How Advance makes money
Advance takes a small share of a fee borrowers already pay. Savers carry the lending risk, so the company never lends its own money.
The money from one advance
Seven ways it earns
Live means it's in the product today; Next means it's designed and coming.
The advance fee
Every advance pays a flat 2%. Savers get 90% of it; Advance keeps 10%. This split is already in the deployed contract.
Partner apps
Payment apps, payroll tools and marketplaces add Advance for their users and share the fee. They bring borrowers at almost no cost.
Credit score access
Every repayment builds a public credit record. Apps pay per lookup to check an address's score and its reasons.
Any-chain deposit fee
A small cut (about 0.1% to 0.2%) of savers' cross-chain deposits through Aurora.
Agent credit
AI agents are newer and riskier, so their advances can carry a higher fee once there's enough history.
Gift card margin
Brands sell gift cards below face value. Advance passes most of the discount to users and keeps a slice of each sale.
Managing larger capital
Once loss data builds up, investment funds can supply the Steady side and pay a management fee, like private credit funds.
Scratch cards pay for themselves
Borrowers who repay fast win part of their fee back. That costs the pool a little per advance, and earns it more per month.
- Fee on $100
- $2.00
- Average card (8.7% of fee)
- −$0.17
- Kept per advance
- $1.83
- Advances per month
- 1
- Savers earn per month
- $1.64
- Fee on $100
- $2.00
- Average card (34.8% of fee)
- −$0.70
- Kept per advance
- $1.30
- Advances per month
- about 4
- Savers earn per month
- $4.69
Same $100 of savers' money, one month. The card is a rebate split 90/10 between savers and Advance, exactly like the fee.
Why it's a good business
No lending risk on our books
Missed repayments come out of the savers' pool (Boost first), so Advance's share is close to pure margin.
Tiny cost per borrower
A split costs under a cent on Monad, payer checks are cached, and there's no collections team.
Money that turns over
An advance repays in about 3 to 4 weeks, so the same dollar earns fees about 12 times a year.
What it adds up to
An illustration, not a forecast: a typical borrower takes $200 a month.
| Borrowers | Advanced a year | Fees (2%) | Advance at 10% | At 20% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $24M | $480k | $48k | $96k |
| 100,000 | $240M | $4.8M | $480k | $960k |
| 1,000,000 | $2.4B | $48M | $4.8M | $9.6M |
Honestly: the fee share alone matters only at scale. That's why partner apps (cheap borrowers) and score access (a second product) are central to the plan.
How it grows
- StartFreelancers already paid in stablecoins
- ThenPayment apps on Monad embed Advance
- ThenLarger limits as repayment data builds
- ThenInvestment funds supply the Steady side
- LaterAI agents as they earn onchain