In the ever-expanding DeFi landscape, the demand for fixed income products is increasing, similar to the role of bonds in traditional financial markets. However, building a transparent, decentralized, and secure interest rate system on the blockchain remains a significant challenge. That is why Treehouse was created to unify the ETH on-chain interest rate market and lay the foundation for the fixed income product ecosystem.
What is Treehouse?
Treehouse is a pioneering DeFi protocol in building a decentralized fixed income layer for digital assets. The project introduces two core infrastructure components:
tAssets (e.g., tETH): are liquidity staking tokens that help users earn real yields significantly beyond Ethereum's PoS rewards.
DOR (Decentralized Offered Rates): is a mechanism for establishing decentralized reference interest rates, similar to LIBOR or SOFR in traditional finance, but implemented on-chain.
Treehouse's goal is to converge fragmented ETH interest rates into a unified standard, creating a foundation for long-term, stable, and accessible lending, borrowing, staking, and hedging products.
How Does Treehouse Work?
Treehouse operates based on a collaborative model among parties in the ecosystem:
Users deposit ETH or LST into the protocol to receive tETH, thereby earning real yield and using tETH across DeFi platforms.
Operators are the parties that initiate DOR Feed. Treehouse will operate its first DOR named TESR (Treehouse Ethereum Staking Rate).
Panelists (who have been vetted) will provide interest rate data or forecasts and stake TREE/tAssets to commit to accuracy.
Delegators are tETH holders who delegate to Panelists to fulfill the DOR setup obligation while retaining ownership of the token.
Referencers integrate DOR Feed into financial products such as lending, swapping, or derivatives pricing.
Clients are end-users who benefit from fixed interest rate products, arbitrage, or staking tETH.
Through the forecasting – staking – reward/penalty – DOR establishment loop, Treehouse ensures a transparent, objective, and manipulation-resistant interest rate mechanism.
Treehouse Products
Treehouse develops core products to build a fixed income infrastructure layer for digital assets. From staking, determining interest rates to distributing rewards, each product is designed to operate seamlessly within the ecosystem.
tETH
tETH is the first liquidity staking asset of Treehouse – minted when users deposit ETH or LST (such as stETH, rETH, cbETH) into the protocol.
Utility:
Accumulate real yield through interest rate arbitrage strategies.
Still usable as collateral on DeFi platforms such as Aave, Compound, Pendle,…
Support economic security for DOR through staking or delegating to Panelists.
Goal: Converge ETH on-chain interest rates and provide fixed income solutions for users.
DOR – Decentralized Offered Rates
DOR is a system for establishing decentralized reference interest rates, similar to LIBOR/SOFR but on the blockchain.
First DOR: TESR (Treehouse Ethereum Staking Rate) – represents the 'risk-free' interest rate of Ethereum.
Activity: Determined through Panelists staking TREE or tETH and submitting interest rate forecasts. Results will be aggregated and recorded on-chain.
Application: Used by integrated platforms (Referencers) to price financial products such as lending, fixed yield, derivatives,…
GoNuts Point System
The GoNuts Point System is a rewards point system that encourages early users to participate in Treehouse.
How to earn points:
Deposit ETH or LST to receive tETH.
Provide liquidity on integrated platforms.
Participate in staking, delegating, or contributing to the DOR establishment process.
Utility: Nuts points will be used for ranking, allocating TREE airdrops, or redeeming offers within the Treehouse ecosystem.
Key features of Treehouse
Unifying the ETH interest rate market: helping to converge fragmented yield levels into a risk-free interest rate benchmark – similar to government bonds in TradFi.
Upgraded liquid staking: tETH allows users to participate in yield arbitrage while retaining liquidity and usability in DeFi.
Enhanced economic security: holding tETH helps ensure the integrity of the DOR system.
Multi-protocol integration: tETH can be used as collateral on Aave, Compound, Euler, Pendle, Gearbox,…
Multi-layer incentives: users receive yield, accumulate Nuts points, and can receive airdrops from various sources.
Overview of TREE Token and Tokenomics
Basic information
Token Name: Treehouse
Ticker: TREE
Contract: 0x77146784315Ba81904d654466968e3a7c196d1f3
Blockchain: Ethereum (ERC)
Total supply: 1,000,000,000 TREE
TREE allocation:
Community rewards: 20%
Strategic investors: 17.5%
Development team: 12.5%
Treasury DAO: 12.5%
Community airdrop: 10%
Ecosystem fund: 10%
Core contributors: 5%
Future airdrop: 5.75%
Partnership with exchanges: 3.75%
Liquidity provision: 3%
TREE distribution schedule:
The TREE token will be gradually unlocked over 48 months, ensuring sustainable distribution and aligning long-term interests.
