Introduction: Factoring moves beyond paper

For many years, factoring remained a traditional financing tool: a business delivers goods, raises an invoice, and then waits 30 to 90 days for buyer payment. In the meantime, a bank or factoring firm advances up to 90% of the invoice value, subtracts a fee, and covers the default risk. Under this model, large amounts of working capital stay trapped. Data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows that the global trade finance gap hit $2.5 trillion in 2025, while conventional banks turn down 41% of financing applications from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Over the last two years, distributed ledger technology and tokenization have started breaking down this structure. Major institutional players such as BlackRock, J.P. Morgan, and Franklin Templeton have rolled out operational products, and the tokenized real-world assets (RWA) market is expected to surpass $31 billion. At the same time, a new segment has appeared: lending against tokenized collateral, trade contract collateralization, and direct crypto-based factoring of receivables.
Traditional factoring requires collateral - typically accounts receivable, and occasionally inventory or bank guarantees. In crypto-factoring, digital assets act as that collateral. While in 2021-2023 the main instruments were highly volatile ETH or Bitcoin, by 2025 the landscape had shifted notably.
According to the State Street Digital Assets Survey 2025, 46% of institutional investors pointed to lack of technological understanding as the main hurdle to using digital assets, with high market risk ranking second. One answer has emerged: tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds - an asset offering fixed yield and lower risk than Bitcoin or ETH.
The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), launched in March 2024, is expected by analysts to potentially reach $2.14 billion in assets under management in 2026. The BUIDL token is traded across several blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Aptos (very likely), and generates yield for its holders from U.S. Treasury obligations.
What does this mean for factoring? A company looking for financing against tokenized assets does not have to hold Bitcoin.
Beyond that, tokenized Treasuries help resolve the "double collateral" issue that dogged traditional factoring for years. A smart contract ensures the same token cannot be simultaneously transferred to two different creditors - verification occurs at the protocol level, replacing manual clearing and notifications. Several projects use such a mechanism, including Edenex, a trade contract financing platform. Still, it must be stressed: while a smart contract can lower the rehypothecation risk for a particular on-chain asset, it does not solve legal challenges like priority of claims, bankruptcy proceedings, off-chain collateral, double assignment, document disputes, and similar matters.
Direct receivables financing
Direct financing of accounts receivable without any bank intermediary marks the next evolutionary step. Here is how it works: a company creates an invoice, tokenizes it (as an NFT or an invoice token under the ERC-3643 standard), puts it into a liquidity pool, and then creditors worldwide purchase a share of that invoice, earning rights to the future payment.
Three real-world working examples:
Centrifuge - a protocol very likely to approach $2 billion in total value locked (TVL). The process is transparent: the asset originator (a factoring company) sets up a pool, investors contribute stablecoin liquidity, and smart contracts automatically distribute buyer payments.
Defactor - a platform that lets traditional factoring firms tokenize their invoice portfolios and obtain financing from DeFi pools.
Request Network - a decentralized invoicing layer. Companies produce on-chain invoices, and those records build a credit history that factoring protocols use for underwriting.
The key breakthrough is atomic settlements. In classical factoring, two to three weeks can elapse between goods shipment, invoice issuance, buyer credit checks, and the actual fund transfer. In the on-chain model, once checks are done, the entire settlement can happen in minutes: as soon as the buyer confirms receipt of goods (via an oracle, e.g., from a logistics provider), the smart contract instantly sends funds to the supplier. Edenex reports up to 24 hours for document verification and up to 120 hours to obtain financing, while also applying atomic settlements with investors and creditors.
The unit of account in crypto-factoring
Every form of factoring needs a unit of account. Traditional markets use local fiat currency. In on-chain factoring, settlements happen mostly in stablecoins - USDC, USDT, and DAI.
In 2026, the market started moving toward yield-bearing stablecoins backed by Treasury bonds. Ethena USDe (a synthetic dollar backed by short-term Treasuries, but not only) is viewed by market experts as headed for a high market capitalization. A creditor supplying liquidity to a pool that finances tokenized invoices can now hold capital in yield-generating instruments even during idle periods. Meanwhile, a supplier receiving financing can convert USDe into fiat via a banking partner or use it to pay its own vendors.
Who is already funding crypto-assets
J.P. Morgan Kinexys. The bank introduced a tokenized collateral platform that lets clients pledge BUIDL, tokenized invoices, and even Bitcoin through an institutional custody solution. As of early 2026, the platform handles roughly $3 billion per day (figures vary by source; this is an estimate).
Maple Finance. A protocol designed for institutional lending against digital assets. Total value locked (TVL) at the end of 2025 stood at several billion dollars, and the SYRUP token was listed on exchanges in December 2025.
Anchorage Digital and BitGo. Custodial banks offering collateralized financing services for crypto-factoring. A client deposits tokenized assets into a secure wallet, receives stablecoin financing, and the custodian ensures the collateral cannot be moved without the lender's consent.
Regulatory landscape: US, EU, and the path to formal rules
For a long time, crypto-backed financing operated in a gray area. That began to change in 2025.
United States. CFTC pilot program: launched on December 8, 2025. The program allows BTC, ETH, and stablecoins (e.g., USDC) to be used as collateral in derivatives markets. Separately, the GENIUS Act introduced rules for payment stablecoins, requiring 100% backing with high-quality liquid assets. It was enacted on July 18, 2025. In April 2026, the FDIC released a draft rule for implementation, mandating 1:1 backing of stablecoins with high-quality liquid assets and prohibiting interest payments to holders.
European Union. MiCA regulation becomes fully effective on June 30, 2026, after which any crypto-asset service provider (CASP) serving EU clients must hold a MiCA license. Tokenized securities continue to fall under MiFID II.
UNCITRAL. At the UN level, work is ongoing to incorporate digital assets into the Model Law on Secured Transactions (MLST). The 2025 draft amendments introduce the concept of "control" over a digital asset as the basis for a security right.
Still, unresolved issues persist. If a debtor fails to pay a traditional invoice, the creditor goes to court. But when the collateral is a token inside a blockchain smart contract, which court has jurisdiction, and how can a judgment be enforced? The first arbitrations concerning tokenized collateral at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) began in late 2025, but case law remains very limited.
Risks and counterarguments
Collateral volatility. Even tokenized Treasury bonds see minor secondary-market price fluctuations. Large creditors apply a 30-50% margin and demand automatic position liquidation if the collateral value drops below the threshold.
Operational risks. Losing the private key to the wallet holding the collateral results in irreversible asset loss. Institutional custodians (Anchorage, BitGo, Fireblocks) rely on multi-signature setups, cold storage, and insurance policies.
Regulatory fragmentation. The jurisdiction of a token issuer is set by contract, but in practice a U.S. creditor and a Singaporean debtor may disagree on whether the token qualifies as a security. The solution: bind the contract to a specific jurisdiction's law via the smart contract (choice of law) combined with notarization.
Conclusion
As of May 2026, it is fair to say that digital assets have become a fully viable instrument in factoring and receivables turnover.
Yet three challenges remain open: harmonizing the legal framework for digital collateral, standardizing enforcement procedures, and building a secondary market for tokenized invoices. The question is not about technology but timing.
The infrastructure is mature - but the market is only starting.

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Edenex is a digital platform for financing export operations and trade that automates transactions and provides investors with access to tokenized real-world assets (RWA) backed by export contracts.

This release was published on openPR.