NUVA names Chainlink its exclusive data provider, starting with HELOC-backed nvPRIME

In Brief:

• NUVA, the real-world asset marketplace co-created by Animoca Brands and Nuva Labs, adopted Chainlink as its exclusive data infrastructure provider.
• The first asset supported is nvPRIME, a private credit vault tied to short-term financing backed by U.S. residential housing loans, including HELOCs.
• The oracle layer supplies the valuation data DeFi protocols need to price the vault token as collateral, which is the gating item for using RWA tokens in lending markets.

NUVA has adopted Chainlink as the exclusive data infrastructure for its real-world asset marketplace, with Chainlink supplying the on-chain data used to value assets listed on the platform and price them as collateral.

The first asset covered is nvPRIME, NUVA's private credit vault. It represents exposure to short-term financing backed by residential housing loans, including U.S. home equity lines of credit.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. A lending protocol holding a HELOC-backed token has no way to mark it without a feed; the position is opaque to the smart contract managing it. Chainlink’s data is what lets DeFi protocols manage lending positions against the asset.

What nvPRIME holds

The vault holds native PRIME tokens, which carry exposure to prime home equity credit originated by Figure Technology Solutions and its partners. Users deposit USDC and receive tokens representing their proportional share of the vault’s holdings.

Figure’s HELOC portfolio behind the product represents more than $18 billion funded in residential housing. nvPRIME targets yields north of 7%.

NUVA’s other launch product, nvYLDS, is a Treasury-linked vault built around YLDS, an SEC-registered instrument backed by short-dated Treasurys and bank deposits with a circulating supply above $500 million.

The Animoca and Figure pipe

NUVA went live on Ethereum mainnet on May 13, connecting roughly $19 billion of tokenized assets originating on Provenance Blockchain to Ethereum applications. The platform is non-custodial and issues ERC-20 vault tokens, so holders can trade them, lend them or post them as collateral.

Animoca Brands co-created the marketplace with Nuva Labs, the outfit formerly known as Provenance Blockchain Labs. Animoca describes NUVA as an institutional distribution layer between DeFi and TradFi, bringing Provenance Blockchain’s more than $23 billion in RWA total value locked to other chains.

The Ethereum launch came with a partnership making NUVA a primary distribution partner for Hastra’s PRIME on Ethereum. Hastra is backed by Figure Technology Solutions, which trades on the Nasdaq under FIGR and was founded by former SoFi chief executive Mike Cagney.

Anthony Moro, CEO of Nuva Labs and a former BNY executive, has argued that the standard tokenization playbook leans too heavily on off-chain records and manual reconciliation. A Figure loan, he said, is digitally native, with no filing cabinet holding the real record, so it doesn’t need a “digital twin.”

“Nobody really has that unified global distribution layer for blockchain-native assets,” Moro said.

Building out the stack

NUVA has been assembling infrastructure partners through the year. AnChain.AI came on in February to handle security and compliance monitoring across the marketplace, using its agentic AI AML product.

Nuva Digital, the Nuva Labs subsidiary and Animoca joint venture behind the platform, raised $5.2 million in a seed round led by Morgan Creek Digital in April, with Ulu Ventures among the other investors. It was the startup’s first outside capital.

In June, Nuva Labs and Black Lake tokenized $25 million in mortgage loans on Provenance. Moro said a dedicated vault gives the market “a more transparent, programmable way to work with real credit.”

Vault depositors accrue NUVA Points, which the company says tie early users to the marketplace’s longer-term growth. Nuva Digital also plans to launch a NUVA utility token, though Moro has declined to detail its role or timing.

Moro has said the plan is to onboard assets from more issuers and expand past Ethereum. “Cheaper, faster and safer will win,” he said.