Founders Fund2026-10-07 05:31:03Founders Fund backs Anvil with $5 million token purchase, betting on on-chain letters of creditFounders Fund, the venture firm tied to Peter Thiel, has led a $5 million token purchase in DeFi protocol Anvil, with Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish and Protoscale Capital also participating. Individual backers include Compound founder Robert Leshner, now CEO of Superstate, and Celo co-founder Rene Reinsberg. The deal was structured as a purchase of ANVL tokens from Anvil’s existing treasury rather than equity in the company, and no new tokens were minted. Anvil is positioning itself outside the standard DeFi lending model. Instead of letting users borrow against collateral, it allows them to lock ETH or USDC in a vault and receive an on-chain letter of credit, or LOC, that serves as verifiable financial backing. The protocol says this can be used in payment guarantees, exchange margin deposits and business-to-business credit support. Flexa integrated Anvil into Capacity v3 in March 2025, while Bullish is exploring the system for instant margin deposits. The announcement sent ANVL up more than 83% on the day, pushing its market capitalization to about $109 million at one point. Even so, the token remains far below its historical peak, and Anvil’s total value locked has also fallen sharply from its 2025 high. The investment amounts to a targeted bet that on-chain credit infrastructure can become a meaningful category in crypto.20
Founders Fund2026-10-07 03:00:56Founders Fund leads $5 million ANVL token purchase, backing Anvil’s on-chain letter of credit modelFounders Fund, the venture firm tied to Peter Thiel, led a $5 million token purchase in DeFi protocol Anvil on Oct. 6, with Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish and Protoscale Capital also participating. Individual backers included Compound founder Robert Leshner, now CEO of Superstate, and Celo co-founder Rene Reinsberg. The purchase was made in ANVL tokens rather than equity, and the tokens came from Anvil’s existing treasury with no new issuance. Anvil is not a lending protocol in the Aave or Compound mold. Instead, users lock ETH or USDC into vaults and receive an on-chain letter of credit, or LOC, that serves as verifiable collateral backing financial commitments. The model is already being used or explored in payment guarantees, instant exchange deposits and enterprise credit support. Flexa integrated Anvil into Capacity v3 in March 2025, while Bullish is exploring the system for instant margin deposits. The announcement sent ANVL up more than 83% on the day, pushing its market capitalization to about $109 million at one point. Still, the protocol’s TVL stood at roughly $14 million at publication, down about 87% from its July 2025 peak of around 36,000 ETH, or about $109 million. ANVL was trading near $0.00098, about 89% below its Jan. 3, 2025 all-time high of $0.0093.30
Founders Fund2026-10-07 02:45:07Founders Fund Leads $5 Million ANVL Purchase as Anvil Pushes On-Chain Letters of CreditFounders Fund, the venture firm tied to Peter Thiel, led a $5 million token purchase in DeFi protocol Anvil, with Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish and Protoscale Capital also participating. Individual backers included Compound founder Robert Leshner, now CEO of Superstate, and Celo co-founder Rene Reinsberg. The deal was structured as a purchase of ANVL tokens from Anvil’s existing treasury rather than an equity investment, and no new tokens were minted. Anvil is positioning itself outside the usual DeFi lending model. Instead of letting users borrow against collateral, the protocol allows users to lock ETH or USDC in a vault and receive an on-chain letter of credit, or LOC, that serves as verifiable proof they have assets locked to back a financial commitment. The concept is being tested in payment settlement, exchange margin deposits and business credit guarantees. The announcement sent ANVL up more than 83% in a day, briefly pushing its market capitalization to about $109 million. Even so, the protocol’s TVL stood near $14 million at publication, down about 87% from a July 2025 peak, while the token remained roughly 89% below its January 2025 all-time high.20
Founders Fund2026-10-07 00:53:00Founders Fund leads $5 million purchase of Anvil governance token as ANVL jumps 97.2%Founders Fund, backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, led a $5 million purchase of ANVL, the governance token of DeFi collateral protocol Anvil, according to CoinDesk. Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish, and Protoscale Capital also joined the deal. Anvil said the tokens sold in the transaction came from the project treasury rather than a new issuance, while the deal terms and valuation were not disclosed. Built on Ethereum, Anvil is designed to use digital assets as collateral for financial commitments such as payments and credit. Its development arm, Anvil Research Labs, also rolled out an SDK aimed at helping enterprises and financial institutions integrate the protocol without writing blockchain code. Bullish, Consensus, Bitcoin.com, and Flexa are listed as partners. The purchased ANVL tokens carry governance voting rights. The protocol currently has about $14 million in total value locked, with a total token supply of 100 billion and a circulating supply of 80 billion. Following the news, CoinGecko data showed ANVL rising 97.2% over 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization above $110 million.20
