Acala
Singapore · Founded 2019 · Singapore corporation · 10 known investors
Acala is a Substrate-based cross-chain DeFi hub and stablecoin network secured by Polkadot, with a sister network Karura on Kusama.
Also known as ACA · Acala Network · Acala Token · AcalaNetwork
Founders & leadership
Acala was founded in 2019 by Ruitao Su.
Investors · 10
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$250K disclosed across 1 round · 2020
▶$250KraisedDec 2020 · 2 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- RUITAO SUExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $250K
- Amount sold
- $250K
- First sale
- Nov 2020
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Singapore, 2019
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Acala is a decentralized finance network built with Substrate and secured by Polkadot, described in its own repository as a cross-chain DeFi hub and stablecoin platform for Polkadot and Kusama. Its core protocol stack includes the Honzon stablecoin system, which issues the aUSD/aSEED stablecoin against crypto collateral through collateralized debt positions, an automated market maker decentralized exchange, liquid staking token protocols (including liquid DOT, LDOT) hosted in what the project calls a Universal Asset Hub, and Acala EVM+, an Ethereum-compatible smart contract environment that lets developers use tools such as Remix and Waffle and connect to Acala nodes through the bodhi.js web3 provider.
The Honzon stablecoin system is implemented as a set of on-chain modules: loans and honzon manage collateral and debt positions, cdp_engine applies risk parameters (stability fee, liquidation ratio, liquidation penalty, required collateral ratio, maximum total debit value) and runs an off-chain worker that liquidates unsafe positions each block, cdp_treasury tracks the system debit and surplus pools, and auction_manager runs collateral, debt and surplus auctions. Surplus accrued in aUSD is auctioned for ACA which is then burnt, while additional ACA can be minted and auctioned to cover system debt. An emergency_shutdown module allows governance to halt the protocol for one or more collateral assets or globally, locking target prices, settling outstanding loans and auctions, and letting aUSD holders burn tokens to reclaim a basket of collateral assets.
The project is initiated and facilitated by the Acala Foundation, which was founded by Laminar and Polkawallet, both participants in the Polkadot ecosystem, and which states it nurtures decentralized finance applications such as stable currency and staking liquidity infrastructure. Acala operates a trilogy of networks — Acala on Polkadot, Karura on Kusama, and the Mandala testnet — and the codebase is published under GPL-3.0 with a bug bounty program hosted on Immunefi.
Founding story
Sources identify Ruitao Su as a co-founder of Acala and Karura, and state that the Acala Foundation, which initiated and facilitates the project, was founded by Laminar and Polkawallet.
Business model
Acala operates as an open-source blockchain protocol rather than a conventional software vendor. Its native token ACA is used for governance, transaction fees and staking, and protocol-level value flows are on-chain: stability fees charged on aUSD loans accrue to the CDP treasury surplus pool, and surplus above a threshold is auctioned for ACA which is burnt, while new ACA can be minted to cover system debt. The network also supports flexible fees, allowing the protocol's fee mechanics to be configured at the runtime level.
Traction
The main Acala runtime repository shows 760 stars, 762 forks, 48 watchers and 1,931 commits. The ACA token trades publicly with a reported market capitalization of about $543.9K, 24-hour volume of about $88.2K, circulating supply of roughly 1.16B ACA out of a 1.6B total supply, and a fully diluted valuation near $746K; its all-time high of $3.10 was recorded on 2022-01-25.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Acala positions itself as a liquidity layer and liquidity gateway for the Polkadot ecosystem, connecting Polkadot parachains with Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains, and describes its offering as hybrid finance (HyFi) infrastructure spanning crypto and real-world assets. Its ACA token is listed on public market trackers, where it is tagged under DeFi, Polkadot ecosystem and Injective ecosystem categories.
