Securitize to buy River One for asset-backed loans

Securitize has agreed to acquire institutional financing platform River One in a move that would extend its business from tokenising financial assets into providing infrastructure for asset-backed lending, including financing secured against loan and receivables portfolios.

The New York-listed company announced the agreement on 9 November, positioning the acquisition as an opportunity to connect institutional lending markets with capital available through stablecoin-based financial infrastructure.

River One, formally River Credit Labs, develops warehouse financing technology designed to support borrowing against pools of income-generating assets.

These arrangements are commonly used by specialist lenders to finance portfolios before individual loans mature, are refinanced or are transferred into longer-term funding structures.

The acquisition would therefore move Securitize beyond the issuance, administration and servicing of tokenised securities into the funding mechanisms supporting asset origination.

The companies intend to combine Securitize’s digital asset infrastructure with River One’s warehouse financing capabilities. Their stated objective is to allow institutions to represent financial assets on blockchain networks and obtain funding against those assets.

For receivables financiers, the proposed structure is significant because access to warehouse capital can determine how quickly a lender expands its portfolio.

A factoring company, for example, may purchase eligible invoices using capital drawn from a warehouse facility, with customer collections subsequently supporting repayment and further lending.

Introducing alternative institutional capital could broaden the sources of funding available for such arrangements. However, the companies have not announced a completed receivables-finance facility or disclosed committed funding capacity attributable to the acquisition.

River One was incubated by Framework Ventures and has received investment backing from Framework Ventures and Maple Finance.

Securitize described the transaction as providing access to a global private asset-backed finance market it estimates at approximately US$6tn. That figure represents an estimated addressable market, not financing commitments or assets currently funded by the combined business.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions. The purchase price, transaction structure and River One’s existing financing volumes were not disclosed.

The announcement accompanied Securitize’s third-quarter results, which showed average tokenised assets rising 39 per cent year on year to approximately US$5bn. Quarterly revenue increased 13 per cent to US$18.6m, while the company reported a US$66.3m net loss, largely reflecting listing-related accounting charges.

The proposed acquisition illustrates growing interest in combining digital asset infrastructure with conventional secured lending, although its practical impact will depend on whether the technology attracts institutional funding and results in completed financing transactions.