Pendle Finance just crossed a milestone that most DeFi protocols only daydream about. More than 100 million PENDLE tokens are now staked, representing roughly 36% of the project’s total supply, and emissions have been cut by 71%.
From vePENDLE to sPENDLE: a strategic overhaul
Back in January 2026, Pendle scrapped its vePENDLE system, the vote-escrowed lockup model that had become standard fare across DeFi. The problem was simple. Only about 20% of the token supply was actively locked under vePENDLE, which meant the model wasn’t doing its job of aligning long-term incentives.
The replacement, sPENDLE, introduced liquid staking with a 14-day withdrawal period. The 36% staking rate against total supply proves the thesis: give users flexibility, and they’ll still commit capital voluntarily.
The protocol also deployed an Algorithmic Incentive Module, or AIM, to dynamically manage token emissions. The original target was a 30% reduction in emissions. AIM overshot that goal by a wide margin, delivering a 71% cut instead.
