Centrifuge finalizes ERC-8161, letting multi-asset vault positions trade before settlement

Centrifuge has finalized ERC-8161, a new Ethereum standard that enables the transferability of pending deposit and redemption requests within tokenized asset vaults. Co-authored by Jeroen Offerijns and Cain O’Sullivan, this standard addresses the liquidity constraints inherent in asynchronous vault systems where settlement times for real-world assets like commercial real estate debt can span days or weeks. By allowing investors to trade their place in a redemption queue, the standard effectively creates a secondary market layer that operates at blockchain speed despite the slower settlement of underlying collateral. This development builds upon previous standards, specifically ERC-7540 for asynchronous claim flows and ERC-7575 for multi-asset support. The integration of these standards allows Centrifuge’s vault architecture to offer greater flexibility, enabling investors to exit positions early by selling their claims to other market participants. While the underlying real-world assets still require traditional settlement times, the ability to transfer pending requests acts as a critical release valve for capital efficiency. This infrastructure-level advancement represents a significant step in maturing the RWA ecosystem by bridging the gap between traditional finance settlement cycles and decentralized liquidity.