Acala combines a Substrate-native DeFi stack — CDP-based stablecoin, AMM DEX, liquid staking — with Acala EVM+, an EVM-compatible and customizable app layer, allowing Ethereum tooling to be used on a Polkadot-secured chain. Composability across these modules and oracle feeds is presented as enabling more complex financial products than single-purpose protocols, and the project runs parallel deployments on Polkadot (Acala) and Kusama (Karura) plus the Mandala testnet.
Technology
Acala is built on Substrate, the modular blockchain framework, and is secured by Polkadot's shared security as a parachain; Polkadot uses Nominated Proof-of-Stake consensus. The runtime is written in Rust and maintained in the AcalaNetwork/Acala repository, which contains runtime code only after the client node was split out into a separate acala-node repository to decouple runtime and node releases. Development tooling includes a benchmarking bot that generates module and runtime weights and benchmarks Acala EVM+ precompiles and GasToWeight ratios, try-runtime based migration testing against live Acala and Karura chains or state snapshots, and integration with ORML (Open Runtime Module Library). Acala EVM+ provides Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility with a bodhi.js web3 provider, and the network is multi-token, combining the Substrate balances pallet for ACA with an ORML tokens module and a currencies module for all other assets.
Go-to-market
Distribution is developer- and community-led: an open-source GPL-3.0 codebase and public wiki with SDKs, EVM+ documentation, indexer and tooling guides; ecosystem programs including an alliance, contribution and rewards schemes; crowdloan campaigns for the Acala and Karura parachain slots; and an Immunefi-hosted bug bounty covering on-chain vulnerabilities that could cause significant economic loss or network instability.
Developers building EVM-compatible decentralized applications on Substrate, DeFi users borrowing the aUSD/aSEED stablecoin against collateral, liquidity providers and traders on the AMM DEX, DOT holders seeking liquid staking through LDOT, and participants in liquidation and system auctions such as bot operators.
Geography
The sources do not describe office locations; the project operates as a globally accessible open-source network with public Acala, Karura and Mandala endpoints and community channels.
History
The Acala Foundation was established by Laminar and Polkawallet, two Polkadot ecosystem contributors, to facilitate the project. Wiki documentation for liquidation and emergency shutdown dates to at least August 2020, and the project later launched a trilogy of networks — the Mandala testnet, Karura on Kusama and Acala on Polkadot — funded in part by parachain crowdloans. The client node was subsequently separated from the runtime repository, and the roadmap documented as "Acala 2.0" covers the aUSD/aSEED stablecoin, ACA, LDOT, the Universal Asset Hub and the Euphrates DApp.
Risks & controversies
Acala's design documentation acknowledges systemic risks inherent to collateralized stablecoins: loans falling below the liquidation ratio are liquidated automatically via off-chain workers and collateral auctions, unpaid system debt can trigger debt auctions and the minting of additional ACA, and a governance-triggered emergency shutdown exists as a last resort against serious security threats, after which users burn aUSD to reclaim a mixed basket of collateral. The project also runs a bug bounty specifically for on-chain vulnerabilities that could cause significant economic loss or network instability. Market data shows the ACA token trading approximately 99.98% below its January 2022 all-time high, with an all-time low recorded in July 2026.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structure▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- GitHub - AcalaNetwork/Acala: Acala - cross-chain DeFi hub and stablecoin based on Substrate for Polkadot and Kusama. · GitHubgithub.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Acala do?
- Acala is a Substrate-based cross-chain DeFi hub and stablecoin network secured by Polkadot, with a sister network Karura on Kusama.
- Who founded Acala?
- Acala was founded by Ruitao Su in 2019.
- Who are Acala's investors?
- Acala's investors include Andromeda Capital, Arrington Capital, Coinbase Ventures, D1 Ventures, Figment, Pantera Capital, Signum Capital, Tq Ventures Llc and 2 more.
- How much funding has Acala raised?
- Acala has disclosed $250K raised across 1 round.
- Where is Acala headquartered?
- Acala is headquartered in Singapore.