Treehouse is a 'fixed-income layer' for crypto: they create 2 core primitives – tAssets (starting with tETH) and DOR – Decentralized Offered Rates (standardizing on-chain interest rates) – aimed at unifying fragmented interest rates and unlocking fixed income products for DeFi.
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Products & mechanisms
1) tAssets (tETH) – LST 2.0 + interest rate arbitrage
• Users deposit ETH/LST (e.g., stETH, eETH, …) into the tETH vault.
• Yield received = LST APY + MEY (Market Efficiency Yield) from interest rate arbitrage strategies + campaign rewards (Nuts) + restaking points (if any).
• Designed to be 'DeFi-compatible': receiving tETH can be used across other protocols.
Architecture & yield optimization: Vault coordinates arbitrage strategies between interest rate markets, attempting to converge on the 'risk-free rate' of the underlying asset (ETH).
Safety & risks considered: strategic control mechanisms, risk limits, extreme event handling, and mitigation measures (e.g., when LST depegs, when spreads fluctuate heavily).
2) DOR (Decentralized Offered Rates) – on-chain interest rate standard
• DOR is a consensus mechanism to create a transparent benchmark rate, scalable for on-chain FI (fixed income) products.
• TESR (Treehouse Ethereum Staking Rate) is the first DOR; the rate is set through Panelists (expert organizations forecasting/verifying data), Operators (setting parameters, coordinating), Referencers, and Delegators.
TESR – methodology: a model combining forecasting/sampling data on actual ETH staking yields, with a reward/penalty mechanism based on forecasting accuracy and 'slashing' rules for bad behavior.
Initial partners/Panelists (e.g., QCP, Selini, Staking Rewards) are mentioned in docs.
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Token $TREE: role & tokenomics
Main utility
• DOR query fee: protocols/businesses using DOR data pay fees in TREE.
• Staking TREE/tAssets for Panelists/Delegators to participate in DOR consensus.
• Consensus payout (reward based on accuracy).
• Governance & DAO Grants promote the ecosystem.
Supply & unlocking schedule
• Maximum: 1,000,000,000 TREE.
• Vesting schedule: most items vest over 48 months with cliff/linear depending on the group.
Allocation (summary)
• Team & Advisors 18%
• Foundation 22.5%
• Staking Rewards 10%
• Ecosystem Growth 7.5%
• DAO Grants 5%
• Ecosystem Airdrop 5%
• Private 15%
• Public 0.5%
• Pre-Deposit 5%
• Liquidity 1%
• Community 0.5%
• Marketing 10%.
Listing & TGE
• TGE 'Gaia' and TREE listing: Binance announced listing on 29/07/2025 14:00 UTC; the project has also issued a press release stating it will be available on many Tier-1 exchanges. (Note: price/volume fluctuates over time.)
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Security & compliance
• Audit: many top units (Trail of Bits, Sigma Prime, Fuzzland, WatchPug…). There is a bug bounty (HackenProof) and an Insurance Fund established by the project.
• Whitepaper MiCAR (legal): publication of the compliance framework according to MiCA (EU) / related legal matters.
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Roadmap (Highlight 2025)
• Q3/2025 (in development): tAssets Phase 2, Project Bamboo: Forward Rate Agreement (FRA) market, Launch live DOR rates, integrate additional DeFi partners, Gaia launch (already occurred).
• Q4/2025: expand chain/L2, derivative tools based on interest rates.
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Finance, capital & backing
• Strategic round ~FDV $400M (4/2025): led by the investment branch of a large insurance-financial group; inheriting a previous seed round ($18M) (like Binance Labs, Lightspeed, Mirana, Jump, GSR, Wintermute…).
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Operational data (reference)
• tETH reached a cap of 12,000 ETH (~$28M) within 4 hours of opening for deposits (9/2024).
• DefiLlama has listed Treehouse Protocol (DOR, yields section). (TVL/APY changes continuously; should check at the time you look up.)
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Comparison & positioning
• Compared to traditional LSTs (Lido, Ether.fi…): tETH not only 'packs' staking yield but also adds MEY from interest rate arbitrage → expected yield > pure LST, but the trade-off is higher complexity/market sensitivity.
• Compared to previous fixed interest rate protocols (Notional, Element, Yield Protocol, Pendle/PT): Treehouse targets the standard interest rate infrastructure (DOR) + standardized income-generating assets (tAssets) so that many protocols can price/list/structure products based on the same benchmark – closer to how TradFi operates the benchmark curve.
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Risks to note
• Strategic & market risks: MEY depends on interest rate/valuation spreads; the spread may suddenly narrow → yields decrease.
• LST risks: depeg, slashing at underlying validators.
• DOR model risk: data bias, collusion among panelists, forecasting manipulation; the project has slashing/penalty mechanisms but lacks significant precedents for long-term testing.
• Smart contracts & multi-chain integration: although audited, there are still tail risks; when expanding to multiple chains/L2, additional bridge/queue risks.
• Standard acceptance: DOR needs to be used by many major protocols; if adoption is slow, the network value/revenue channels may be lower than expected.
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Quick start guide
1. Access the Treehouse app → select the tETH vault. 2) Deposit ETH/LST to receive tETH. 3) Use tETH in DeFi or withdraw anytime (depending on liquidity/assets). 4) For organizations/Dev: integrate DOR for pricing & product design (fixed lending, FRA, structured notes…).
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Investment thesis (neutral – for you to consider)
Bull case
• Solving the key problem of DeFi: standardizing interest rates + income-generating assets, paving the way for the on-chain FI market (bonds, FRA, interest rate swaps…).
• Value capture structure for TREE (DOR fees, staking, rewards, governance) + strong backers + clear roadmap.
Bear case
• DOR adoption is the 'chicken & egg' problem; if it does not become a widely accepted benchmark, the flywheel may slow down.
• MEY is alpha that may be competitive/saturated by arbitrage; superior yields are not guaranteed.
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One-sentence summary
Treehouse is trying to 'bring Bloomberg + SOFR on-chain': tAssets to bundle yield into assets usable across DeFi, and DOR to standardize interest rates – if widely accepted, the on-chain fixed-income ecosystem could explode in a manner familiar to TradFi.
@Treehouse Official and #Treehouse and $TREE