Sky’s new DeFi protocol Grove launches with $1B backing to bring institutional credit onchain

Sky Protocol’s decentralized finance network has launched a new institutional-grade credit protocol with a $1 billion investment into tokenized credit.

Grove, a DeFi credit infrastructure developed as part of the Sky ( SKY ) ecosystem, was announced in a press release on June 25. At launch, the Sky ecosystem allocated $1 billion to Grove for investments in the Janus Henderson Anemoy AAA CLO Strategy, a fully tokenized fund created in collaboration with Centrifuge.

Run by the same team that manages Janus Henderson’s $21 billion AAA CLO ETF, the strategy provides DeFi with access to a traditionally off-chain asset class known for yield stability and capital preservation. This marks the first time a collateralized loan obligation investment strategy has been deployed fully onchain.

Grove is designed to serve as a capital routing layer between onchain protocols and traditional asset managers. Through Grove’s infrastructure, crypto-native projects can deploy idle reserves into diversified, regulated vehicles, without leaving the blockchain environment. The non-custodial system allows for flexible capital allocation. 

A founding group of TradFi and DeFi veterans from Citigroup, Deloitte, BlockTower Capital, and Hildene Capital worked with Grove Labs, a division of Steakhouse Financial, to incubate the protocol.

Grove is supported by the Sky ecosystem as part of its larger Endgame strategy , which aims to reorganize its protocol into independent, modular units called “Stars” over a period of years. With Grove joining Spark as a new Star, Sky is stepping up its efforts to incorporate tokenized real-world assets into DeFi.

“Demand for high-quality, yield-generating assets onchain is growing,” said Sam Paderewski, Grove Labs co-founder. “The launch of Grove, backed by a $1 billion allocation from Sky, shows how protocols can now access liquid, institutional-grade credit without compromising decentralization or flexibility.”

The launch also reflects the growing appetite for tokenized fixed-income products in DeFi. The tokenized U.S. Treasury market has grown from $500 million to more than $7.3 billion since 2023. By providing a more diversified , actively managed product onchain, the JAAA fund continues this trend. 

Janus Henderson, which previously partnered with Centrifuge to launch the JTRSY tokenized Treasury fund, said the success of that initiative helped pave the way for this latest CLO strategy. 

“With Grove’s infrastructure, we’re expanding global access to structured credit,” said Nick Cherney, head of innovation at Janus Henderson. “Tokenizing this strategy is a major step toward integrating traditional financial products into DeFi.”

Sky co-founder Rune Christensen noted that the protocol’s long-term goal is to build an open, decentralized capital network. Grove’s launch, he said, advances that mission by adding a new layer of asset diversity to the system’s real-world asset portfolio.

As part of its roadmap, Grove will continue to facilitate allocations between asset managers and crypto-native protocols, positioning itself as a key liquidity engine for DeFi.