🧐 From the Hanseatic League to the New Narrative of 'Pendthena': How did Terminal become the trading hub of DeFi? A statement I saw a few days ago - that there is a new narrative in the market called 'Pendthena', referring to: Stable returns on the asset side (Ethena) x interest rate pricing market (Pendle) x institutional connectivity and credit output (Terminal). These three play their respective roles and form a new paradigm that is structurally closed loop and can also stimulate coordination. A very fresh word! I suddenly remembered an interesting passage from my high school history textbook: In 13th century Europe, city-state merchants from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea were always worried - each city-state had its own currency, measurement system, and even the legal validity of trade contracts. Every time we do business across cities, it takes up 30% of our energy just to convert currency and verify contracts, not to mention guarding against pirates and level exploitation on the way. Until the emergence of the Hanseatic League. These alliance merchants did not dwell on "how to grab business within existing rules", but joined forces to repair warehouses, set standards, and build courts: unify currency exchange rates, develop cross city trade contract templates, and even form armed fleets to escort. As a result, in just a few decades, the originally scattered small town trade network has transformed into a commercial empire covering most of Europe, controlling 80% of all maritime trade in Europe at its peak. Looking at the new narrative of 'Pendthena' from a broader perspective now, I always feel a wonderful resonance with this period of history. one ⃣ Neglected 'trade obstruction': DeFi's city-state dilemma In the past two years, the DeFi community has been discussing bottlenecks: retail investors feel insecure about fluctuating returns, and protocols are rolling up in new volumes, but there are fewer and fewer projects that can truly attract incremental funds. Why? Because the largest funds - money from traditional institutions - are still blocked outside the city-state. The problems faced by institutional funds entering DeFi are the same as those faced by European businessmen in cross city trade—— 1) Lack of compliance channels: the legal status and tax treatment of on chain assets are not standardized; 2) The settlement efficiency cannot keep up: the traditional clearing rhythm of funds is not synchronized with on chain transactions; 3) The profit structure is too complex: the high volatility arbitrage played by individual investors does not match the risk appetite of institutions; 4) The risk structure is opaque: direct on chain interaction is like walking barefoot on a tightrope, lacking a trusted settlement layer. Just like Europe before the Hanseatic League, it was not that there was no trade demand, but rather that there was no infrastructure capable of carrying large-scale trade. two ⃣ Pendthena's Triangle Structure: Each Character is Addressing DeFi's Old Shortcomings The core of DeFi's problem is actually the lack of a closed loop of "stable assets, active pricing, and smooth circulation". And Pendthena's three characters precisely fill these three gaps. 1) Ethena @ ethena_1abs: Asset side with hard returns as the foundation Stablecoins are the lifeblood of DeFi, and in the past, they either had low annualized returns or relied on a single staking. Ethena's innovative delta neutral strategy has made sUSDe one of the few hard currency assets in the current DeFi field. According to DeFiLlama data, the market value of USDe has surged to 9.517 billion US dollars, with a surge of 79.47% in the past month, securing its position as the third largest stablecoin. The annual interest rate of 11% has formed a positive spiral, and the more people use it, the more stable the income foundation. 2) Pendle @ pendle_fi: Interest Rate Market for Pricing Returns Having stable returns alone is not enough. Users need to be flexible in their choices: some want short-term deterministic returns, some are willing to lock up their positions for long-term high returns, and some want to hedge against fluctuations in returns. This requires a market that can price the returns themselves. The ability of Pendle to structure its returns has turned static stablecoin returns into dynamic tradable assets, revitalizing the liquidity of the entire market. 3) Terminal @ Terminal_fi: The Last Mile for Institutional Funds to Enter The first two have solved the problem of assets having returns and returns being tradable, but the biggest incremental funds - institutional funds - are still stuck at the compliance threshold. The appearance of Terminal precisely fills this last mile. Its positioning is clear: a more institutional liquidity hub focused on structured trading of yield based stablecoins. It is deeply bound to the Converge chain, supports compliance auditing, identity verification, and high-speed clearing, and is the structural relay of the entire Pendthena network. three ⃣ Why is Terminal the breakthrough point? Many people don't understand the value of Terminal and think it's just an ordinary DEX? But if you compare the gap between traditional finance and DeFi, you will find its key role: Traditional asset management institutions entering DeFi require compliance certification, asset splitting reports, and risk controlled channels, while previous DeFi protocols were either too rudimentary (such as Uniswap for direct coin buying) or too complex (mechanisms so convoluted that they were difficult to understand), unable to meet the needs of institutions. But Terminal can -- it eliminates the core obstacles when institutions evaluate DeFi through the technology stack of treasury bond supported dollar+compliant identity track+high-speed execution. Simply put, institutional funds do not need to learn complex on chain operations when they come in. Terminal will help it package the funds, hedge risks, and then send them to earn profits; The profits earned can be withdrawn, and Terminal can legally transfer assets back off chain. This complete set of services is almost seamlessly integrated with traditional financial asset custody and structured services. Just like the warehouse of the Hanseatic League, it not only stores goods, but also undertakes the functions of inspection, certification, and custody; The Terminal pool is not just for storing coins, but also for circulating the demand of off chain institutions and the supply of DeFi on the chain. Traditional asset management giants hold $37 trillion, and the penetration rate of DeFi is less than 5%. If you are an institution, in the asset shortage where the yield of treasury bond falls below 3%, there is a capital entrance that has the same logic as hedge fund arbitrage and has a safe settlement layer. It has great gold absorption energy! That's also why Terminal was able to produce nearly 200 million TVLs in just one month, indicating that the market has voted with its feet to approve of this structure. four ⃣ Conclusion: The essence of finance is always to make money flow more smoothly The inspiration of the Hanseatic League is that the real big opportunity is never to grab food from the stock, but to build infrastructure that can accommodate incremental growth. When European merchants were struggling with which city-state was more profitable, someone quietly built a cross city-state trade network and ultimately controlled the rules of the entire market. The narrative of 'Pendthena' is important because it weaves Ethena's hard earnings, Pendle's pricing power, Converge's settlement layer, and BlackRock's compliance endorsement through the Terminal hub, creating the first institutional level DeFi complete solution that allows old money to flow more smoothly in the new world. As for ordinary users, participating in the tUSDe pool now may only earn some profits and points, but essentially it is witnessing DeFi's "Hansa moment" - the starting point of transforming from retail games to institutional home games. The market has already given it a name, called "Pendthena". Just like the small merchants who first joined the Hanseatic League, who would have thought that they would later follow the alliance's network and do business all over Europe? Those who haven't participated yet can go through these two entrances 👇 ✅ Pendle deposit (recommended for higher returns): https://app.pendle.finance/trade/markets?utm_source=landing&utm_medium=landing&search=tusde ✅ Official Deposit: https://terminal.fi/?ref=PZIUKEWY