Amid the impact of rate hikes in Japan, the global economies are experiencing sluggish growth, and the crypto market also appears weak in the short term. However, one project has defied the trend and exploded—$FOLKS surged from $2 at launch to $17, an increase of over 8 times. This isn't just an emotional rally; it's backed by continuous fundamental performance.

Folks Finance is essentially a cross-chain DeFi lending protocol that has been incubating in this space for over five years. It started as a leading application on Algorand and has now evolved into a DeFi hub covering multiple blockchains, integrating functions such as lending, trading, leverage, and liquidity staking.

The most core innovation is solving the long-standing pain point of DeFi—liquidity fragmentation. Traditional cross-chain operations are complex, requiring users to borrow assets from chain A and then use cross-chain bridges or wrapped assets. Folks' approach is different: you can deposit assets on Polygon and borrow directly on Arbitrum or other chains, enabling seamless connectivity.

Technologically, Folks is advancing the xChain V2 upgrade, aiming to establish "unified cross-chain lending" as an industry standard, while also expanding support for non-EVM chains and more complex strategy combinations. Additionally, Folks Mobile is collaborating with licensed VASPs, with the goal of creating not just a simple DeFi app but a truly regulated crypto mobile gateway.

Currently, Folks covers nine mainstream public chains, supported by top-tier infrastructure such as Wormhole, Chainlink CCIP, and Circle CCTP. $FOLKS achieves multi-chain circulation through Wormhole NTT and ranks among the top three in the EVM lending sector by FDV, only behind Aave and Morpho.

Participation is straightforward. Staking $FOLKS offers about 30% annualized yield with a 30-day lock-up period; participating in the Folks Points Season 2 allows users to accumulate future reward eligibility directly through the protocol; creators can join the Airaa event for a chance to share over $500,000 in incentives.

Cross-chain has become the main track for DeFi's next phase, and Folks Finance is in a very advantageous position right now.