Banx

Banx is a perpetual peer-to-peer lending protocol on Solana that lets NFT holders borrow SOL against their collections without time-based expirations or oracle-driven price liquidations. Borrowers choose their own loan-to-value ratio and interest rate, repay on their own schedule, and only pay interest for the time the loan is actually open. Lenders deposit SOL to earn yield on deployed capital. Both sides set their own risk-reward terms, making the protocol more flexible than fixed-term or automated market maker-style lending models.

Origins: From Frakt and Pawnshop Gnomies

Banx traces its roots to two of Solana's earliest NFT projects. Frakt launched in June 2021 as one of the first generative art collections on the network. Pawnshop Gnomies followed in November 2021 and issued the first on-chain NFT-backed loan on Solana. The two teams merged, operated together as Frakt Protocol through 2022 and into 2023, and rebranded as Banx.gg by late 2023 — unifying both communities, the Frakt and Gnomies NFT holders, and the lending infrastructure under a single brand and domain.

The rebranding coincided with the launch of a new 7,777-piece NFT collection (the Banx NFTs), a redesigned protocol interface, and a native token ($BANX). Within three months of the Banx.gg launch, the protocol had captured approximately 23% of the active NFT loan market on Solana.

How Lending Works

The protocol operates two lending models side by side.

Peer-to-pool: Lenders deposit SOL into shared lending pools. Borrowers draw from these pools instantly at prevailing interest rates. Depositors earn auto-compounding yield as loans accrue interest.

Peer-to-peer (order book): Lenders post individual offers specifying the NFT collections they will accept as collateral, the LTV they are willing to extend, and the APR they require. Borrowers browse the order book and accept offers that fit their needs. This model gives lenders fine-grained control over counterparty exposure and collection risk.

Critically, Banx does not use price oracles to trigger liquidations. Instead, the system relies on low LTV ratios agreed between borrower and lender at origination. There are no forced liquidations triggered by NFT floor price moves; a loan stays open as long as the borrower continues to service it. This removes the cascading liquidation risk common to oracle-dependent lending protocols, though it places the burden of collection-risk assessment on the lender.

Banx also supports compressed NFTs (cNFTs), including collections such as Tensorians and DRIP, expanding its collateral universe beyond standard Metaplex NFTs.

The BANX Token

$BANX is the protocol's native token, with a total supply of 15 billion. At the time of its Token Generation Event (end of March 2024), approximately 40% was in circulation, with a fully diluted valuation of around $15 million.

The token's primary function is staking. The protocol routes 100% of its revenue — lending fees plus royalties — into a buyback mechanism that distributes purchased $BANX to stakers. There is no separate treasury take; the entire fee stream goes back to token holders.

Legacy holders of the $FRKT token from the original Frakt protocol received conversion rights at a ratio of 1 FRKT = 312.5 BANX, accounting for 11.2% of the total BANX supply.

Banx NFTs and Revenue Sharing

The 7,777 Banx NFTs function as protocol equity alongside the token. Each NFT carries two point scores: Partner points, which determine the holder's share of protocol revenue, and Player points, which determine discounts and borrowing boosts within the protocol itself.

Revenue from protocol activity is split between the two stakeholder groups: Banx NFT holders receive 35% of the distributed value; $BANX token stakers receive the remaining 65%.

Protocol Milestones and Metrics

By November 2023, the protocol had generated $3.3 million in cumulative revenue and distributed 19,200 SOL to stakers. The protocol's TVL peaked at 250,000 SOL during its earlier Frakt-era peer-to-pool phase in 2022.

Ecosystem integrations documented include a liquid staking collaboration with DeGods, SOL treasury deployment through Marinade Liquid Staking, community partnerships with collections including One, Aurory, MonkeDAO, and Lifinity, and a relationship with Synatra.xyz — described as the largest NFT lending fund on Solana. Integration with the Anybodies infrastructure also provided $BONK cashbacks to users.

The team noted that a significant portion of borrowed SOL flows into Jupiter for swaps and perpetual trading, positioning Banx as a liquidity source for the broader Solana DeFi stack.

Team

Banx was founded by Timur Samoylov (CEO), a web2/web3 product veteran with hackathon placements across Tezos and Ethereum ecosystems, and Vedamir Efanov (CTO), a DeFi protocol engineer with a development background predating the Solana ecosystem. The team was reported to have 13 full-time employees as of late 2023.

Fit in the Solana Ecosystem

Banx occupies a specific niche: capital-efficient, long-duration NFT-backed borrowing for holders who want liquidity without selling. By removing oracles and price-based liquidations, the protocol trades automation for a more deliberate lending model where both sides actively set terms. The BANX token and NFT revenue-share structure tie protocol health directly to stakeholder incentives. The project's multi-year history — from the first NFT loan on Solana in 2021 through the Banx.gg rebrand in 2023 — gives it one of the longer operational track records among Solana lending protocols.