Bullish has provided USD.AI with a $100 million stablecoin debt facility to finance loans secured by graphics processing units (GPUs) used in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Announced Friday, the facility gives USD.AI additional capital to finance operators purchasing high-performance computing equipment. The deal expands Bullish’s exposure to tokenized real-world assets and AI infrastructure.
USD.AI expands GPU-backed lending capacity
Developed by Permian Labs, USD.AI connects stablecoin liquidity with companies seeking funding to purchase GPUs. Rather than evaluating a borrower’s entire business, the platform issues non-recourse loans secured by the computing hardware bought with the financing.
Bullish Head of Tokenization Thomas Cowan said the company relied on USD.AI’s onchain records when assessing the facility. Bullish had already invested in the platform before agreeing to provide the debt financing.
“Our commitment to USD.AI reflects a conviction we’ve believed since our first investment in the protocol: that credible, well-structured real-world assets belong onchain.”
USD.AI will use the $100 million facility to originate loans for middle-market AI infrastructure operators. The financed hardware serves as collateral, while the loans do not create claims against the operators’ other corporate assets, according to the announcement.
This structure separates the loans from borrowers’ main balance sheets, although repayment still depends on the income and resale value of the underlying computing equipment. GPUs can lose value as newer models reach the market, making loan terms, collateral checks and repayment schedules important to the financing process.
USD.AI has already completed major transactions involving Nvidia hardware. In June, the protocol announced a $98.1 million loan backed by 2,304 Nvidia B300 GPUs. Investors separately provided full funding for a $34 million facility secured by 768 Nvidia B200 units.
Together, the two disclosed loans involved 3,072 GPUs and more than $132 million in financing. The Bullish facility gives USD.AI another source of stablecoin liquidity as it extends lending to operators developing data centers and AI computing clusters.
Permian Labs CEO David Choi said demand for computing equipment has created a distinct lending category.
“Compute is becoming a credit market in its own right,” Choi said, adding that Bullish’s facility would allow USD.AI to finance more infrastructure and develop trading markets for compute-backed debt.
USD.AI says its financing is settled onchain, giving capital providers exposure to loans backed by income-producing computing equipment. The company describes the funding as non-dilutive because operators do not have to give up an ownership stake when borrowing.
Bullish plans sUSDai listing and secondary market
Alongside the lending facility, Bullish plans to list sUSDai across several trading pairs on its institutional exchange. A dedicated market-making program will provide orders for the token once trading begins, according to the companies.
USD.AI uses sUSDai as its yield-bearing token, giving holders exposure to returns generated by the protocol’s credit operations. A listing would allow holders to trade their positions instead of relying solely on the repayment period of the underlying loans.
Bullish expects the program to improve secondary liquidity and price discovery for GPU-backed debt. The companies did not disclose the planned trading pairs, launch date or market-making budget in Friday’s announcement.
Bullish and USD.AI are also expanding a research project focused on financing capital spending in the AI sector. The work will combine Bullish’s experience operating institutional markets with USD.AI’s lending model, according to the announcement.
Tokenized exposure to computing hardware has emerged elsewhere in the crypto market. In August 2025, Injective introduced an Nvidia GPU derivatives market that gave traders exposure to rental prices for Nvidia H100 processors.
Aethir and Injective launched a tokenized GPU marketplace in December 2024, using blockchain-based products to provide access to computing capacity. Unlike those trading and rental products, USD.AI’s model centers on secured loans issued to infrastructure operators.
Bullish deepens existing USD.AI relationship
The $100 million facility follows Bullish Capital’s $4 million investment in USD.AI in September 2025. Cowan said onchain transparency allowed Bullish to review the protocol using the institutional underwriting standards applied elsewhere across its business.
Bullish operates spot and derivatives markets for professional investors and supplies the liquidity supporting the new facility.
In Europe, Bullish operates under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework as an authorized crypto asset service provider offering spot trading and custody. Its U.S. presence expanded after the company obtained a New York BitLicense in September 2025.
The license allows Bullish to serve eligible customers in New York and came about one month after the company’s public listing. The announcement did not specify whether sUSDai would be offered to U.S. customers or describe any access restrictions.
Bullish shares recover after post-IPO decline
For U.S. investors, the transaction adds AI infrastructure lending to the businesses linked to NYSE-listed Bullish shares, which trade under the ticker BLSH. The financial impact will depend on the facility’s terms, loan performance and contribution to Bullish’s results, none of which the companies disclosed.
Bullish debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2025 after pricing its shares at $37. The offering raised about $1.03 billion, while the stock opened at $90 during its first trading session.
Earlier coverage of the public offering reported that Bullish entered the market at a valuation of about $5.4 billion after pricing above its original range. BlackRock-managed funds and accounts linked to ARK Investment Management had indicated interest in purchasing up to $200 million of stock.
Despite its recent recovery, BLSH remains more than 60% below its $90 opening price. The shares traded around $33 on Friday after gaining approximately 45% during the preceding month.
Other U.S.-traded crypto companies also advanced over the same period. Bitcoin treasury company Strive gained about 88%, Bitcoin miner Canaan rose roughly 55%, and USDC issuer Circle added close to 40%.
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