When you invest money, the main question is always the same: what protects my capital?
In this article, we explain how investment security works at 8lends, what the RWA approach means, the role played by the Swiss company Maclear AG, and what happens if a borrower fails to meet their obligations.
What is RWA and How Does It Work at 8lends?
RWA (Real World Assets) are tangible physical assets used as collateral for loans.
At 8lends, this means businesses receive funding against specific property, not against promises of future revenue.
Simply put:
You invest in a business, and your funds are backed by real assets, not just smart contract logic.
In this model, the blockchain is responsible for transparency, automated settlements, and recording operations.
Capital protection is built on the fact that behind every loan stands property with a verifiable value.
What Assets Are Used as Collateral?
At 8lends, only liquid business assets are accepted as collateral.
This includes machinery, vehicles, equipment, or real estate—things that exist physically and have a clear market price.
We consciously do not use future revenue or turnover figures as collateral.
This approach allows us to rely on the actual value of assets rather than forecasts.
Later in this article, we will also show examples of real collateral annexes (documents) so you can see what proof of security looks like in practice.
The Role of Maclear AG and What is a Collateral Agent?
Blockchain provides transparency and automation, but it cannot seize property or conduct legal processes in the real world.
That is why Maclear AG plays a key role in the 8lends ecosystem as our Collateral Agent.
A Collateral Agent is a party that acts on behalf of all investors: it legally registers the pledge and monitors that the collateral actually exists and is documented.
If a borrower stops fulfilling their obligations, it is Maclear AG that initiates the recovery process: organizing the seizure/return of the collateral property, conducting asset valuation, initiating its sale, and then ensuring the return of funds to investors strictly proportionally.
LTV: How to Assess Risk Level in Advance
Before launching every project, we evaluate the loan and collateral parameters.
One of the key metrics here is LTV (Loan-to-Value).
LTV shows how much the loan amount "burdens" the collateral.
Simply put, it is the ratio of the loan amount to the value of the collateral.
The formula is simple:
LTV = (Loan / Collateral) × 100
Example:
if the loan amount is $750,000 and the collateral value is $500,000, then:
750,000 / 500,000 × 100 = 150%
The logic for the investor:
The lower the LTV, the safer it is, because the collateral covers the loan with a margin.
Therefore, LTV is one of the quickest ways to understand how protected a project looks even before investing.
What Happens If the Borrower Doesn't Pay?
If a borrower stops paying monthly interest, a settlement period begins first.
If the delay exceeds 60 days, Maclear AG, acting as the Collateral Agent, begins the process of liquidating the collateral assets.
Next, the assets are appraised, their sale is organized, and the proceeds are distributed among investors strictly in proportion to the amounts invested.
If the value of the sold assets fully covers the loan amount, investors receive 100% of their funds back.
If only a part could be recovered, the refund occurs proportionally to the actual amount received.
Real Collateral Documents
To help you understand what stands behind the words "pledge" and "collateral," we want to show you examples of real documents in this article.
We are not talking about the full credit agreement, but about the Annexes to the Pledge Agreement, where it is recorded which assets are transferred as collateral and how they are described.
We do not publish full contracts due to legal restrictions and confidentiality requirements.
However, we are ready to disclose pledge annexes (anonymized and approved by the borrowing companies) so you can see real examples of the security the platform works with.
Summary
RWA at 8lends is a practical approach to investment protection.It combines blockchain transparency with real assets, legal registration, and clear processes.This is how we build a sustainable investment model where capital protection is based not on promises, but on real mechanisms.