NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 15 – Digital lender Tala has partnered with Huma Finance to launch the world’s first scalable, tokenized consumer lending platform for the global underbanked, deploying a $50 million USDC credit facility built on the Solana blockchain.
The new platform brings blockchain-enabled, permissionless lending to millions of underserved borrowers by combining Tala’s AI-driven credit underwriting with Huma Finance’s onchain liquidity infrastructure. The initiative positions Tala at the forefront of real-world blockchain adoption in emerging markets.
Under the partnership, Tala will tokenize consumer loans through an overcollateralised lending structure, with liquidity provided via the Huma Protocol. Loan disbursement and repayment will move onchain, improving transparency, lowering costs, and enabling access to global capital pools.
Tala founder and CEO Shivani Siroya said the move reflects the company’s focus on translating advanced technology into practical financial access.
“After a decade operating across multiple emerging markets, we know how to translate frontier technologies into real-world financial power,” Siroya said. “By pairing Tala’s trusted platform with blockchain technology, together with Huma and Solana, we can expand financial access, eliminate inefficiencies, and help millions participate in the global digital economy.”
The platform is powered by Tala’s proprietary credit engine, trained on more than $7 billion in historical lending data across multiple continents. This data enables Tala to underwrite borrowers who lack formal credit histories and are often excluded from traditional banking systems.
By connecting these tokenized loans to Huma’s stablecoin-based liquidity pools, Tala unlocks a new funding channel for emerging-market credit, allowing global investors to access real-world, income-generating assets backed by verified repayment behaviour.
“Tala’s team has over a decade of experience scaling high-performance lending programmes for people who need access the most,” said Erbil Karaman, co-founder of Huma Finance. “This partnership sets a new standard for overcollateralised, data-driven, fully digital tokenized lending that is liquid from day one.”
Huma Finance provides compliant onchain payments and finance infrastructure, linking digital assets to more than 100,000 global liquidity providers. Its protocol enables programmable lending, built-in risk controls and real-time portfolio visibility.
The launch also establishes Tala as one of the largest global on-ramps for non-crypto-native users, introducing millions of customers in emerging markets to blockchain technology through everyday financial services.
Solana Foundation Payments Lead Maya Caddle said the partnership aligns with the network’s broader vision.
“Solana’s vision for internet capital markets is to make finance accessible globally and at scale,” Caddle said. “Tala’s decision to bring its credit products onchain shows how blockchain can expand financial services in emerging markets.”
Tala said it plans to extend its onchain lending model to additional blockchain networks in 2026, further scaling cross-border payments and stablecoin-based lending use cases.
Tala serves nearly 13 million customers across multiple emerging markets and has raised more than $500 million from global investors. Huma Finance has processed over $8 billion in transactions through its PayFi network, which focuses on stablecoin-powered global payments.
