance, and excessive prices (an business common of $11,230). Based on HELOC, it’s value noting the vital surge in DSCR mortgage transaction quantity in Q3. Let’s begin with HELOC, Figure’s flagship product.

Product Mechanism and Person Expertise: Conventional banks sometimes require 30 to 45 days to course of HELOCs, involving cumbersome offline assessments and notarizations. Figure leverages an Automated Valuation Mannequin (AVM) and immutable information on the blockchain to realize an distinctive expertise of “5-minute approval and 5-day disbursement.” This pace benefit immediately addresses a market ache level, particularly in a high-interest-rate surroundings the place owners are inclined to acquire liquidity via HELOCs fairly than promoting their houses, thus avoiding shedding their present low-interest mortgages.

Market Place: Since its inception, Figure has disbursed over $19 billion in loans, changing into the largest non-bank HELOC originator in the United States. It holds a dominant market share amongst non-bank establishments.

HELOC+ is the highest-tier premium lending pool in the protocol. Its underlying collateral consists of a bundle of HELOC property initiated by Figure and its companions and tokenized on the Provenance chain. The credit score high quality of those property is akin to that of property which have obtained an S&P AAA score .

From one other perspective, concerning the HELOC enterprise, from mortgage origination to the closing securitization of RWA property, the stakeholders concerned and their goals are as follows:

• Borrower (Particular person/Micro-enterprise):

  Apply for Dwelling Fairness Credit score (HELOC) or Small Enterprise Mortgage (SMB) via Figure’s 100% digital course of.

  ◦ The authorization system mechanically verifies revenue, property (AVM computerized valuation) and credit score rating, reaching “5-minute approval and 5-day mortgage disbursement”.

• Initiating companions (banks, credit score unions, impartial mortgage lenders):

  • Make the most of Figure’s white-label mortgage origination system (LOS) to provide standardized credit score property in line with uniform underwriting requirements.

  Pay Figure a technical processing charge primarily based on transaction quantity.

  • Produced credit score asset packages will be auctioned on the Figure Join market or offered in line with ahead commitments, enabling fast capital turnover with out tying up the steadiness sheet for prolonged durations.

• Figure Join platform (matching celebration):

  ◦ Convert credit score property into “digital twin” tokens on the Provenance chain to make sure the uniqueness and immutability of possession, composition, and efficiency historical past.

  ◦ Facilitates transactions between originating banks and capital market patrons (establishments), offering real-time, atomic on-chain settlement providers.

• Institutional patrons (asset administration corporations, insurance coverage corporations, sovereign wealth funds):

  Buy homogeneous credit score asset packages with AAA score potential via the platform to achieve clear and data-rich credit score publicity.

  Take pleasure in settlement speeds a number of occasions sooner than conventional secondary markets (from months to days/seconds).

2.1.2 First Lien (HELOC)

In Figure’s enterprise mannequin, cash-out refinancing is being reshaped via its revolutionary “HELOC” product. This enterprise is rising extraordinarily quickly, with transaction quantity almost tripling year-on-year in the first half of 2025. The next explains the key variations between cash-out refinancing and the HELOC enterprise.

Whereas each conventional finance and Figure’s blockchain-native credit score mannequin are means for owners to extract residence fairness, they differ considerably in mortgage nature, lien precedence, and capital market efficiency.

1. Mortgage Nature and Credit score Construction: Starting and Revolving Credit score

• HELOC: Underneath authorized and regulatory frameworks (comparable to the Mortgage Honesty Act (TILA)), HELOC is outlined as “open credit score.” Its core characteristic is that owners can repeatedly withdraw and repay funds inside a specified withdrawal interval (sometimes 2 to five years). Figure’s HELOC merchandise enable debtors to withdraw funds as wanted with out incurring further out-of-pocket bills or settlement prices.
• Money-out refinancing: This is sometimes a kind of “closed-loop credit score.” Owners take out a brand new mortgage bigger than their present mortgage, repay the outdated mortgage, and obtain the remaining money distinction in a lump sum. It isn’t a revolving credit score line, however fairly a one-time debt restructuring.

2. Variations in the precedence of liens

• HELOC: Usually exists as a “second lien.” This implies it is an extra legal responsibility on prime of the house owner’s present first mortgage. In liquidation, it ranks after the first mortgage and subsequently sometimes carries the next threat weight.

