Borrow
Request approval-gated, undercollateralized credit from a Financing Market — request, get approved, then draw down yourself. Powered by the Atomica engine.
Borrowing on Arenas gives you access to liquidity without posting on-chain collateral. Instead of an instant, collateral-backed loan, borrowing is approval-gated and happens in two distinct stages: an approver authorises an amount, and then you draw it down.
Before you start
You need the market’s access token (NFT) — this is your eligibility, in place of collateral.
You sign the market’s real-world financing agreement off-chain. This legal contract, not a collateral ratio, is what backs repayment.
The flow
1. Request
Create a financing request specifying the amount you want, a minimum acceptable amount, and either:
a rate ceiling (interest-accrual financing — interest accrues over time), or
a fixed repayment amount over a set duration (fixed-repayment financing).
You can edit or cancel the request while it is still pending.
2. Approval (no funds move yet)
An Approver reviews the request and either approves it — possibly for a partial amount — or declines it. Approval does not transfer money. It authorises an amount and opens a timed receive window (an earliest and latest time to draw down).
This is the single most important difference from collateral lending: approval and funding are separate. You are cleared to borrow, but you pull the funds yourself.
3. Draw down (receive)
Within the receive window, you call draw-down. Liquidity is assembled automatically from the pool’s intents, cheapest rate first (see Intents & Liquidity) — you don’t pick lenders. Funds are sent to the recipient address on the request, which can differ from your wallet.
A draw-down may partially fill if capacity is short; you can draw again up to the approved amount while the window is open. Because capacity can change between approval and draw-down, the fill is only final once the transaction settles:
Success
Financing is now ACTIVE.
Lack of capacity
Not enough lender liquidity right now.
Rate exceeded
Available liquidity is priced above your ceiling.
Below minimum
Achievable fill is under your minAmount.
Repayment & risk
Repay any time — see Repay. Loans are open-ended and governed by the signed agreement, not a health factor.
There is no price-based liquidation. If a loan goes unpaid, the obligation can be sold on a secondary market at a discount, with proceeds refunded to the pool’s LPs.
At a glance
Request
Borrower
No
Approve / decline
Approver
No
Draw down (receive)
Borrower
Yes — disbursed to recipient
Repay
Anyone
Yes — back into the pool
For the complete state machine and statuses, see Financing Request Lifecycle.
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