Pendle Update 2026: sPENDLE and Other Important Things You Need to Know

Article Summary

• 🔄 sPENDLE launched on January 20, 2026, replacing vePENDLE which required multi-year lockups. The new model is fungible, pegged 1:1 with PENDLE, and usable across the DeFi ecosystem.
• 💰 sPENDLE holders automatically receive 80% of Pendle’s protocol revenue through a buyback mechanism, with no need to participate in manual gauge voting.
• 🚀 Boros, a funding rate trading platform from the Pendle team launched in August 2025, has already recorded volume of over US$2.83 billion with a notional open interest of US$6.9 billion.

How Pendle Works

Pendle is a DeFi protocol that enables the separation of yield-bearing assets (assets that generate automatic returns, such as tokens from lending or staking protocols) into two components that can be traded independently. The process is as follows:

1. The asset is first wrapped into an SY (Standardized Yield token).
2. It is then split into a PT (Principal Token) representing the principal of the asset, and a YT (Yield Token) representing the right to future yield.

The analogy is similar to bonds in traditional finance. PT is a zero-coupon bond with a fixed redemption value, while YT is a coupon whose value fluctuates. Both are traded through a custom-built AMM (Automated Market Maker) by Pendle. According to Pendle’s official documentation, this mechanism unlocks access to the interest rate derivatives market, which is valued at over US$400 trillion in traditional finance.

📚 Learn more about Pendle at Pintu Academy: What is Pendle?

Pendle’s Updates in 2026

Before January 2026, users who wanted a share of Pendle’s protocol revenue had to lock their PENDLE tokens through vePENDLE (vote-escrow PENDLE) for extended periods. Locked tokens could not be transferred or used in other DeFi protocols. With this mechanism, the protocol attracted only around 20% of the total PENDLE supply to participate.

On January 20, 2026, Pendle announced sPENDLE as the replacement for vePENDLE, as reported by CoinDesk. sPENDLE is fungible and transferable across the entire DeFi ecosystem. The staking ratio is 1:1, meaning one PENDLE yields one sPENDLE. To redeem back to PENDLE, users have two options: wait 14 days at no cost, or pay a 5% fee for instant redemption.

Users who previously held vePENDLE received a virtual boost of up to 4x in sPENDLE distributions, which decreases linearly over 2 years. A snapshot was taken on January 29, 2026, at 00:00 UTC, to record remaining lock durations.

Buyback Allocation and Emission Model

In this latest update, 80% of protocol revenue is allocated to PENDLE buybacks, which are then distributed to sPENDLE holders. The emission model has also shifted from manual gauge voting to an algorithmic system, estimated to reduce total PENDLE emissions by approximately 30%.

Pendle’s Latest Innovation: the Boros Platform

Beyond the tokenomics changes, the Pendle team launched Boros on the Arbitrum network. This platform opens a market that previously did not exist in DeFi: trading the funding rate from the perpetual futures market.

The funding rate is a periodic fee paid between long and short positions in the perpetual market. When the perpetual price is higher than the spot price, the funding rate turns positive and long traders pay short traders. Until now, this component could only be received or paid by traders, not actively traded.

📚 Read also: What is a Funding Rate? Why Does It Matter?

Boros transforms this mechanism through an instrument called the Yield Unit (YU). Each YU represents the funding rate yield for one unit of collateral up to a specified expiry date. To gain exposure to the funding rate of 100 BTC on Hyperliquid, a trader can buy 100 YU on Boros with far less capital than opening a direct perpetual position, because the YU only represents the yield component. According to OAK Research analysis (0xDominus, August 2025), this is Boros’s primary advantage in terms of capital efficiency.

Boros uses Chainlink oracles to obtain real-time funding rate data from exchanges such as Binance and Hyperliquid, with a maximum leverage of 1.4x. Since its launch, Boros has recorded volume of over US$2.83 billion with a notional open interest of US$6.9 billion. The Pendle team plans to expand Boros to more asset instruments, including bonds, equities, and real-world assets (RWA).

