Maple Finance, a prominent institutional lending platform in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, has introduced Syrup, a new protocol designed to offer secured institutional lending to the DeFi community. The launch of Syrup follows Maple Finance's recent challenges stemming from the fallout of the FTX-Alameda debacle, which led to the termination of its ties with Orthogonal Trading in December 2022.

Syrup provides users with permissionless access to secured institutional lending by allowing them to deposit Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) on the platform. In return, users receive syrupUSDC liquidity pool (LP) tokens, enabling them to earn yield on their deposits. Maple Finance plans to utilize fully collateralized loans to source yield from "the largest" crypto institutions.

However, the launch of Syrup has been met with mixed reactions from the community, with some expressing skepticism due to the lingering concerns surrounding the FTX-Alameda incident. Maple Finance faced loan defaults attributed to its exposure to entities associated with FTX, such as Orthogonal Trading, resulting in significant losses for lenders on the platform.

While some users questioned the necessity of introducing a new token and expressed distrust, others raised concerns about the migration of Maple Finance's native MPL token to the newly introduced SYRUP token. Maple Finance addressed these concerns by clarifying that the migration to SYRUP is simply a transition without any additional dilution planned.

In an effort to provide transparency and address community concerns, Maple Finance will host a webinar on June 4 to discuss the intricacies of the Syrup launch and the inner workings of the protocol.