Linear Finance (LINA) ((founded in 2020) was a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) delta-one asset protocol which was capable of instantly creating synthetic assets with unlimited liquidity. The project opened traditional assets like commodities, forex, market indices and other thematic sectors to cryptocurrency users by supporting the creation of "Liquids" — Linear's synthetic asset tokens.^[1][2]

The protocol consisted of various products like Linear.Buildr, a DApp used to manage Liquids using Linear (LINA) and other tokens as collateral. The exchange was specifically created to enable trading of a variety of Liquids with rapid confirmation times and robust security.^[3]

The main goal of Linear was to provide a superior user experience with better scalability and greater speed. Linear Finance intended to provide a simple solution for users that wanted exposure to traditional assets while still benefiting from the features enabled only by blockchain technology.

TThe ticker symbol was LINA and its total supply was 10,000,000,000 LINA.

In March 2025, Linear Finance shut down its operations due to its inability to generate sustainable returns.. ^[10]

LINA Token

LINA was an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum network whose main purpose was as collateral for Liquids (using Buildr) and for community governance of the protocol. All token holders had access to the Linear DAO, enabling them to vote on different initiatives and proposals, helping to shape the development of the Linear Ecosystem.^[4]

Overview

Although Linear Finance was built on top of the Ethereum network, the protocol allowed users to access other supported chains and transfer assets to them. In addition to digital assets, Linear enabled customers to access traditional assets like forex and commodities through dynamic price feeds which acted to solve the systemic front-running problem that occurred with many Decentralized Exchange (DEX) protocols.LINA tokens served as the base collateral to mint Liquids. However, customers could also use other digital assets like ETH and wBTC to cover 20% of this base collateral. The Linear Exchange provided unlimited liquidity for Liquids and lowered the settlement timeframe to as low as one second per block — making it suitable for high-frequency traders and those running algorithmic trading software. One of Linear Finance's most unique features was its proposed liquidation mechanism, which was decided based on community governance. LINA holders were able to help choose transaction fees and how much to allocate to the insurance fund, among other options by voting.

Founders of Linear (Team)

• Kevin Tai - Chief Executive Officer
• Drey Ng - Chief Technical Officer
• Aedreon Marshall - Chief Marketing Officer
• Jonathan Lei - Lead Blockchain Developer

Number of Linear Coin Circulated

The total supply of LINA was 10 billion tokens. Linear utilized an inflationary system with a decreasing rate until a terminal floor was reached. The inflation rate was initially set at 75%, but this decreased at 1.5% per week— and was subject to modification if a consensus was achieved by the LinearDAO.

Linear Finance secured a $1.8 million investment from reputable seed investors like Alameda Research, NGC Ventures and Hashed. In addition, the project conducted a small initial coin offering (ICO) in September 2020, raising a total of $310,000 by selling LINA tokens at $0.005 with a personal cap of $500 per participant.Of the total supply, 40% was reserved for staking rewards, 15% for the Linear Finance reserve, and 10% to the ecosystem. The team also had a 10% allocation, while advisors had 5% — both team and advisor tokens were subject to a vesting schedule.

As per early projections by the Linear team, 40% of the LINA supply would be in circulation around 40 months after the genesis event, though this may be lower due to potential token burns.^[5]

Linear Protocol’s Backbone

The backbone to Linear's protocol was the collateralized debt pool that was backed by the Linear token, DAI, and eventually other assets. So users who provided collateralized assets to the debt pool were able to create "Linear USD". Linear USD could then be used to purchase other synthetic assets (Linear Liquids) on the exchange. The collateralized assets were then pooled to enable instantaneous liquidity and act as a counterparty. The Linear token also acted as a governance token allowing holders to vote on distribution models, future assets, oracle selection, pledging ratio, and more. The Linear Token holders in the debt pools also received a proportion of fees from the synthesization of assets.

LinearDAO

To facilitate the proper functioning of the Linear platform, the LinearDAO was in place to overwatch the platform. LinearDAO considered important functions and parameters of the platform including:

• Pledge Ratios
• LINA inflation rewards and frequency
• Split of transaction fees including: burns, fee claims and Linear Reserve
• New functionalities and technological roadmaps
• Processing community proposals and voting to ensure best optimization for platform

Collateralization

When it came to collateralization, Buildr, the decentralized dApp, took a hybrid approach. To generate a synthetic asset, users needed to deposit a mixture of LINA and other cryptocurrencies. The ratio had to be 80:20 where 80% of the collateral had to be LINA and the other 20% was other cryptocurrencies.

Staking

Staking was a crucial part of Linear Finance ($LINA). There were various incentives in place to incentivize users to stake their LINA tokens. Users were able to earn rewards via:

Exchange Fees Rewards: Initially, the transaction fee collected from users on the Linear platform was set at 0.25%. These fees were then distributed to LINA stakers at a pro-rata basis if their Pledge Ratio (P ratio) was above the threshold. For non-LINA stakers, the rewards might also have been available depending on the decision of the community's governance council in the future.Inflationatory Rewards: The starting inflation rate was at 75% which diminished on a weekly basis of 1.5%. Stakers were able to receive such rewards weekly as well if their P ratio was above the threshold. Yield Farming Campaign Rewards: With the explosion of yield farming and the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) market, Linear also added the crucial element of yield farming. Yield farmers helped maintain Linear's debt pools and the whole platform, itself. During the first two years of the platform, users who were active on the exchanges could receive token bonuses. All of these token bonuses were then able to be transferred into other liquidity pools like Balancer, Curve, and Uniswap.

Linear.Exchange

In order to solve the fundamental issues of speed and interoperability of many traditional crypto exchanges, Linear created their own exchange in hopes of addressing key issues. The team created a platform where transactions will occur faster with almost unlimited liquidity. The exchange will allow the Liquid settlement time to be lower down to seconds with the help of blockchain technology (compared to T+2 in traditional securities).

Linear is currently working with BSC to lower the settlement timeframe as it has a blocktime as low as 1 second as well as instant finality. Linear.Exchange is able to combine the best of both worlds: infrastructure of Ethereum, high TPS of BSC, and the most looked for tooling. Another benefit of the system is that when creating Liquid there will be minimal transaction fees as compared to traditional gas fees paid on Ethereum. With the platform’s BSC-based oracle, it will allow quick refreshment of fees in seconds while benefiting from lower fees. ^[6]

Linear Finance Shuts Down

On March 27, 2025, Linear Finance announced via its X page its notice of closure which is due to its inability to generate sustainable returns. ^[10]

"After careful consideration, Linear Finance has made the difficult decision to cease operations.

Despite our ongoing efforts to innovate and build throughout the years, the project has struggled to generate sustainable returns. Outside of a brief period of profitability during our initial launch in 2019/20, Linear Finance has faced increasing financial challenges." ^[10]

Linear Finance also stated that the project has been funded through a combination of personal contributions from the project owner and token liquidations and this model is no longer viable.

"The recent decision by Binance to delist the LINA token accelerated these challenges, resulting in a 65% reduction in market capitalization and a significant loss of the remaining operational runway.

As a result, the project’s key stakeholders have made the collective decision to wind down and have already exited their positions.

Our Operations Team will be in touch shortly with clear timelines and step-by-step instructions for users with active positions across our dApps."

In conclusion, Linear Finance thanks its community, supporters, and partners for being a part of its journey. ^[10]