Solana decentralized exchange Orca and lending protocol Loopscale are merging into a single company called Formation, the two teams said Wednesday.
The new company is based in New York. Loopscale co-founder Luke Truitt will serve as chief executive officer, fellow co-founder Mary Gooneratne will become chief operating officer, and Orca’s Christopher Montagano will take the role of chief strategy and legal officer. Neither announcement included financial terms.
Formation combines trading infrastructure with credit products
According to Loopscale’s FAQ, Formation brings together Orca’s trading infrastructure and Loopscale’s credit order book and vaults. The stated goal is to let an issuer launch an asset with both trading and credit available on day one.
Using the companies’ own figures, Orca has processed more than $550 billion in trading volume since 2021. Loopscale said it has recorded more than $150 million in deposits and facilitated over $2 billion in loans.
Formation described the combined platform as a full stack of decentralized financial services, integrating liquidity solutions, credit, and vaults in one place.
Background on Orca and Loopscale
Orca launched in February 2021 and raised an $18 million Series A in September that year. Loopscale, previously known as Bridgesplit, raised $4.25 million in 2021 from CoinFund, Jump, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, and Room40.
Formation said it is targeting AI, energy, robotics, and defense companies, arguing that traditional markets do not serve those financing needs well.
Truitt framed the merger as a bet on capital markets keeping pace with the industries they fund. In the press release, he said, “Every major technological revolution has been paired with a financial one.”
Tokenized securities plans
Formation said it is exploring the opportunities created by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Sept. 17 innovation exemption. The five-year order allows tokenized securities venues to trade tokenized U.S.-listed stocks through permissioned automated market maker pools without registering as exchanges.
The company said it plans to operate such a venue and seek additional licenses, building on what it described as nearly two years of Orca’s engagement with securities and commodities regulators.
Formation also said in its press release that its planned products remain subject to legal and regulatory requirements and may not be available to U.S. persons. Loopscale’s lending, borrowing, vaults, and order book will continue operating as before, and existing positions will remain unchanged.
Token structure and next steps
The same FAQ said ORCA will serve as the token for all of Formation, meaning Loopscale will not launch a separate token of its own.
Loopscale points will continue to accrue and will convert later this year.
Over the next 12 months, Formation plans to introduce tools for issuers and new capital allocation strategies alongside its existing trading, lending, and vault products.