• Refinancing transactions inevitably contain a “first lien.” As a result of it includes changing an outdated mortgage with a brand new one, the new lender acquires a major lien on the property. Figure reveals considered one of the fastest-growing merchandise lately: the “first lien HELOC,” which is primarily designed as a substitute for conventional cash-out refinancing.

3. Effectivity and price variations in the Figure mannequin

Based on Figure’s enterprise information, it has achieved groundbreaking price reductions in these two enterprise classes utilizing blockchain expertise:

• Price Comparability: Figure’s price to course of first lien loans (a refinancing various) is solely $1,000 , whereas the business common is as excessive as $12,000 . For conventional HELOCs, Figure’s common manufacturing price is solely $730 , far beneath the mortgage business common of $11,230 .
• Mortgage disbursement time: Whether or not it’s refinancing or HELOC, owners can sometimes get approval inside 5 minutes via Figure’s Automated Mortgage Origination System (LOS), with a median disbursement time of 10 days, in comparison with a median time of about 42 days in the conventional business.

4. Capital Markets and the Logic of Securitization

• HELOC Securitization: Figure 1 has efficiently issued a number of asset-backed securities (ABS) backed by HELOCs, with the senior debt repeatedly receiving AAA scores from Commonplace & Poor’s and Moody’s. As a result of HELOCs usually signify a second lien, score companies sometimes assume the next loss-of-default price than the first lien asset.
• Efficiency of refinancing (first lien): As a result of refinancing transactions contain a first lien, the property are extra engaging in the capital markets, and threat pricing is sometimes extra favorable. The quantity of first lien transactions in Figure 3 elevated almost threefold in the third quarter of 2025.

Why are increasingly more American owners selecting HELOC (Helium First Lien) and what advantages can they achieve?

◦ Excessive price financial savings: The first lien manufacturing price of Figure is roughly $1,000 , whereas the business common price is as excessive as $12,000 , saving customers a big quantity of settlement prices.

◦Time effectivity: Approval takes solely 5 minutes, and the median mortgage disbursement time has been lowered from the business common of 42 days to 10 days .

◦ Flexibility: Acquiring decrease rates of interest than private loans, and sometimes having the flexibility to withdraw internet value once more in the future.

The information launched in the Q3 monetary report reveals that:

In the third quarter of 2025, the whole transaction quantity of Figure’s client credit score market reached $2.5 billion , a year-on-year improve of 70%.

First lien HELOC efficiency:

◦ Q3 2025: First lien HELOC transactions accounted for 17% of whole client credit score. Primarily based on this, the transaction worth for the quarter was roughly $425 million . This represents a 650 foundation level improve from 10.5% in the similar interval of 2024.

◦ First half of 2025 efficiency: Its buying and selling quantity accounted for 15% of the whole origins. The corresponding transaction worth was roughly US$480 million .

◦ Progress price: The enterprise is experiencing exponential development, with transaction quantity almost tripling year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025.

Open/Commonplace HELOC (normally a second lien):

Since HELOCs account for 99% of the whole, the overwhelming majority of them, apart from the first lien, fall into this class.

Regardless of the fast development of first liens, Figure’s steadiness sheet reveals that as of September 30, 2025, 80% of its HELOC property have been nonetheless in non-first lien (i.e., as second or third liens).

2.1.3 DSCR Loans

Designed particularly for actual property buyers, this product doesn’t think about the borrower’s private revenue however is authorised primarily based on the property’s rental yield (DSCR).

DSCR lending is considered one of the core pathways for Figure to develop its profitable mannequin from the HELOC house to a broader vary of client credit score asset courses.

In Q3 2025, new product classes, together with DSCR loans, contributed over $80 million in transaction quantity, demonstrating robust development momentum.

Its participant construction, behavioral patterns, and revenue distribution logic are extremely per HELOC, however it focuses extra on the money circulate of funding properties by way of underlying asset attributes. By way of stakeholder profile, other than debtors, it is mainly the similar as HELOC.

DSCR mortgage debtors primarily search financing for leased properties. Debtors submit purposes via Figure or its companions’ portals. A singular side of DSCR loans is that, along with a typical credit score evaluation, debtors should present proof of rental revenue (normally a lease settlement) to calculate debt servicing protection.

