We recently published a post about why 8lends' rates are so high We received two important questions from investors, and we want to answer them here in detail.
1. The fee charged to the borrower, calculated on the amount raised, is about 3%, while investor bonuses can go up to 6%. The difference is negative, so how is the platform sustainable?
The answer is simple: at this stage, the platform doesn't need to be profitable. It needs to be attractive to the first wave of investors.
8lends launched in March 2025. Like almost any business in its early stage, a portion of its resources goes toward growing the audience and building trust in the platform rather than toward profit, including through bonus mechanics for investors. Traditional businesses often take five years or more to become profitable, and operating at a loss in the first years is considered normal there, not a red flag.
This isn't a permanent model. As the platform grows, the bonus mechanics will be reviewed and reduced, and the economics will shift from acquisition toward sustainable profitability.
2. Maclear AG's role in this model
Maclear AG acts as Collateral Agent for 8lends: it monitors the collateral on loans and conducts independent due diligence on borrowers.
The team and part of the leadership at Maclear and 8lends have historically overlapped, but over time the areas of responsibility were legally separated between the two companies.
Maclear's income comes from two distinct sources. The first is a commission on the funding volume of Maclear's own projects, unrelated to 8lends. The second is payment for auditing and due diligence on borrowers who go through our platform, and this includes payment for Maclear's work on 8lends projects specifically. Both costs are paid by the borrower as part of the cost of raising financing. The investor doesn't bear these costs, and their returns aren't affected by them.
For transparency, we're attaching Alpha Systems LLC's profit and loss statement for 2025.
Alpha Systems LLC is the legal entity responsible for operating the 8lends platform: the Web3 infrastructure, smart contracts, and interface.
The report shows a net loss for the year, and we want to be honest about it: the loss doesn't come only from investor bonuses. It comes from a full range of items, including legal and compliance costs, contractor wages, IT infrastructure, and amortization of capitalized costs for smart contract audits and platform development.
🤩 If you still have questions, leave them in the comments. We'll pick the most important ones and answer in a new post.