Spout, a Solana-based lending protocol that lets individuals borrow against tokenized US equities without paying interest, today announced a $2 million strategic round. Participants include Draper Dragon, Anchorage Digital, Flow Traders, Taisu Ventures, Vessel Capital, Solayer, 2Square Capital, Bering Waters Ventures and Blockstreet Capital, with strategic backing from Solana Labs.
As of October 2026, Charles Schwab and Fidelity charge individual investors 12.075% a year on margin balances under $25,000. Schwab’s base margin rate is 10.25%, against an effective federal funds rate of 3.88%. Because rates fall as balances grow, the smallest borrowers pay the most.
Private banks have long offered securities-based lending, typically at 4% to 6%, but only to clients who meet relationship minimums that most individuals never reach.
Spout users post tokenized US equities as collateral and borrow USDC at a flat 50% loan-to-value ratio, paying 0% interest for as long as they hold the loan.
Instead of charging the borrower, Spout writes systematic far-out-of-the-money covered calls against the collateral each week, and lenders are paid from that options premium rather than from a rate spread. With no interest compounding against them, borrowers can keep a loan open for years and cover costs such as rent or a tax bill without selling their shares.
“Borrowing against your own portfolio has always been a product for people who already had a private banker. I do not think it should be,” said Marc Ryan, Co-Founder & CEO of Spout. “I spent the start of my career in investment banking, where the clients on the other side of the table could borrow against their holdings on terms no individual could get near. That is the thing we set out to fix.”
“Spout lets individuals put up tokenized shares of stock as collateral for margin loans without paying interest. Spout covers its costs in a different way: by selling options contracts tied to the pledged shares, and the fees it collects from selling those options pay for the loan instead of the borrower. That is prime brokerage economics made available to individuals. It is why I have invested in the company and serve as a strategic advisor,” said J. Christopher Giancarlo, 13th Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Spout’s Regulatory & Policy Advisor.
“Tokenizing a stock is only the first step. What gives it value is what you can do with it afterward,” said Samiz Bayan, partner at Draper Dragon. “Spout offers holders the kind of borrowing that used to sit behind private bank minimums, and funds it from the portfolio itself.”
Angel investors in the round include Solana Labs co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal; Giancarlo; Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective; Dean Swennumson, co-founder of Superstate; Anna Yuan, founder of Perena; and Paul Taylor, one of the top crypto angel investors. They are joined by Shane Qiu, James Parillo, Stefano Glauser, Whales Lee, Steve Schoonebeek and Riley Wild.
Spout’s advisors include product advisor Saiprasad Raut, formerly Chief Technology Advisor for Crypto at Worldpay (FIS), and quantitative strategy advisor Neil Amhis, formerly of BNP Paribas and Natixis.
Spout is not yet on Mainnet. Its beta runs on Solana Devnet at beta.spout.finance, and a private beta will launch soon. The funding will be used to scale the team and build Spout’s credit layer, which issuers, exchanges and wallets can plug into rather than build themselves. To request private beta access, message @SpoutFi or @0xmryan on X.
About Spout
Spout enables individuals to borrow against their stocks at 0% interest. Users post tokenized US equities as collateral and borrow stablecoins at a flat 50% loan to value. Lender yield is funded by systematic covered call premium written against that collateral rather than by a rate spread charged to the borrower. Spout is built on Solana.
Website: spout.finance
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Robert Penington
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