Pendle Finance, co-founded by TN Lee, has undergone a remarkable transformation from its origins as a failed Cold Brew business to a multi-billion entity. In a recent interview which was hosted by Kevin – WSH, Lee discussed Pendle’s evolution into a major decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol with a staggering $7 billion in total value locked (TVL). He noted that high-profile traders are taking interest in their project and mentioned Tron founder as well in this regard.

E82: @pendle_fi : From a failed Cold Brew Business to a $7 Billion TVL Protocol@tn_pendle is the CoFounder of Pendle Finance – a DeFi platform that enables users to tokenize and trade future yield.Thank you to our Partners @JupiterExchange , @swissborg , @pudgypenguins ,… pic.twitter.com/aPMTTYqdXy

— Kevin – WSH (@KevinWSHPod) August 10, 2024

TN Lee Transforms Pendle from Struggles to DeFi Success

He stated that Pendle has achieved a relatively fast and successful evolution at its path. The total value locked into the platform which stood at $250 million in strength surged past $7 billion in a matter of months. It has been impressive growth that speaks of Pendle’s growing dominance in the DeFi ecosystem.

However, it was not always a smooth sail and the process required a certain amount of effort and struggle. Pendle, when it introduced its first version known as (V1) in June 2021, it faced several problems. Pump expenses and an unsustainable user interface led to operational challenges and a lack of adoption.

As for TN Lee, some of the activities he was engaged in before Pendle include the Cold Brew business and seeking for suitable NFT marketplaces. It made him laid a strong foundation for his success in Pendle when he had these other projects.

Previously, Lee was working at Kaiber until December 2018 with the company unable to challenge larger exchange platforms such as Binance. This change of tack forced Lee to look for new markets and hence lead to the establishment of Pendle.

A lot of technical improvements were made during the transition from V1 to V2 of Pendle, along with corresponding improvements in the user experience. V2 was implemented in December 2022 which can be considered a defining moment for the platform as it established a higher TVL and contributed to its development.

Pendle Finance Sees TVL Surge from $5M to $7B After V2 Launch

After the launch of V2, TVL of Pendle has changed from 5 million dollars to 7 billion dollars which is evidence of the market demand. Another area that proved an increase in the level of activity is the daily trading volume of the platform which increased from $200-300K to $182 million.

In his interview, he also highlighted that several high-profile users have joined the project, such as Justin Sun among others who also participated in some large transactions which contributed to Pendle reaching an acceptable volume figure so far. The token system of the platform has been in development via partnerships with other protocols.

In the future, Pendle plans to use its TVL for optimized yield options that outperform current yields. With these advancements and strategic developments, the platform is on track to have more impact in DeFi in the next 12 months as Pendle continues its growth.