What Tranchess does

Tranchess is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol founded in 2021 and headquartered in Singapore, structured as a DAO-native platform that issues the CHESS governance token and supports a tranche-based asset management architecture. Its core product suite consists of four primitives: QUEEN, an asset tracker token that maintains exposure to ETH, BNB, or BTC while earning staking and farming rewards; BISHOP, a stable tranche fully backed by underlying crypto, yielding through lending interest to ROOK holders and AMM LP fees; ROOK, a leveraged tranche offering long exposure to BTC, ETH, or BNB without forced liquidation, priced via Chainlink TWAP and funded at the Venus Protocol USDC lending rate; and CHESS, the governance token, lockable into veCHESS to direct weekly emissions, vote PoS reward splits, claim 50% of protocol income, and access up to 3x yield boosts. Supporting products include Liquid Staking vaults on Ethereum and BNB Chain, Turbo & Stable yield funds (turYETH, staYETH, and BTC/BTCB-tracked variants such as uniBTC and brBTC), a cross-chain Bridge for veCHESS between Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Scroll, plus Rebalance Simulator and Yield Simulator tools.

The protocol operates across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Scroll with smart contracts audited by PeckShield and CertiK and a bug bounty hosted on Immunefi. Distribution is fully self-serve and product-led: users connect Web3 wallets to tranchess.com, interact with smart contracts directly, and provide liquidity through Balancer, PancakeSwap, and Biswap. Marketing channels are community-driven across Discord, Telegram, Twitter/X, Medium, and GitHub, with on-chain veCHESS voting controlling protocol parameters on weekly cycles.

Tranchess earns revenue indirectly through swap, creation, and redemption fees on fund operations, retains a portion of those fees, and distributes the remaining 50% to veCHESS holders. It has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Three Arrows Capital, Spartan Group, Binance Labs, Longhash Ventures, and IMOVentures and operates with a small team of 11-50 employees serving a global, retail-focused user base of liquid stakers, risk-averse yield seekers, leveraged position takers, liquidity providers, and DAO participants. The company's homepage reports a Total Value Locked of $4,802,616, with the BNB Chain staking pool representing the bulk of activity; the qETH fund has been retired and its Ethereum staking service paused per community governance.

Name

Tranchess

Website

https://tranchess.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tranchess is a Singapore-based DeFi protocol offering tranche-based asset management on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Scroll, with QUEEN / BISHOP / ROOK tokens for liquid staking, stable yield, and no-liquidation leverage, governed by CHESS token holders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Asset Management

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Other Financial Vehicles (52599)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro primary industry

Liquid Staking Protocols & Liquid Staking Tokens (LST) (FSADAOAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Liquid Staking & Restaking Protocols (FSADAMAE), Interoperability & Cross-Chain Infrastructure (Bridges, Messaging, Atomic Swaps) (FSAGAMAI)

Keywords

• DeFi protocol
• Liquid staking
• Tranche products
• Yield farming
• Governance token

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Protocol Fees: Fees collected from fund creation, redemption, and swap transactions. Protocol retains portion of transaction value.
2. veCHESS Income Share: 50% of Tranchess protocol income distributed to veCHESS holders weekly, creating token holder value.
3. CHESS Token Emissions: Protocol generates value through CHESS token emissions allocated to various pools based on community voting via veCHESS.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tranchess is a blockchain-based DeFi protocol that issues tokenized asset trackers (QUEEN) for ETH, BNB, and BTC, which can be split into BISHOP (stable, USD-pegged) and ROOK (leveraged) tranches. It offers liquid staking, yield-enhancement funds (Turbo and Stable), and on-chain governance through the CHESS/veCHESS token, deployed across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Scroll.

Product overview

Tranchess is a multi-chain DeFi asset management platform operating on Ethereum and BNB Chain. The platform offers a tranche-based structure where QUEEN tokens (asset trackers for ETH, BNB, BTC) can be split into BISHOP (stable/risk-free) and ROOK (leveraged) tranches. Additional products include Turbo & Stable yield enhancement funds (turYETH, staYETH, and various Turbo/Stable fund variants), liquid staking services, and CHESS governance token with veCHESS voting system. The platform also provides analytical tools including Rebalance Simulator and Yield Simulator, plus cross-chain bridging via the Bridge feature. Total Value Locked stands at approximately $4.8 million.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CHESS: Governance token of the Tranchess protocol. Users lock CHESS to obtain veCHESS for voting rights, earning rebates, and boosting earnings.
• QUEEN
• ROOK
• BISHOP