The core logic of DSCR lending lies in “changing belief with details (information)”. Much like HELOC, it achieves “Pareto optimization” on each the asset and funding sides by reworking extraordinarily illiquid actual property claims into standardized, fungible tokens on the blockchain: debtors get the cash, establishments cut back transaction prices, and unusual DeFi customers who have been initially on the periphery of finance change into the frequent beneficiaries of those high-quality RWA property.

2.2 Capital Safety and Securitization

To boost market liquidity and act as a “purchaser of final resort,” Figure has established strategic partnerships with prime funding establishments.

• Sixth Avenue (strategic three way partnership companion):

  ◦ Present $200 million in fairness capital to the three way partnership entity Fig SIX Mortgage LLC.

• Fig SIX Mortgage LLC (Safety Automobile):

  The three way partnership entity Fig SIX Mortgage LLC, collectively established by the two events, is outlined as a key “Guarantor Automobile” in the Figure ecosystem and has obtained a $200 million recyclable fairness capital dedication from Sixth Avenue.

  At the operational stage, Fig SIX performs a key position as a “resident purchaser” on the Figure Join digital market. This mechanism alleviates the issues of originating companions comparable to banks, credit score unions, and impartial mortgage lenders concerning asset distribution, making certain that their blockchain-native property obtain assured execution and extra aggressive market pricing. This “always-present” bidding mechanism successfully transforms the beforehand fragmented and opaque personal lending transactions right into a standardized market with environment friendly worth discovery capabilities.

  In the structured design of securitized merchandise, Fig SIX’s threat hedging perform is extra vital. When initiating a securitization transaction, this automobile actively retains and holds the “residual worth” or “first loss portion” of the asset bundle. This association makes Fig SIX the “chief absorber” of credit score threat, taking the lead in absorbing losses when the underlying HELOC mortgage defaults, thereby defending the pursuits of upper-level collectors.

2.3 DeFi Funding and Lending

This mannequin democratizes the circulate of funds by eliminating conventional prime brokers and warehouse financing intermediaries.

• Asset holders:

  Usually, banks or lending establishments deposit tokenized credit score property (comparable to the HELOC asset bundle) or crypto property generated via the LOS system into good contracts as collateral. This mannequin permits establishments to acquire real-time liquidity utilizing their RWA property, and their financing prices are sometimes decrease than these supplied by conventional financial institution warehouse strains of deposit.

  The settlement employs an hourly Dutch public sale to find out the clearing price. Debtors set a most acceptable price, whereas lenders bid on their goal yields, with all funds finally incomes curiosity at a uniform market clearing price. This mechanism ensures quick and truthful worth discovery, permitting the market to dynamically alter inside a large rate of interest vary of 1% to 30%.

• Liquidity suppliers:

  Figure efficiently remodeled the personal lending market, which was initially restricted to prime monetary establishments, right into a extra granular market.

  Odd DeFi customers solely want $100 to take part in international credit score asset financing via this protocol, which is unimaginable in the conventional monetary system.

  By mid-2025, lenders have been incomes almost 9% annualized returns via the protocol, considerably larger than the returns from holding YLDS stablecoins or conventional cash market funds. This attraction prompted Figure to additional lengthen the mannequin to Layer 1 ecosystems comparable to Solana and Sui, amplifying RWA’s yield leverage by introducing PRIME, a liquidity staking token.

• Democratized Prime Protocol:

  To make sure the security of lenders’ funds, Democratic Prime has established a strong, code-based threat administration system.

  • Asset possession affirmation: DART expertise is used to realize excellent mortgage rights, making certain that lenders have indeniable authorized and technical recourse to the underlying RWA property.
  • Liquidation Logic: The protocol displays LTV in actual time. When the LTV triggers the 90% threshold, the good contract mechanically initiates the on-chain liquidation course of, auctioning off the credit score property via weekly BWIC transactions . The proceeds are used to repay the principal to the lenders first. Moreover, if market liquidity is inadequate to deal with redemptions, the rate of interest will mechanically soar to 30% to power debtors to deleverage or appeal to new capital.

2.4 Curiosity-bearing stablecoins and cost settlement

Figure leverages its SEC-registered compliance standing to convey conventional cash market yields into the on-chain cost system.

