The memecoin craze may be entering a new phase.
International Meme Fund, a lending protocol for memecoins on the Ethereum mainnet, crossed $55 million in deposits on July 11, up 180% in the past week.
The protocol and its token IMF launched in April off to a slow start, taking about one month to reach $1 million in deposits. Deposits slowly rose before skyrocketing in late June, surging over 400% in the month.
International Meme Fund allows users to borrow Sky’s USDS stablecoin against various memecoins. Currently, it offers support for Mog, Pepe, Joe, and its token IMF.
Most lending platforms stray away from accepting highly volatile assets such as memecoins as collateral, but International Meme Fund is bucking the trend.
“Bank the unbankable” is the protocol’s slogan, a riff on the old microfinance — and later crypto — mantra, “bank the unbanked.”
By accepting memecoins as collateral, it offers traders the opportunity to stay exposed to the token they lent while using the extra capital elsewhere.
Traders can look for other opportunities in the market or even double down on their memecoin position.
The platform’s “accelerate” feature lets users take on leveraged positions of up to 150% on memecoins by automating a looping strategy.
Looping is a high-risk strategy in which users repeatedly borrow against and re-deposit the same asset to build a leveraged long position. While traditionally a multi-step process, some protocols now automate it with a single click.
The protocol also advertises one of the highest stablecoin yields on the market, offering 47% APY on USDS deposits. That return comes from a combination of yield earned via Morpho vaults and additional incentives paid out in the protocol’s native token.
At the moment, only four tokens are accepted as collateral. But token holders can vote to add more. Token holders with enough IMF tokens can “bribe the cartel” — the protocol’s term for swaying listing decisions.
Mention whether the protocol founders are doxxed? Is it audited? unaudited?
International Meme Fund’s token has a market value of $62 million, up 45% in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Pepe is up 12%, Joe is up 15%, and Mog is up 26% as part of a broader crypto market rally led by Bitcoin
