Why a DeFi platform ditched its consumer app to become the secret backend for tech giants

In 2026, Spark, a DeFi platform affiliated with Sky (formerly MakerDAO), decided to indefinitely pause its consumer app and pivot to a backend business model supplying yield and liquidity services to other firms rather than competing for users. This shift reflects Spark’s recognition of the challenges in building consumer apps in a competitive environment dominated by companies like Coinbase, PayPal, and Robinhood. Instead, Spark now operates as an infrastructure provider, supporting firms such as Robinhood, which uses Spark’s liquidity through a vault totaling over $200 million in deposits linked to Robinhood Earn, providing roughly 7% annual yield.

Spark's strategy focuses on solving the growing fragmentation in the stablecoin market, where multiple dollar-linked tokens issued by large fintechs, exchanges, and banking groups are increasingly isolating liquidity within their own networks. With stablecoins like PayPal’s PYUSD, Circle’s USDC, Tether’s USDT, and others competing, Spark aims to serve as a neutral intermediary to move money seamlessly between these disparate stablecoin ecosystems. This goal is supported by a stablecoin FX layer built on Uniswap v4, where Spark migrated approximately $150 million into liquidity pools, accounting for about 30% of stablecoin-to-stablecoin swaps on Uniswap within the first month and routing $1.5 billion through its platform.

Despite a challenging bear market that caused Spark's annual revenue to decline from $80 million to $20 million, the company is experiencing growth in its institutional lending business, particularly through Bitcoin-backed over-the-counter (OTC) loans issued via Anchorage. Outstanding OTC loans currently stand at $260 million, with a goal to reach $1 billion by the end of the year. This lending primarily serves borrowers such as Bitcoin miners who require ongoing operational funding regardless of market conditions. Spark is also developing Spark Prime, a hybrid prime brokerage service combining centralized and onchain financial tools, which is still in beta but onboarding major crypto funds and attracting interest from traditional finance institutions.

CEO Sam MacPherson underscores that the company views the bear market as manageable, with ongoing adoption, regulatory clarity, and institutional engagement positioning Spark well for the future. He highlighted upcoming regulatory developments, such as the GENIUS Act and Clarity Act, as potential catalysts for significant growth in onchain payments, possibly reaching $3 trillion by 2030. Spark’s model of providing blockchain financial infrastructure and liquidity services positions it to benefit from stablecoin market fragmentation, as long as issuers continue to favor isolating liquidity within proprietary networks rather than fully interoperable ecosystems.