• Figure Certificates Firm (FCC) (Issuer):

  Not like most stablecoins on the market which can be primarily based on offshore entities, $YLDS’s core benefit lies in the transparency of its authorized id.

  The position of the FCC: The FCC is registered as an funding firm beneath the U.S. Funding Firm Act of 1940, which focuses on issuing certificates of face worth, and $YLDS is the digital illustration of those certificates.

  Underlying Asset Assure: $YLDS is 100% assured by a portfolio of high-quality, low-risk property held by the FCC (primarily U.S. Treasury securities and securities just like these held by Prime cash market funds). This construction ensures asset stability and regulatory traceability, enabling it to function institutional-grade interest-bearing collateral.

• YLDS holders (primarily establishments):

  $YLDS affords holders a “Pareto enchancment” between conventional monetary markets and DeFi.

  • Yield Mannequin: Holders can earn a return equal to SOFR (Secured In a single day Funding Price) minus 50 foundation factors . In a high-interest-rate surroundings, this makes $YLDS a superior asset selection in comparison with conventional non-interest-bearing stablecoins.
  • Funds and Settlement: $YLDS helps 24/7 on-chain peer-to-peer transfers and serves as the default settlement forex for Figure Change, permitting customers to finish asset exchanges inside seconds. For instance, customers can immediately buy Bitcoin utilizing $YLDS, with the system mechanically dealing with underlying alternate price hedging and settlement.

• Figure Funds Company (Funding Channel):

  As a result of the FCC is topic to regulatory constraints and can’t immediately maintain frequent crypto property comparable to USDC or USDT, Figure launched Figure Funds Company (FPC) as a key channel for funds.

  • Mirrored Order Mechanism: When customers buy crypto property utilizing $YLDS on an alternate, FPC runs a mirrored order course of in the background. The system matches $YLDS holders with counterparties holding USDC via FPC’s proprietary liquidity pool, thereby bridging the hole between compliant safety tokens and the public crypto market.
  • Ecosystem Scale: This compliance structure noticed vital development in 2025, with its steadiness climbing quickly from roughly $4 million in the second quarter of 2025 to almost $100 million in November, and has expanded into Layer 1 ecosystems comparable to Solana and Sui.

3 Q3 Income Breakdown

Figure delivered a shocking efficiency this quarter, with whole internet income reaching $156.37 million and internet revenue hovering to $90 million. This internet revenue margin of almost 57% is extraordinarily uncommon amongst conventional monetary establishments, absolutely demonstrating the effectivity restructuring of conventional lending companies by the blockchain underlying structure. Behind this profitability lies its extremely diversified and complementary income construction, primarily composed of mortgage gross sales, expertise charges, mortgage origination, and ongoing service charges and curiosity.

Web proceeds from mortgage gross sales, its largest income engine, contributed $63.561 million, demonstrating Figure’s robust asset liquidity in the secondary market. Of this, $51.72 million got here from full mortgage gross sales, enabling Figure to rapidly recoup capital by transferring possession, threat, and money circulate of Dwelling Fairness Credit score Traces (HELOCs) totally to institutional patrons. Extra noteworthy was its $8.266 million in securitized mortgage proceeds, the place the firm injected standardized loans via particular function entities (SPEs) and issued bonds starting from AAA to B- scores. Figure’s capacity to assist these securitized merchandise obtain AAA scores from establishments like S&P and Moody’s is no simple feat, totally because of the information integrity offered by its LOS system and the traceability of the Provenance blockchain, providing institutional buyers a stage of transparency unattainable in conventional monetary markets.

Expertise and ecosystem charges contributed $35.691 million this quarter, a core component that distinguishes Figure from typical monetary corporations. Of this, $15.548 million got here from expertise provision charges, whereas $16.248 million got here from ecosystem charges, primarily a “market entry” or “matching” premium. Figure leverages blockchain expertise to shorten conventional, months-long settlement cycles to days and even seconds; this real-time settlement functionality is a core asset attracting ecosystem companions. By standardized underwriting and doc processing, beforehand non-standard loans are remodeled into extremely homogeneous, simply tradable digital property, marking Figure’s profitable transformation from a mortgage originator right into a monetary infrastructure supplier.

