Credit · SYRUP · $2.3B TVL. Maple is the institutional credit story of the screen: an on-chain lender that took real defaults in the 2022 credit unwind, restructured, and rebuilt around overcollateralized institutional lending and its syrupUSD yield product. It is one of only two protocols in the universe with positive twelve-month TVL growth.
Solvency screens at A. Revenue covers emissions ~3x on genuine lending spread, drawdown has been shallow (~25%) through the rebuild, and unlock pressure is moderate. The risk score (7/10) carries the category's essential caveat: credit underwriting risk does not show up in on-chain collateral ratios until it does — 2022 proved exactly that.
Legitimacy screens at A, and the score is earned the hard way: the team handled defaults, restitution, and restructuring in public, which the framework treats as demonstrated exploit-response quality applied to credit. Audits are solid; governance is foundation-weighted (5/10).
Growth screens at BB with the best momentum profile of any credit protocol: +10% TVL over twelve months, syrupUSD compounding, institutional pipeline visible. Category share (9%) is the limiting input — private credit on-chain is still small.
Composite BB, trajectory positive. The screen's read: a management team that has already been through its crisis. A full rating would center on loan-book composition and counterparty concentration.
"A chain is as strong as its weakest link." The conservative composite takes the weakest dimension and inherits any notching cap, so a single structural weakness cannot be diluted by strength elsewhere.
