Yala

Yala is a financial software company that has developed a modular infrastructure designed to connect Bitcoin liquidity with a meta-yield stablecoin. The company was founded in January 2024 by Kaitai Chang, a former Binance Labs employee, Bin Liu, who also co-founded Alchemy Pay, and Vicky Fu, a former director of engineering at Circle. The team's collective experience from prominent organizations like MakerDAO, Lido, and Microsoft underpins the protocol's development.

The core of Yala's business is a protocol that allows Bitcoin holders to generate yield from decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world assets (RWAs) without relinquishing custody of their Bitcoin. Users can over-collateralize their Bitcoin to mint $YU, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. This stablecoin, $YU, can then be used across various blockchain ecosystems to access yield opportunities. This process is designed to unlock Bitcoin's liquidity, which has been historically isolated due to the network's technical limitations. The protocol serves a diverse client base, including large Bitcoin holders (miners and whales), retail investors, and crypto asset management firms.

Yala's platform is built on a modular architecture that includes application, consensus, data availability, execution, and settlement layers, ensuring sophisticated financial transactions can occur while maintaining Bitcoin's security. Key features include "MetaVault," a flexible asset management system catering to different risk appetites, and a trust-minimized architecture that allows BTC to remain on the Bitcoin blockchain. To maintain the stablecoin's peg and manage risk, Yala employs mechanisms such as over-collateralization, liquidity reward programs, collaboration with market makers, and a Peg Stability Module (PSM). An insurance module, named Takaful, provides an additional layer of protection against liquidation risks stemming from Bitcoin's price volatility.

In October 2024, Yala announced it had raised $8 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures, with participation from other notable investors. The protocol's mainnet launched in May 2025, and by July 2025, it had achieved over $211 million in Total Value Locked (TVL). The platform also features a governance token, $YALA, which allows holders to participate in key decisions regarding the protocol's development and will be used to incentivize participation.

Keywords: Bitcoin liquidity, meta-yield stablecoin, decentralized finance, DeFi, real-world assets, RWA, BTC-backed stablecoin, cross-chain liquidity, crypto yield generation, financial software, blockchain infrastructure, Kaitai Chang, Bin Liu, Vicky Fu, Polychain Capital, Ethereal Ventures, $YU stablecoin, $YALA governance token, over-collateralization, crypto asset management, Bitcoin yield, liquid staking