At the entrance finish of its enterprise, Figure generated $21.415 million in mortgage disbursement charges, together with direct processing charges, miscellaneous bills throughout mortgage disbursement, and mortgage low cost revenue. This explosive development in income is inseparable from its extremely automated operational processes. Figure has fully deserted the inefficient fashions of conventional finance, reaching automated revenue verification by connecting to debtors’ financial institution accounts and changing time-consuming on-site property value determinations with an Automated Valuation Mannequin (AVM). Mixed with digital lien matching, automated title search, and distant on-line notarization, Figure considerably reduces buyer acquisition prices and enhances the consumer expertise. All mortgage information, stripped of private privateness, is saved in the Provenance blockchain as hash values, making certain that property possess immutable credit score attributes from the outset.

Past its “fast in, fast out” gross sales mannequin, Figure additionally demonstrated robust asset administration capabilities. Its curiosity revenue reached $17.864 million, sourced from returns on its core HELOC portfolio, digital asset-backed private loans, and roughly 5% of risk-sharing returns retained throughout asset securitization. Moreover, Figure exhibited crypto-native acumen in money circulate administration, optimizing capital effectivity via YLDS stablecoin curiosity and money equivalents. This mix of “asset-light operation” and “strategic threat retention” permits the firm to keep up liquidity whereas additionally sharing in the long-term appreciation of high-quality property.

The efficiency of servicing property and costs displays the “lengthy tail impact” in Figure’s revenue mannequin. Web revenue from servicing property this quarter was $9.332 million, reflecting the truthful worth of the servicing rights retained after the sale of loans. Whereas this worth is topic to fluctuations attributable to inside mannequin valuation assumptions, the money circulate it generates is actual. Service charges and different revenue totaled $8.502 million, of which $7.882 million got here from managing mortgage portfolios for banks, insurance coverage corporations, or securitized trusts, together with dealing with month-to-month repayments, account upkeep, and investor reporting. The weighted common service charge price remained round 30 foundation factors (0.30%) in the third quarter, offering a steady pillar of recurring income for the firm.

Lastly, Figure’s funding portfolio additionally displays its position as a deep participant in the crypto house. It recorded $620,000 in “Different” revenue this quarter, primarily from revenue sharing on minority stake investments in unconsolidated entities. Of specific be aware is its holding in the Home Solana Fund, which holds SOL tokens acquired via an public sale throughout FTX’s chapter proceedings. In the meantime, earnings from Fig SIX, a three way partnership with Sixth Avenue, and compliance advisory agency Reflow, additional solidify Figure’s place inside a whole monetary ecosystem encompassing credit score, funding banking, and compliance consulting.

In conclusion, Figure’s Q3 monetary report not solely showcased robust monetary information but in addition demonstrated to the market that blockchain in the monetary sector is not merely a gimmick, however a productiveness software that may genuinely cut back prices, shorten settlement cycles, and enhance asset scores. By hashing and storing underlying loans and batch-changing asset bundle possession on the Provenance blockchain, Figure has established a whole digital customary for the complete chain, from asset initiation, automated assessment, real-time settlement to after-sales providers. This mannequin not solely improves the effectivity of conventional finance but in addition paves the approach for the wider on-chaining of RWA property in the future.

About Movemaker

Movemaker is the first official neighborhood group approved by the Aptos Basis and collectively launched by Ankaa and BlockBooster, specializing in selling the development and growth of the Aptos ecosystem in the Chinese language-speaking area. As the official consultant of Aptos in the Chinese language-speaking area, Movemaker is dedicated to constructing a various, open, and affluent Aptos ecosystem by connecting builders, customers, capital, and quite a few ecosystem companions.

Disclaimer:

This text/weblog is for informational functions solely and represents the creator’s private views, not the place of Movemaker. This text is not supposed to offer: (i) funding recommendation or suggestions; (ii) a proposal or solicitation to purchase, promote, or maintain digital property; or (iii) monetary, accounting, authorized, or tax recommendation. Holding digital property, together with stablecoins and NFTs, carries extraordinarily excessive threat, with vital worth volatility and the risk of changing into nugatory. You need to fastidiously think about whether or not buying and selling or holding digital property is appropriate for you primarily based by yourself monetary state of affairs. For particular questions, please seek the advice of your authorized, tax, or funding advisor. The data offered on this article (together with market information and statistics, if any) is for basic informational functions solely. Cheap care has been taken in getting ready these information and charts, however we’re not accountable for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein.