I. Project Origin: From Traditional Financial Pain Points to PayFi Innovation (2022-2023)
Huma Finance is an innovative PayFi (Payment Finance) network, with a core mission to connect traditional finance and blockchain to provide instant liquidity for global payments. It is built on protocols like Solana, supporting stablecoin 24/7 settlements, aiming to solve inefficiencies in cross-border transactions and credit card payments, and through the tokenization of real-world cash flows, allowing borrowers to obtain credit against their accounts receivable and lenders to achieve stable returns through structured funds.
The project was co-founded in April 2022 by Co-CEOs Richard Liu and Erbil Karaman.
Richard Liu previously worked at Google (engineering field) and EarnIn (payroll advance platform, fintech field); during his time at EarnIn, he observed the payment delay dilemma faced by workers, leading to the idea of popularizing quality financial assets through blockchain; Erbil Karaman brought product growth experience from Lyft and Meta.
Initially, Huma focused on DeFi lending protocols, but later shifted to PayFi due to the 'low risk, short cycle' characteristics of the payment field.
In 2023, the project actively promoted early layout: participated in ETHDenver 2023, attracting developers through hackathons, accounts receivable and tiered discussion panels, development rewards, etc.; in February, collaborated with ecosystems such as Superfluid and ButtonDeFi, increasing X platform fans to 20,000; in terms of financing, completed an $8.3 million seed round, followed by a $38 million Series A led by Distributed Global, accumulating $46.3 million in financing, with investors being strategic supporters aligned with the PayFi vision.
II. Project Progress: Ecosystem Integration and Business Explosion (2024-2025)
1. Ecosystem Integration and Risk Control (2024)
In 2024, Huma's development accelerates, acquiring/merging with cross-border payment service provider Arf to form a 'platform + application' closed loop to enhance liquidity, integrating Arf's business into its ecosystem, focusing on the $40 trillion cross-border market and the $16 trillion credit card sector.
At the same time, it has established a multi-dimensional risk management system (including first-loss protection, special purpose entity isolation, Fireblocks multi-signature wallet), with a bad debt rate as low as 0.25%.
2. Core Product Launch and Token Issuance (2025)
• Core Product: Launch two core products - 'Huma Institutional' for institutions (requires KYC, supports 12 audited funds across 5 chains including Solana and Polygon), and 'Permissionless Huma 2.0' for retail users, going live on Solana on April 9, 2025. Huma 2.0 offers 'Classic Mode' and 'Maxi Mode' (including locking options), integrating DeFi strategies from Kamino, Aave, and Pendle, attracting 53,400 depositors to deposit $50 million USDC by May 2025.
• Business Data: A total of $2.3 billion in credit issued, processing $4.5 billion in transactions; in April 2025, monthly credit volume reached $197.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 200%, with Arf contributing 98% of credit business.
• Token Issuance: HUMA token will be issued for free through Launchpool from May 23-25, 2025, with a maximum supply of 10 billion tokens (initial circulation of 2.5%), used for governance, staking mining, and ecosystem incentives. After the token goes live, there will be a short-term surge, followed by a 45% drop from the peak on May 27, reporting at $0.062.
3. Cooperation and Recent Milestones (2025)
• Collaborate with the Solana Foundation to receive technical support and jointly hold 5 PayFi meetings;
• Launch the 'PayFi Summit Series', complete the Hong Kong station event, and hold the next stop in Singapore during TOKEN2049 on October 1, 2025;
• In August 2025, collaborate with Meteora to launch a $25,000 USDC LP reward program in the Solana fund pool, with participants receiving MET points;
• Launch the 'Japan Initiative' (August 22-27), holding financial institution cooperation activities in Tokyo and Osaka to accelerate global layout;
• Launch a groundbreaking settlement solution to achieve same-day payments for e-commerce.
III. Future Outlook: Goals and Challenges
Huma Finance aims to achieve over $10 billion in transaction volume by the end of 2025, with core focus areas including user education, regulatory compliance clarification, and on-chain credit card financing. Currently facing two major challenges of bridging DeFi and traditional finance, and popularizing stablecoins, but effectively enhancing user trust through transparent tools such as Dune data panels and monthly reports.
Currently, Huma has 150,000 fans on the X platform and is certified, promoting PayFi as a core pillar of real-time global commerce, continuously consolidating its leading position in the PayFi sector.
Summary
Since its inception in 2022, Huma Finance has grown from traditional payment pain points to a benchmark in the PayFi field, achieving breakthroughs in 2025 through product landing, business growth, and global layout, aiming for a target transaction volume of $10 billion to drive PayFi into global real-time commerce.
