TL;DR
- Renzo Protocol rebranded as Renzo Finance and launches Renzo Basis, its first onchain yield product, built on the Hyperliquid network.
- The product automates a basis trade by combining spot and perpetual positions, generating yield from funding rates.
- Renzo Finance competes with Ethena and Bitwise’s Superstate, differentiating itself by being fully onchain, self-custodial, and user-configurable.
Renzo Finance, formerly known as Renzo Protocol, announced its rebranding and a strategic expansion to move beyond restaking and now also offer structured onchain yield products. The first project of this new phase is Renzo Basis, a basis trade solution built on Hyperliquid that automates the execution of combined positions in spot and perpetual markets.
The launch responds to a demand identified by the team: structured products represent a multi-trillion-dollar category in traditional finance, but their onchain equivalent remains scarce due to the technical complexity involved in setting them up, monitoring them, and managing them on an ongoing basis.
Renzo Protocol is now Renzo Finance, a technology company building the tools, automation and infrastructure that advanced yield strategies run on.
Our new focus begins with a massive market and a new strategy that lets you earn perp basis yield – and keep it all. pic.twitter.com/Ckzh7Nq3yk
— RenzoFinance (@RenzoAI) September 9, 2026
Renzo Finance and Basis: Automation Without Third-Party Custody
The core mechanism of Renzo Basis replicates a classic basis trade strategy: the protocol acquires an asset in the spot market while simultaneously opening an equivalent short position in perpetual futures. As the directional exposures cancel each other out, the yield comes exclusively from the funding rate, the fee that perpetual traders pay each other on a periodic basis.
Lucas Kozinski, founder of Renzo Labs, explained that “because the two sides cancel each other out, the asset’s price movement doesn’t matter. What remains is the funding rate, a fee that traders pay every hour to keep their position open. That fee is the yield users receive.”
The product uses Hyperliquid’s agent wallets, also known as API wallets, to operate on behalf of the user without taking custody of their funds. The automation incorporates three safeguards: a hedge guard, a yield guard, and a safety buffer, all configurable by the depositor themselves. Kozinski confirmed that the system does not use artificial intelligence.
Competition and Roadmap
Renzo Finance will launch Basis with initial support for BTC and HYPE, with plans to incorporate all Hyperliquid assets that have both spot and perpetual markets. The expansion to other DeFi platforms currently includes Lighter on Robinhood as the next destination, where a basis trade on onchain equity perpetuals will be introduced.
In a market where Ethena and Bitwise‘s Superstate already offer similar products, Renzo Finance aims for differentiation: the user chooses the asset, the platform, and the risk parameters, rather than delegating those decisions to a centralized third party. The protocol is also experimenting with autocallables and growth notes as upcoming additions to its structured product catalog.