Pros and Cons of the Boros Platform

Pendle is one of the DeFi protocols that has successfully built an ecosystem with a significant TVL and user base. However, like any DeFi platform, Boros has pros and cons that are important to understand.

Pros:

• Yield Unit (YU) allows exposure to the funding rate without the capital required for a perpetual position, resulting in significantly higher capital efficiency.
• The funding rate, which previously could only be received or paid, can now be actively traded, opening up strategies that never existed in DeFi before.
• The expansion roadmap into bonds, equities, and RWA gives Boros a potential market far larger than crypto alone.
• Early platform usage attracted US$2.83 billion in volume and US$6.9 billion in notional open interest in less than one year after launch.

Cons:

• Funding rates can move to extremes in a short period, making the liquidation risk higher than conventional yield instruments.
• The global deleveraging mechanism can force the closure of healthy trader positions when mass liquidations occur on the opposite side.
• The open interest cap of US$20-30 million per market is still limited, meaning large positions can be difficult to execute without significant slippage.
• The YU mechanism is fairly complex and requires a deep understanding of funding rate dynamics before use.

Pendle’s 2026 Challenges

Pendle’s TVL recorded a significant decline, from $1.44 billion in May 2026 to $1.02 billion as of June 23, 2026, a drop of approximately 29% in under a month.

This decline aligns with a broader correction trend. Pendle’s TVL previously peaked at around $10 billion in early 2025, but has continued to retrace since. On the revenue side, May 2026 generated only $1.09 million, well below the peak revenue of approximately $8 million that coincided with the TVL all-time high in 2025. This suggests that both user activity and liquidity flowing into the Pendle protocol remain heavily dependent on favorable market conditions to generate meaningful revenue.

On the security side, the DeFi ecosystem faces increasingly sophisticated threats as AI adoption grows. The Zcash case in mid-2026 serves as a real warning. A security researcher used AI to find a four-year-old hidden vulnerability in the Zcash codebase, within just 24 hours of the model’s release. The vulnerability could have allowed unlimited minting of fake ZEC assets. After the information surfaced, on June 5, 2025, the ZEC price dropped approximately 40% in a single day.

For Pendle and Boros in particular, platforms with more complex mechanisms require continuous security audits, as AI enables automated gap identification far faster than conventional audit methods.

Pendle vs. Competitors in the DeFi Yield Market

In an increasingly crowded DeFi market, Pendle is not alone in the yield segment. Protocols such as Spectra and Centrifuge (CFG) also offer yield-based products, though with very different approaches and business models.

Among the three protocols, Pendle is the only one that distributes revenue directly and significantly to token holders. Centrifuge does not distribute any revenue to CFG holders, while Spectra only distributes a portion to veSPECTRA holders. The 80% buyback model for sPENDLE holders introduced in early 2026 gives investors an advantage compared to these two competitors.

The most significant advantage of the Pendle 2026 update is the Boros platform, which neither Centrifuge nor Spectra possesses. Boros opens a segment that neither competitor offers. Centrifuge remains focused on yield tokenization from RWA, and Spectra only offers conventional yield tokenization similar to Pendle’s previous mechanism. In terms of crypto-native yield market scale, Pendle’s TVL of US$1.068 billion far surpasses Spectra at US$37.18 million, reinforcing Pendle’s position as the leader of this segment.

Pendle’s Potential and Risks in 2026

sPENDLE opens broader access to protocol revenue. The more flexible model has the potential to attract more participants, organically driving demand for the PENDLE token. Boros also opens a market previously inaccessible in DeFi: the perpetual futures market processes US$150-200 billion in daily volume. With that volume, there is potential for funding rate tokenization, but this is still very new and needs time and room to grow before its full potential can be assessed. Through this product expansion, Boros gives Pendle a pathway into a larger and more conservative market segment.

