Euler (EUL)

Overview

Euler is a decentralized finance protocol for lending and borrowing crypto assets. People can supply tokens to lending vaults, while borrowers can use accepted assets as collateral to take out loans. Developers and market operators can also create vaults with their own rules. This makes Euler a set of tools for building credit markets, as well as an app where people can use them. (docs.euler.finance)

EUL is Euler’s governance token. Holders use it to vote on protocol and treasury decisions. Euler also distributes EUL through selected reward programs. Lending and borrowing take place in the protocol’s vaults; EUL gives its holders a role in decisions about the wider ecosystem. (docs.euler.finance)

History & Team

From the first protocol to Euler V2

Euler began in 2020 and launched its first lending protocol in 2021. Its founders are Michael Bentley, Doug Hoyte, and Jack Prior. Bentley brought a background in scientific research, while Hoyte built the initial smart-contract implementation. Euler Labs developed the protocol, and the Euler DAO and Euler Foundation became important parts of its governance and operations. (euler.finance)

In March 2023, an exploit affected the original Euler protocol. The team and community worked to recover the assets, and Euler later rebuilt its lending system. Euler V2 launched in September 2024 with a new design based on separate, configurable vaults. In early 2026, Bentley and Hoyte departed Euler Labs. The organization described a leadership transition as it shifted its focus toward lending infrastructure. (euler.finance)

Euler’s token distribution also brought in strategic growth partners. The project’s documentation names Paradigm, Lemniscap, Haun Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Labs Ventures, and Jane Street among participants in different partner groups. (docs.euler.finance)

Technology & How It Works

Vaults set the lending rules

Euler V2’s basic building block is a vault: a smart contract that holds a particular asset and applies rules to its lending market. The Euler Vault Kit, or EVK, lets creators deploy vaults and choose settings such as accepted collateral, borrowing limits, interest-rate models, price feeds, and liquidation thresholds. Anyone can create a vault for an ERC-20 token, while each vault’s configuration determines how that market works. (docs.euler.finance)

A supplier deposits an asset into a lending vault and receives vault shares representing the position. A borrower supplies accepted collateral and borrows an asset from a connected vault. Interest accrues on the debt according to that vault’s model. If the value of the borrower’s collateral falls below the vault’s required level, the position can become eligible for liquidation. (docs.euler.finance)

The Ethereum Vault Connector, or EVC, helps vaults work together. It manages account relationships so one vault can recognize collateral held in another. It also lets users group several steps into one transaction, such as supplying collateral and borrowing against it. This gives builders a way to connect markets without putting every asset into one shared lending pool. (euler.finance)

Market creators choose how closely their vaults connect to others. They can build a simple market with one collateral asset and one borrowable asset, or a larger group of linked vaults. Euler V2 also supports different price-feed providers and account permissions. These choices give each market its own structure and operating rules. (docs.euler.finance)

Tokenomics & Utility

Supply and distribution

Euler’s documentation lists a supply of 27,182,818 EUL, a number chosen in reference to the mathematical constant e. Its published allocation places about 34% with the DAO, protocol users, and ecosystem initiatives; about 39.5% with strategic partners; and about 26.5% with Euler Labs founders and other contributors. The Foundation’s roughly 3.7% allocation came from the DAO group, so adding it to those figures would count the same tokens twice. These allocation figures describe the project’s documented distribution, rather than a live account balance. (docs.euler.finance)

The Ethereum token contract also allows an authorized administrator to issue additional EUL under a rule limiting issuance to 2.718% of total supply no more than once every 365 days. New tokens issued through that function go to the contract’s designated treasury address. (docs.euler.finance)

Voting, rewards, and fees

EUL holders can take part in DAO votes on matters such as protocol changes and treasury use. Euler uses public discussion and voting systems, while an approved decision may require a separate on-chain transaction to take effect. EUL also supports user incentives. In selected campaigns, participants receive rEUL, a reward form that unlocks into EUL over six months. One-fifth becomes redeemable immediately after a reward lock begins, and the rest unlocks gradually. (docs.euler.finance)

