Cross River plans to place loan ownership and servicing records on Arbitrum One from origination, a design it says could widen funding and distribution options for lending partners and credit investors.
The bank announced the project Nov. 3, saying it and Offchain had completed a proof of concept. Cross River is targeting production deployment in early 2027, without giving a specific date.
Under the proposed system, a loan would receive a record on Arbitrum One at origination. Cross River says the record would capture ownership and key loan activity, including funding, payments and servicing, so it follows the asset as it is held or transferred. This places the blockchain record at the start of the loan’s life, rather than adding it after traditional lending processes have run.
Borrowers are expected to continue using the customer-facing services they already use to apply, access funds and make repayments. Cross River says Offchain’s ZeroDev wallet infrastructure would manage the blockchain functions behind those services, leaving the borrower-facing process in place.
Cross River will keep responsibility as the regulated bank and lender of record. It says loans on the system will remain subject to its current approach to underwriting, risk controls and compliance.
The bank said the setup may accommodate continuous forward-flow purchase programs, different commitment sizes and additional ways of packaging loans for credit investors. It also pointed to onchain funds and international investors as possible sources of capital; no products or commercial terms were announced.
Cross River says conventional funding processes can make some purchase and distribution arrangements difficult to support efficiently. The bank presents tokenized records as a way to address those constraints, and identifies fintechs and lending partners among the possible users of the funding and distribution options. Cross River founder and CEO Gilles Gade said, “Tokenization belongs at origination.”
The next milestone is production deployment, which the companies are targeting for early 2027. Cross River has not identified which loan products would be included first.