On the risk side, the PENDLE price is currently 80% below its all-time high, with protocol revenue down significantly from its Q1 2025 peak. This decline largely reflects broader market conditions, but these figures are important to consider before making any decision. For Boros specifically, there is liquidation risk from funding rate volatility, which can move drastically, alongside other risks. The global deleveraging mechanism in Boros can also affect trader positions under extreme conditions.

Pendle Price Update, June 2026

Pendle has formed a head & shoulders pattern on the daily timeframe, signaling bearish pressure. Since early June, the price has fallen more than 5% and was rejected at the shoulder resistance area of $1.432–$1.489. Based on this pattern, the neckline and critical support zone sits at $1.172–$1.239.

On the upside, a strong supply zone exists at $2.100–$2.200, which previously acted as a price reversal point in May. Until the price manages to break above this area, bullish momentum will remain difficult to build. Currently trading at $1.334 and caught between two key levels — if the neckline support at $1.172–$1.239 fails to hold, further downside toward the $1.000 area becomes increasingly likely.

Conclusion

Pendle enters 2026 with two major moves that change how the protocol operates. sPENDLE makes staking more efficient and inclusive, while Boros opens an entirely new dimension of yield trading that has never existed before in DeFi. For anyone looking to understand DeFi yield mechanics more deeply, Pendle’s 2026 developments are worth following closely.

Disclaimer: All information presented in this article is prepared for general educational and informational purposes. This content is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation, a solicitation to buy or sell any specific crypto asset, or the basis for any financial decision. All investment decisions are solely the responsibility of the reader, taking into account their personal financial situation, investment objectives, and risk tolerance.

FAQ

When Was the Pendle Coin Launched?

The PENDLE coin was first launched in April 2021, with Pendle’s mainnet on Ethereum officially running in June 2021. The protocol then underwent a major overhaul through Pendle V2, launched in November 2022, and continued to evolve up to the major 2026 update with sPENDLE and the Boros platform.

What is Pendle’s Potential in 2026?

The two main growth drivers for Pendle in 2026 are sPENDLE, which broadens revenue distribution, and Boros, which opens a new funding rate market. A TVL of US$1.068 billion shows the protocol is still actively used. The revenue decline from 2025 to 2026 is a reminder that Pendle’s performance remains highly dependent on market conditions.

Is Pendle Safe to Use?

Pendle is a DeFi protocol that has been operating since 2021 with a proven track record and security audits. As with all DeFi protocols, there are smart contract risks that cannot be entirely eliminated. For Boros, there is an additional liquidation risk from funding rate volatility that should be understood before deciding to try the platform.

How to Buy Pendle on Pintu

After learning about Pendle’s latest updates, you can start investing in Pendle coin and other assets directly through Pintu. You can also trade Futures directly on Pintu Pro Web!

1. Create a Pintu account and complete the identity verification process to start trading.
2. On the homepage, click the deposit button and top up your Pintu balance using your preferred payment method.
3. Open the market page and search for your preferred asset.
4. Click buy and enter the amount you want.
5. You now own crypto assets!

Download the Pintu app on the Play Store and App Store! Your security is guaranteed as Pintu is regulated and supervised by Bappebti and Kominfo.

References

• DeFiLlama, “Pendle TVL, Fees, Revenue & Volume”, DeFiLlama, accessed June 18, 2026.
• Pendle Team, “Introduction to Pendle”, Pendle Finance Documentation, accessed June 18, 2026.
• Shaurya Malwa, “Yield trading platform Pendle debuts new token to boost user capital efficiency”, CoinDesk, accessed June 18, 2026.
• 0xDominus, “Boros: Funding Rate Futures on Pendle”, OAK Research, accessed June 18, 2026.
• Pendle Team, “Boros: Introducing Funding Futures”, Boros_Fi Medium, accessed June 18, 2026.
• Yahoo Finance, “Anthropic’s AI Just Found a Bug That Sent Zcash Down 40% in 1 Day”, Yahoo Finance, accessed June 18, 2026.