EUL has a further use in Fee Flow, an auction system designed to exchange collected protocol fee assets for EUL payments. Fee Flow is inactive, and Euler’s protocol fees are set to zero; future DAO decisions could change that setting. Individual vault operators may set separate vault-level fees. (docs.euler.finance)

Ecosystem & Use Cases

Lending products built around vaults

Euler’s most direct use cases are supplying assets and borrowing against collateral. Its modular design also lets developers build markets around particular token pairs or groups of assets. A market operator can choose which collateral a vault accepts and how much users may borrow against it. This is useful when different assets call for different lending rules. (docs.euler.finance)

EulerEarn adds a simpler entry point for some suppliers. A user deposits one asset into an Earn vault and receives one share position. Curators select eligible strategies and manage how deposits are allocated within the vault’s on-chain limits. Those strategies can include Euler lending vaults and compatible external vaults. (docs.euler.finance)

The wider toolkit includes EulerSwap, which connects swap pools with Euler lending positions. Its design lets a pool’s assets remain linked to vault activity while supporting token swaps. Developers can also use Euler’s account and vault tools inside their own apps, rather than sending every user through one Euler interface. (euler.finance)

Advantages & Challenges

Euler’s main strength is flexibility. Separate vaults let market creators tailor collateral rules, interest models, and operating roles to a specific purpose. The EVC then lets selected vaults work together when a product needs more than an isolated market. Standard vault shares also make lending positions easier for other applications to integrate. (docs.euler.finance)

That flexibility makes the system more demanding to understand. Two vaults holding the same asset can have different collateral rules, managers, fees, and price feeds. Users and builders therefore need to pay attention to the settings of the particular market they use. Euler’s 2023 exploit remains an important part of its history, and the V2 rebuild marked a major change in its architecture. Euler Labs has also described operational lessons from expanding across many products and networks. (docs.euler.finance)

Where to Buy & Wallets

EUL is available on Coinbase and Kraken, subject to each platform’s regional availability. Binance has also listed EUL for spot trading and purchase through its supported services. Exchanges set their own account and payment requirements. (coinbase.com)

EUL is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. It can be held in an Ethereum-compatible wallet such as MetaMask, which allows users to add a token by its contract address. Ledger devices can manage ERC-20 tokens through an Ethereum account. Euler’s published Ethereum EUL contract address is 0xd9Fcd98c322942075A5C3860693e9f4f03AAE07b. Euler also documents EUL deployments on other networks, where token addresses and transfer routes differ. (support.metamask.io)

Regulatory & Compliance

The rules surrounding EUL depend on the jurisdiction and on the activity involved, such as issuing, trading, or operating a financial product. In the European Union, Euler OpCo published an EUL crypto-asset white paper under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA. The document identifies EUL as a crypto-asset other than an asset-referenced token or e-money token. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s framework examines a crypto asset’s characteristics and the circumstances of its offer or sale when applying federal securities laws. (euler.finance)

Islamic finance adds a different kind of assessment. Its widely recognized principles prohibit riba, commonly understood to include interest on loans. Euler’s lending vaults charge borrowers interest and account for interest earned by suppliers, so those lending activities conflict with that central Shariah principle. An assessment of EUL itself involves its governance and reward functions as well as how a holder uses it; it is distinct from assessing one lending transaction. (docs.euler.finance)

Future Outlook

Euler Labs has described a narrower focus on dependable lending infrastructure and tools for market curators. Its stated plans include improving EulerEarn, supporting the vault and account systems, and revisiting products such as fixed-term lending and a more developed EulerSwap when the underlying systems are ready. These are development priorities rather than changes already built into every Euler market. (euler.finance)

EUL’s role will continue to depend on DAO decisions about treasury use, rewards, and protocol settings. The vault model also gives outside teams room to build specialized credit products on Euler’s existing contracts. Together, those two paths—community governance and third-party development—shape how the ecosystem can evolve. (docs.euler.finance)

Summary

Euler combines configurable lending vaults with account tools that let selected markets connect. EUL gives holders a voice in governance and supports protocol rewards. The project’s move from its original lending pool to Euler V2 has made modular credit markets its defining feature in decentralized finance. (docs.euler.finance)