TREE use cases:
TREE is the utility and governance token of the Treehouse protocol, with the main functions:
Pay DOR query fees for integrated financial services.
Stake as a Panelist to participate in the DOR establishment process.
Receive rewards from the consensus mechanism based on forecasting accuracy.
Participate in DAO governance: propose and vote on changes in the system.
Support grants & ecosystem: DAO can allocate TREE for products integrating Treehouse.
Roadmap Q3/2025
Phase 2 of tAssets (continuing deployment): Expanding and upgrading the tAssets product line, including support for additional new LSTs and enhancing DeFi integration.
Project Bamboo – Forward Rate Agreement (FRA) market: Develop and launch the Forward Rate Agreement (FRA) market to support interest rate hedging and trading based on future interest rate forecasts.
Deploy live DOR rates: Launch live DOR feeds operating on-chain, starting with TESR and potentially expanding to other asset types.
Integrate with key DeFi protocols: Connect tETH and DOR with platforms like Compound, Aave, Euler, Gearbox,… to expand practical applications.
Launch Gaia: Introduce Gaia – a new product or platform within the Treehouse ecosystem (to be monitored for more details).
Development team, Investors, and Partners
The founding team of Treehouse
Treehouse is led by individuals with extensive experience in both traditional finance and startup technology:
Brandon G. – Co-Founder & CEO
Previously held roles at major financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley
Brandon co-founded Treehouse in 2021, he is behind the comprehensive development and operational strategy of the project, representing Treehouse at major events like MooFest 2025 and deep-dive podcasts on DeFi Fixed Income.
Bryan Goh – Co-Founder
Bryan has a solid background in the travel-tech field, having previously co-founded Host Bully, Dibly, Native, and Travelr (acquired by Hotels.com.sg).
At Treehouse, he leads product and design, providing an intuitive and engaging user experience in products like tETH and TESR.
Ben Loh – Co-Founder
Before joining Treehouse, Ben participated in the Venture Fellow program at AV/Blue Ivy Ventures, where he gained experience in venture capital and startup analysis.
At Treehouse, he plays a role in connecting technology, on-chain data, and long-term product strategy.
Investment fund
Strategic Round – 04/15/2025
In April 2025, Treehouse completed a strategic funding round with a valuation of up to $400 million, although the amount raised was not disclosed.
This round attracted many prominent individual investors in the industry such as Jordi Alexander (Selini Capital), Guy Young (Ethena), Matthew Tan (Etherscan), Richmond Teo (Paxos APAC), Michael Ashby, and Darius Sit (QCP Capital), reflecting strong confidence in the project's long-term vision to establish a fixed income layer for DeFi.
Grant – 12/18/2024
Treehouse received a grant from Compound Labs, one of the leading lending protocols on Ethereum. This grant aims to support Treehouse in further developing decentralized interest rate infrastructure and deeper integration with the existing DeFi ecosystem.
The specific amount was not disclosed but marks an important milestone in terms of strategic relations.
Seed Round (03/16/2022)
Treehouse successfully raised $18 million in a Seed round in March 2022. This round was led by Mirana Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, Wintermute, Jump Capital, and more than 13 other investors.
This capital is used to build the first product such as tETH and the DOR platform.
Pre-Seed (09/15/2021)
At a very early stage, Treehouse successfully raised $2.4 million from strategic investors like The Brooker Group (leading), Coinhako, CRC Capital, and Global Founders Capital.
The Pre-Seed round served as a foundation for market research, economic model development, and founding team recruitment.
Partners
Treehouse is actively connecting with leading protocols in DeFi to enhance the application of products such as integrating tETH into Lending & Derivatives protocols: Aave, Compound, Euler, Gearbox, Pendle,…
Conclusion
In the context of the increasingly developing DeFi market but still lacking a transparent and stable interest rate standard, Treehouse emerges as a critical infrastructure for the on-chain fixed income layer. With a model combining liquidity staking assets (tETH) and a decentralized interest rate establishment mechanism (DOR), Treehouse not only generates real yield for users but also opens up possibilities for building specialized financial products such as fixed lending, interest rate hedging, and derivatives.
With a team of experienced professionals backed by major funds, Treehouse is gradually positioning itself as the 'LIBOR of DeFi' – becoming a bridge between the traditional financial system and the new generation of decentralized finance. If Fixed Income is the missing piece of DeFi, then Treehouse is the architect team building that long bridge, transparent, sustainable, and decentralized. @Treehouse Official #Treehouse $TREE