Products and services

• QUEEN QUEEN is a tokenized asset tracker for ETH, BNB, and BTC that maintains market exposure while earning yield through CHESS farming and PoS delegation rewards. It can be split 1:1 into BISHOP (stable) and ROOK (leveraged) tranches and is targeted at DeFi users who want to keep a single position liquid and composable across Ethereum and BNB Chain.
• BISHOP BISHOP is the risk-free stable tranche of the Tranchess protocol, value-anchored to USD and fully backed by ETH, BNB, and BTC. It earns interest by lending liquidity to ROOK holders and by providing LP rewards in AMM pools, and is targeted at risk-averse DeFi users seeking stable yields.
• ROOK ROOK is the leveraged tranche of the Tranchess protocol, providing leveraged long exposure to BNB, BTCB, and ETH without forced liquidation risk. Its funding cost is based on Venus Protocol's USDC lending rate and it is priced using Chainlink TWAP oracles, targeting DeFi traders who want leverage without perpetual-futures liquidation risk.
• CHESS CHESS is the governance token of the Tranchess protocol. Locking CHESS creates veCHESS, which grants voting rights on CHESS emissions, eligibility for 50% of protocol income shared weekly, an earnings boost of up to 3x, and voting power over PoS reward distribution between ROOK and BISHOP holders. It is targeted at DeFi users who want protocol governance rights and revenue share.
• Liquid Staking Liquid staking service that lets users stake ETH, BNB, or BTC on proof-of-stake networks and receive a liquid tokenized representation (QUEEN or staYETH-style wrappers) that can be used as collateral or in DeFi pools. It is targeted at crypto holders who want PoS yield without locking their assets.
• Turbo & Stable Funds
• Cross-chain Bridge Cross-chain bridge that lets users move veCHESS (locked CHESS) and related Tranchess assets between BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Scroll. It is targeted at DAO participants and multi-chain DeFi users who need to manage their locked governance and staking positions across networks.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.4% APR on staked ETH
• +3 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• ChainlinkcoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides TWAP oracle networks for ROOK leverage pricing, preventing price anomalies in leveraged positions.
• Venus ProtocolmajorTechnology or IntegrationROOK's funding cost is based on Venus Protocol USDC lending rate, integrating with BNB Chain DeFi ecosystem.
• BalancermajorTechnology or IntegrationstaYETH-wstETH liquidity pool available via Balancer DEX for liquidity provision and trading.
• PancakeSwapmajorTechnology or IntegrationBISHOP/USDC and BISHOP/BUSD liquidity pools available on PancakeSwap AMM.
• RockXminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStaking infrastructure provider supporting BNB Chain validator node operations.
• Stake StoneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInfrastructure partner supporting liquid staking operations.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pendle Finance: Pendle tokenizes future yield into Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT), creating a yield-tranching primitive directly comparable to Tranchess's QUEEN/BISHOP/ROOK split. Both protocols target DeFi users seeking risk-segregated exposures to yield-bearing assets across multiple chains.
• Lido Finance: Lido is the dominant liquid staking protocol issuing stETH on Ethereum. Tranchess's QUEEN for ETH (now retired as qETH) competed directly with Lido's stETH for liquid staking share, though at far smaller scale.
• Rocket Pool: Rocket Pool provides decentralized ETH liquid staking via rETH, directly comparable to Tranchess's Ethereum liquid staking product. Both protocols target self-custodial stakers seeking liquid staking tokens for DeFi composability.
• Stader Labs: Stader offers multi-chain liquid staking (BNB Chain, Ethereum, Polygon, etc.) with MaticX, BNBx, and other LSTs. Direct comparable to Tranchess's BNB Chain-focused multi-asset liquid staking offering.
• Ankr: Ankr provides liquid staking tokens (ankrETH, ankrBNB) and staking infrastructure across multiple chains. Comparable to Tranchess's liquid staking product suite, particularly on BNB Chain.
• Set Protocol (TokenSets): Set Protocol pioneered structured DeFi products with tokenized portfolios and rebalancing baskets. Tranchess's QUEEN/BISHOP/ROOK structure follows a similar philosophy of creating tokenized risk-graded exposures, though Set focuses more on rebalancing strategies.
• Marinade Finance: Marinade provides liquid staking on Solana with native and delegated strategies. Comparable to Tranchess as a multi-strategy liquid staking protocol with native delegation and LST issuance.

Emerging players

• Convex Finance: Convex optimizes Curve LP yield via boosted staking and vlCVX governance with vote-escrow tokenomics. Similar to Tranchess's veCHESS model and yield-enhancement focus, though concentrated on Curve ecosystem.
• Balancer: Balancer is an AMM protocol hosting liquidity pools (including Tranchess's staYETH-wstETH pool). Overlap exists in DeFi infrastructure and pool-based yield generation, though Balancer is primarily a trading venue while Tranchess focuses on liquid staking and tranching.

Broad incumbents

• Yearn Finance: Yearn is the established DeFi yield aggregator with automated vaults. Comparable to Tranchess in offering yield-optimization products to DeFi users, though Yearn operates as a broader incumbent across many strategies.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tranchess
• GitHubgithub.com/tranchess
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tranchess

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tranchess