The Private Credit Market Is Growing to $2 Trillion — Why 8lends Is P2B, Not DeFi

As banking regulations became stricter, such as with Basel III and Dodd-Frank, major banks became more selective about lending to SMEs. Smaller deals can be less attractive for banks once capital requirements are taken into account.

This trend has lasted for more than a decade and, according to analysts, is likely to continue.

At the same time, institutional and private investors are looking for higher yields than traditional bonds can offer, while still wanting more predictable cash flows than they can get from public stocks.

Following a strategy review in September 2024, the pension fund CalPERS doubled its target allocation to private credit from 5% to 8%, adding around $12 billion in new capital over three years.

The Dutch firm APG, Europe’s largest pension investor, plans to increase its private market exposure to more than 30% of its assets. It plans to do this partly by increasing its allocation to private debt from around 1.5% to 2–4%.

The UK pension fund Nest has allocated £450 million to US private credit as part of a goal to bring its private market exposure to around 30% by 2030.

A small group of major asset managers controls a large part of the market, and that group has changed significantly over the past year.

Blackstone Credit manages around $370 billion and remains one of the largest players.

BlackRock joined the group of major private credit managers in July 2025 after acquiring HPS Investment Partners for $12 billion. The deal brought BlackRock’s private credit business to around $220 billion, putting it on a similar scale to Apollo and Blue Owl, which also passed the $200 billion mark.

BlackRock expects the private debt market to more than double and reach $4.5 trillion by 2030.

As a result, businesses that struggle to get loans from banks are turning to private lenders for funding, including for projects with reasonable risk profiles.

8lends works in the same way as classic private credit: investor capital goes directly to a specific business, bypassing banks, at a fixed interest rate and with tangible collateral.

This is known as P2B (peer-to-business). An investor funds a business loan with a fixed annual rate of 19–25%, with a minimum investment of 100 USDC.

The loan is secured by a tangible asset belonging to the borrower. An independent collateral agent, Maclear AG, values and monitors the collateral.

The project’s credit rating (on an AAA–CCC scale) is set before the loan becomes available to investors.

On our platform, blockchain handles USDC-based settlements and provides transparent loan terms and access for investors across different jurisdictions without traditional fund-level intermediaries.

The term “DeFi lending” is widely known and often refers to blockchain-based credit products. But the core model is different.

In DeFi lending, the collateral usually consists of cryptocurrency such as ETH or BTC. Interest rates are typically variable and depend on demand in the liquidity pool. If the collateral loses value, the position can be liquidated automatically.

8lends is a P2B platform. Businesses that take loans provide the collateral, interest rates are fixed, and there is no traditional liquidation mechanism.

The main risk is business default. That’s why every loan is secured by a tangible business asset. If a business defaults, we can sell the collateral and return the principal to investors.

Some projects on our platform also have BuyBack protection. In the event of a default on a project with BuyBack protection, investors receive their money much faster and in full.

However, we do have something similar to DeFi crypto lending.

8lends offers a separate product called FastLending, which works like crypto-collateralized, variable-rate DeFi lending.

The institutional private credit market has traditionally been out of reach for individual investors. Minimum investments could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and investors often had to lock their money up for years through funds.

8lends brings the same model — direct business financing backed by real collateral at a fixed rate — with investments starting at 100 USDC. You can also exit early through the Secondary Market (the “Classifieds” section in your dashboard), where the seller pays a 10% fee.

Investing in business loans involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Fixed rates describe loan terms, not guaranteed outcomes, and collateral does not guarantee full recovery.