Author: Zhang Feng
On September 11, 2025, Figure Technologies successfully went public on NASDAQ. This company, known as the "first stock of RWA," completed its IPO at a price of $25 per share, raising $788 million, and saw its stock rise 36% on the first day, with a market capitalization exceeding $6.6 billion. A fintech company that has moved loan funding flows on-chain to rewrite the rules, using blockchain technology to reconstruct global financial infrastructure, has not only achieved profitability but also opened up a multi-trillion-dollar market space for RWA.
1. Restructuring Processes, Strong Growth
Figure was founded in 2018 by Mike Cagney, co-founder of SoFi, with the aim of addressing pain points in the consumer credit market, such as inefficient processes and high costs. Through its self-developed Provenance blockchain platform, Figure has built a complete ecosystem covering lending, trading, and asset tokenization. Its core business is Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC), which uses blockchain technology to shorten the traditional approval process from about 42 days to as fast as 5 minutes for approval and 5 days for disbursement. As of June 2025, Figure has issued over $16 billion in loans, becoming one of the largest non-bank HELOC providers in the United States.
Figure has demonstrated its profitability and growth potential. Revenue for 2023 and 2024 was $210 million and $341 million, respectively; net profit in 2024 reached $19.92 million. In the first half of 2025, Figure's revenue was $191 million, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%; net profit was $29.38 million, with a net profit margin of 15.4%, far exceeding the fintech industry's average of 8%-10%. Figure's revenue sources mainly include: loan sale proceeds, loan servicing fees, technology platform fees, and related business from the stablecoin YLDS. This diversified revenue structure provides continuous growth momentum.
2. Embracing Regulation, Focusing on Transparency
Figure's core strategy in legal compliance is to actively embrace regulation, obtain necessary licenses, innovate by adopting a "hybrid rights confirmation" model, and emphasize transparent disclosure. Its main practices can be summarized as follows:
Licenses First, Comprehensive Coverage: Figure understands the strong regulatory nature of financial businesses, so it actively obtains various licenses. It holds over 180 loan issuance and servicing licenses, 48 money transmission licenses, and has SEC-registered broker-dealer qualifications and alternative trading system (ATS) operating rights. This lays a solid foundation for the compliance of its various business operations.
Respecting Existing Legal Frameworks, Adopting a "Hybrid Rights Confirmation" Model: Figure deeply understands that under the current legal environment, on-chain records cannot directly serve as the final legal proof of ownership. Its Provenance blockchain is a permissioned consortium chain, not an unpermissioned public chain. They have adopted a "on-chain visibility + off-chain rights confirmation" hybrid model—providing transparent transaction traces on-chain, while the legal final ownership still relies on the official records of traditional transfer agents. This ensures that its operations comply with existing regulatory requirements such as the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Seeking Regulatory Approval, Setting Precedents: In key product innovations, Figure actively communicates with regulatory agencies to seek approval. Its interest-bearing stablecoin YLDS successfully received approval from the SEC, being recognized as a debt security subject to the Securities Act and the Investment Company Act. The mortgage-backed securities it issued also received a AAA rating from S&P. These recognitions greatly enhance the compliance and market credibility of its products.
Emphasizing Audits and Information Disclosure: As a publicly listed company, Figure's financial data and business operations are subject to strict audits. Although the verifiability of its on-chain assets is controversial, the audit of its public financial reports provides another layer of transparency assurance.
Figure addresses compliance issues through a combination strategy of "license protection, model innovation, regulatory cooperation, and information disclosure," cautiously advancing financial innovation within the existing legal framework, striving to achieve a balance between innovation and compliance.
3. Comprehensive Strength, Leading the Pack
After its IPO, Figure's stock price rose 24.44% on the first day, with a market capitalization exceeding $6.7 billion. The market has cast a vote of confidence with real money. Figure Technologies' ability to become the "first stock of RWA" is mainly attributed to its comprehensive strengths in technology implementation, business model, compliance first-mover advantage, and market position.
Technology Implementation and Efficiency Improvement: Figure has independently developed the Provenance blockchain, focusing on financial applications. It has shortened the HELOC approval process from a traditional average of 42 days to as fast as 5 minutes for approval and 5 days for disbursement, issuing loans exceeding $16 billion, significantly improving the efficiency of financial operations and reducing costs.
Innovative Business Model and Profitability Performance: Figure has built a complete ecosystem covering lending, trading, and asset tokenization. Its revenue sources are diverse, including loan sale proceeds, loan servicing fees, technology platform fees, etc. The company achieved an adjusted net income of $339 million in 2024, with a net profit of $29.38 million in the first half of 2025, demonstrating strong profitability and growth potential.
Compliance First-Mover Advantage and Industry Standard Setting: Figure has a far-reaching layout in compliance, holding over 180 loan issuance and servicing licenses, 48 money transmission licenses, and SEC-registered broker-dealer qualifications. In February 2025, it received SEC approval to issue the world's first interest-bearing stablecoin YLDS, and the bonds it issued also received a AAA rating from S&P, marking significant compliance milestones in the industry.
Market Dominance and Scarcity: In the RWA private credit tokenization market, Figure holds about 75% market share, locking in assets exceeding $11 billion, making it the absolute leader in this field. As the world's first publicly listed company focused on RWA, it possesses significant scarcity, attracting high market attention.
By deeply applying blockchain technology to solve traditional financial pain points and successfully building a profitable business model, along with its excellent compliance capabilities and market position, Figure has become a benchmark in the RWA field and successfully went public.
4. Paving the Way, Laying the Foundation for the Industry
As the world's first publicly listed company focused on RWA, Figure has achieved substantial efficiency improvements and cost reductions by applying blockchain technology to loan issuance, asset securitization, and other areas. Its successful IPO has paved a path for the entire industry, proving the commercial viability and development potential of RWA tokenization.
Figure's listing demonstrates the practical application value of blockchain technology in traditional finance, rather than merely being a proof of concept, and provides experience and templates for similar companies in the future, especially in building compliance frameworks and regulatory communication.
Figure's success also offers important insights for future similar public companies, namely, technological innovation must be combined with real demand. Figure did not merely stay at the concept of blockchain but deeply addressed the actual pain points in traditional finance. The compliance-first strategy is another important insight. By investing heavily in regulatory compliance, Figure has created a legitimate operating space for itself and established standards for the industry. Additionally, Figure demonstrates the importance of ecosystem building, creating network effects and increasing user stickiness and switching costs by providing a full-process solution from loan issuance to asset securitization.
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