Solana-based decentralized exchange Orca and lending platform Loopscale have merged into a single company called Formation, aiming to finance capital-intensive sectors such as AI, energy, robotics and defense. Loopscale co-founder Luke Truitt will run the combined company as CEO, while both original protocols continue operating under the ORCA and xORCA token network.
Orca and Loopscale have merged into a new entity named Formation, according to an announcement shared with The Block. Loopscale co-founder Luke Truitt becomes CEO of the combined company, which pairs Orca's trading infrastructure with Loopscale's lending and investment vaults.
A push beyond crypto trading
Formation wants to move past crypto trading and lending into financing for AI, energy, robotics and defense businesses, arguing that traditional financing is often too expensive for smaller deals. It plans to cut those costs while eventually opening access to regulated U.S. capital markets.
Over the next year, Formation plans to roll out new issuer tools and investment strategies, and it said it is already working with Figure, Shinhan Asset Management, Superstate, R3 and Securitize to bring assets to market.
Orca's Christopher Montagano, who becomes Formation's chief strategy and legal officer, said: "Liquidity alone isn't enough to scale an asset." Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
Fixed-rate lending joins DEX liquidity
Loopscale, a Solana-based protocol that went live publicly in 2025, specializes in fixed-rate borrowing and lending against digital assets, a departure from the variable rates common across most DeFi lending markets. It matches borrowers and lenders through an order-book model rather than the pool-based system most platforms use.
In March 2025, Loopscale added support for Orca and Raydium liquidity-provider tokens as collateral, a move framed at the time as unlocking access to over $1 billion in liquidity for providers who no longer had to let those positions sit idle.
Track record and open risks
Orca has processed more than $550 billion in trading volume since 2021, while Loopscale reports more than $150 million in deposits and has facilitated over $2 billion in loans. Orca raised $18 million in 2021 from backers including Polychain Capital and Placeholder. Loopscale, then known as Bridgesplit, raised $4.25 million the same year from Solana Labs and Coinbase Ventures.
Financing defense and energy projects also brings regulatory exposure that pure crypto lending markets do not face, and lending to real-world companies carries a different kind of credit risk than liquidating crypto collateral. How Formation vets borrowers and structures its first deals will shape how the market receives the new venture.
Sources: The Block, Crypto Briefing
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