Centrifuge (CFG) is a decentralized protocol for tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) such as invoices, private credit, corporate bonds, and treasuries, deployed as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum.
Originally launched in 2020 as an independent Polkadot-connected chain, it migrated in 2025 to a multichain, EVM-native architecture spanning Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Plume. The protocol lets institutions issue and finance real-world asset pools on-chain, bringing off-chain collateral into on-chain lending markets.
Centrifuge differentiates itself by focusing on institutional-grade real-world-asset tokenization rather than general-purpose DeFi, with named partners such as New York Life Investment Management and Grove building products on its infrastructure.
The protocol generates real off-chain cash-flow-backed activity: annualized protocol fees reach approximately $58 million across supported chains, with quarterly management-fee revenue of about $1.3 million in Q1 2026. None of that revenue currently flows to CFG holders, making the token's role infrastructural rather than fee-capture-based.
CFG is Centrifuge's governance token, used to vote on-chain in referenda and to elect members of the Centrifuge Council.
CFG is not used as a network gas token, since Centrifuge's real-world-asset infrastructure runs on Ethereum and other EVM chains, and no protocol fee revenue is currently distributed to holders.
Centrifuge Chain launched to mainnet in 2019, two years after the project's 2017 founding, and later won a Polkadot parachain slot. The current V3 CFG ERC-20 contract deployed on Ethereum in March 2025, part of a migration completed by November 30, 2025 that consolidated legacy CFG and WCFG 1:1.
Centrifuge raised a $15 million Series A in April 2024, led by ParaFi Capital and Greenfield with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Arrington Capital, Spartan Group, Wintermute Ventures, and Galaxy Digital, alongside an earlier $4 million strategic round. At token generation, approximately 49.9% of supply was released.
CFG is deployed as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Centrifuge's real-world-asset infrastructure additionally operates across Base, Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Plume following its 2025 migration to a multichain, EVM-native architecture.
The protocol's original Substrate-based Centrifuge Chain ran as a Polkadot parachain before being slated for discontinuation in Q4 2025 as part of this migration.
Centrifuge was founded in October 2017 in Berlin by Lucas Vogelsang, Martin Quensel, Markus Ament, and Philip Stehlik, drawing on experience from supply-chain-finance fintech Taulia.
In 2025, Bhaji Illuminati was appointed CEO of Centrifuge Labs, succeeding Vogelsang after his seven-year tenure as CEO; Vogelsang moved to a strategic board role. Current Centrifuge Labs leadership includes Anil Sood (Chief Strategy Officer, co-founder), Jeroen Offerijns (CTO, co-founder), Martin Quensel (President, co-founder), and Eli Cohen (Chief Legal Officer).
Centrifuge is developed today by Centrifuge Labs, the operating company led by CEO Bhaji Illuminati, with governance oversight provided by the Centrifuge Network Foundation (CNF).
The CNF board includes Illuminati, Lucas Vogelsang, Kevin Chan (co-founder, Grove Labs), Nick Cherney (Head of Innovation, Janus Henderson Investors), Glenn Kennedy (founder, Leeward Management), and Laura Birrell (CEO, Parallel Limited). Institutional partners building on Centrifuge's infrastructure include New York Life Investment Management, Coinbase, Janus Henderson Investors, and Grove.
Centrifuge is governed through a hybrid process: off-chain Forum discussion and OpenSquare signaling precede formal on-chain proposals, which CFG holders vote on as Aye/Nay referenda.
A nine-member Centrifuge Council, elected by CFG holders, can propose referenda, veto harmful proposals, and vote on Treasury spending; all proposals must be merged into the public "Centrifuge Proposals" GitHub repository to be valid. A 2025 restructuring shifted day-to-day operational decisions to Centrifuge Labs under Centrifuge Network Foundation oversight, though the DAO retains the right to reassume direct governance control in the future.
Centrifuge completed a governance-approved migration (CP149, passed March 20, 2025) to a multichain, EVM-native architecture, with the token-consolidation window running May 20 to November 30, 2025.
In 2025-2026, New York Life Investment Management launched "HYB," a tokenized high-yield corporate bond product built on Centrifuge, and Grove deployed $50 million as anchor investor in the Anemoy Tokenized Apollo Diversified Credit Fund on Plume. Centrifuge's Immunefi bug bounty program was expanded to cover its V3.1 upgrade. The legacy Substrate-based Centrifuge Chain was slated for discontinuation in Q4 2025.
0xMacro completed a smart-contract security audit of Centrifuge on June 23, 2025, identifying one medium-severity issue that was subsequently addressed. A separate audit contest covering an L1 RWA vault ran on the Cantina platform in September 2024.
Centrifuge runs an active Immunefi bug bounty program, offering up to $250,000 for critical findings, with 480 findings recorded and zero exploits since the 2019 mainnet launch. Holder concentration is notable: the top 10 Ethereum wallets hold 47% of tracked CFG supply, and total holder count (10,592) has been trending down in recent weeks.