ANVL2026-10-07 00:52:20ANVL jumps more than 83% in 24 hours after Founders Fund-backed token purchase reportANVL rose more than 83% over the past 24 hours after news emerged that Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led a $5 million purchase of Anvil governance tokens, according to Odaily. The token was quoted at $0.001242 at the time of the report, lifting its market capitalization to $109 million. Fully diluted valuation stood at $124 million, while 24-hour trading volume reached $415,000. Anvil is built on Ethereum and is designed to use digital assets as collateral for financial commitments such as payments and credit. Its development company, Anvil Research Labs, also launched an SDK aimed at helping enterprises and financial institutions integrate the protocol without writing blockchain code. Consensus, Bitcoin.com, and payments company Flexa were listed as partners. ANVL has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, with about 80 billion in circulation, and the Anvil network’s total value locked was reported at roughly $14 million.20
Founders Fund2026-10-07 00:50:38Founders Fund leads $5 million ANVL token purchase in DeFi collateral protocol AnvilFounders Fund, the venture firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, led a $5 million purchase of ANVL, the governance token of DeFi collateral protocol Anvil. Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish and Protoscale Capital also took part in the deal. Anvil said the tokens sold in the transaction came from the project treasury rather than a new issuance, while the deal terms and valuation were not disclosed. Built on Ethereum, Anvil is designed to use digital assets as collateral for financial commitments such as payments and credit. At the same time, its development company, Anvil Research Labs, released an SDK aimed at helping enterprises and financial institutions integrate the protocol without writing blockchain code. Consensus, Bitcoin.com and payments company Flexa are listed as partners. ANVL has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, with about 80 billion in circulation, and the Anvil network currently has roughly $14 million in total value locked.20
Founders Fund2026-10-07 00:47:35Founders Fund Leads $5 Million Purchase of Anvil Governance Token ANVLFounders Fund, the venture firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, led a $5 million purchase of ANVL, the governance token of DeFi collateral protocol Anvil. Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish, and Protoscale Capital also joined the deal. Anvil said the tokens were sold from the project treasury rather than newly issued, while deal terms and valuation were not disclosed. Built on Ethereum, Anvil is designed to use digital assets as collateral for financial commitments such as payments and credit, instead of operating like a standard DeFi lending protocol where users borrow funds and pay interest. At the same time, Anvil Research Labs launched an SDK aimed at helping enterprises and financial institutions integrate the protocol without writing blockchain code. Consensus, Bitcoin.com, and payments company Flexa were listed as partners. ANVL currently has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, about 80 billion in circulation, and the Anvil network has roughly $14 million in total value locked.20
ANVL2026-10-07 00:51:18ANVL jumps more than 83% in 24 hours, lifting market cap to $109.4 millionANVL rose more than 83% over the past 24 hours, trading at $0.001242 and pushing its market capitalization to $109.4 million, according to a BlockBeats report published on Oct. 7. Fully diluted valuation was listed at $124 million, while 24-hour trading volume stood at just $415,000. The move was linked in the report to news that Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led a $5 million purchase of Anvil governance tokens. Anvil is built on Ethereum and is designed to use digital assets as collateral for financial commitments such as payments and credit. Its development company, Anvil Research Labs, has also launched an SDK aimed at helping enterprises and financial institutions integrate the protocol without writing blockchain code. Consensus, Bitcoin.com and payments company Flexa were listed as partners. ANVL has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, with about 80 billion in circulation, while the Anvil network’s TVL was reported at roughly $14 million.20
