What is Amish
Amish is an intent-based lending protocol where borrowers and lenders connect directly through signed intents rather than liquidity pools. When you want to borrow, you state your terms. When you want to lend, you state yours. The protocol matches compatible parties and executes the loan.
This differs from pool-based protocols like Aave or Compound, where lenders deposit funds into a shared pool before borrowers arrive. Pool-based architectures must maintain withdrawal liquidity, which means a portion of deposited capital remains unborrowed at any given time.
Amish eliminates idle capital on matched positions. Your capital does not enter the protocol until a match forms. When it does, it goes directly to your counterparty.
How loans form
The lending process follows three steps:
Express intent - A borrower signs a message specifying what collateral they offer, what principal they want, their maximum interest rate, minimum LTV, and loan duration. A lender signs a complementary message specifying what principal they offer, what collateral they accept, and their terms.
Match - The matching engine continuously scans for compatible intents. When a borrower's terms overlap with a lender's terms, it creates a match.
Execute - Both parties execute on-chain transfers. The borrower deposits collateral. The lender transfers principal. The protocol issues a debt token to the lender representing their claim on repayment.
After execution, the loan is active. Interest accrues at the fixed rate locked at match time. When the borrower repays, the lender redeems their debt token for principal plus interest.
Cross-chain settlement
Amish settles loans across EVM chains without bridges. A borrower can post ETH collateral on Ethereum and receive USDC on Arbitrum.
This works through storage proofs - cryptographic evidence that a specific value exists in a contract's storage at a specific block. When a borrower deposits collateral on Chain A, the protocol generates a proof of that deposit. This proof can be verified on Chain B without any bridge, messenger, or trusted party.
The security model derives from the source chain's consensus rather than bridge operator security.
Permissionless markets
Amish supports permissionless market creation. Any ERC-20 can have a lending market through deployMarket(). No governance proposal. No risk committee. No DAO vote.
This bypasses the governance bottleneck that limits pool-based protocols. A new token can have lending infrastructure immediately. An RWA issuer can create a market without protocol partnerships.
For pricing, Amish supports multiple sources: traditional oracles like Chainlink, Redstone, and Pyth work as expected for assets with coverage. For assets without oracle support, Herodotus Data Processor (HDP) enables pricing derived from on-chain data sources. A long-tail token can derive pricing from DEX TWAP calculations. An RWA with an on-chain NAV feed can query that feed directly. No need to wait for oracle providers to add coverage or for governance to approve a price source.
Composable debt positions
When a loan executes, the lender receives an ERC-20 debt token representing their claim on a specific loan with known terms - specific borrower, specific collateral, specific rate, specific maturity.
These tokens are transferable. A lender needing liquidity before loan maturity can sell the debt token on secondary markets. The new holder receives all future repayments.
What Amish provides
Capital efficiency on matched positions - When capital matches to a specific borrower, 100% of it earns the agreed rate.
Fixed terms at match time - Rate, LTV, duration. Both parties know their terms before committing.
Cross-chain settlement without bridges - Collateral on one chain, principal on another. Verified via storage proofs.
Permissionless asset markets - Any ERC-20 can have a market. No governance vote required.
Transferable debt instruments - Lenders receive ERC-20 debt tokens they can trade or use as collateral elsewhere.
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