RWAAltcoins
|5 min ReadFigure vs DefiLlama: a $12B RWA credibility fight
Maya Chen
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
A high-voltage clash
If you trade RWA, pay attention now. Your edge lives where the data is real. This fight will decide who keeps the flow.
On September 10, Figure co-founder Mike Cagney fired first on X. He accused DefiLlama of refusing to list Figure’s RWA TVL, allegedly because of “not enough followers,” and questioned its decentralization standards. He also said Figure’s HELOCs had landed on CoinGecko. He claimed 13 billion on Provenance. Later figures referenced 12 billion. That mismatch matters. Post.
About an hour later, Provenance Blockchain CEO Anthony Moro jumped in under the same thread. He signaled strong distrust of DefiLlama. The crowd tilted toward Figure. For a moment.
On September 12, Artemis co-founder and CEO Jon Ma offered to help integrate data. Sentiment stayed fluid. Everyone wanted the scoreboard. No one wanted a black box.
Inside the numbers
On September 13, DefiLlama co-founder 0xngmi published “The Problem in RWA Metrics” and flipped the script. He detailed the team’s due diligence and listed anomalies. Thread.
The claims were sharp. Figure said it had
5 million of BTC and
2,000. Figure’s own stablecoin, YLDS, had only $20 million supply, far too small to back multi-billion settlement flows. Many transfers were not initiated by the asset holders. Other accounts pushed the moves. A lot of addresses showed little on-chain life. That looked like database mirroring, not crypto ownership. Loans and repayments still flowed in fiat, with little on-chain trail.0xngmi’s question hit hard: if most holders are not moving assets with their own keys, what exactly is the $12 billion. Where is the verifiable path of funds.
Influencers rallied. The wind shifted.
The community response
ZachXBT called out Figure’s tactic as pressure. His line was direct: “these metrics are not 100% verifiable on-chain,” so do not strong-arm a data aggregator that protects standards. Post.
Coinbase’s Conor Grogan scolded institutions that privately leaned on DefiLlama while not verifying anything themselves. If you cannot check the chain, why are you in RWA. Post.
Midnight Network’s Ian Kane pushed a constructive fix. Track “active TVL” alongside total TVL. Show how much actually moves over time. That punishes idle, performative balances and surfaces real usage. Post.
ZachXBT also flagged that Mike Cagney kept boosting what looked like AI-generated support replies. That did not help Figure’s case.
What to do right now
This is not a ranking spat. It is the line between trust and noise. In DeFi, if $12 billion cannot be proven on-chain, it is zero. Full stop.
DefiLlama’s position is simple. Count only what the chain can prove. Open adapters. Public methods. No exceptions. Figure’s model may map off-chain assets onto a chain, but if users cannot follow payments, repayments, and custody with keys, that clashes with crypto’s core standard.
Here is your edge. Trade verifiability. Follow receipts, not press releases. Favor protocols with visible burns, stablecoin supply that matches flows, and holder-signed movement. Watch for “active TVL” metrics. Capital will reward what it can audit, especially in RWA. The winners will attract the next billion. The pretenders will get marked down. Move before the crowd figures it out.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.