Unsecured commercial-grade financing is 1 step closer to making its introduction in decentralized fund (DeFi).

And, in perhaps a indication of those times, it involves a non-fungible token (NFT).

Algorithmic credit risk protocol Teller Finance’s restricted alpha mainnet has become live on the Ethereum blockchain after a testnet before this season , the startup said Tuesday. The protocol links with conventional finance player Plaid and other data providers to deliver real-time credit risk info on the blockchain. And it’s bootstrapping in a novel manner — NFT liquidity provisioning.

Each”Fortune Teller” NFT token will not only depict various commissioned collectibles, but will probably be utilized for the protocol’s initial liquidity, the group stated. The token will be required in order to participate in the full alpha mainnet, which goes live April 5.

“Together with our NFT system, we’ve found a way to provide the protocol’s liquidity and benefit our early community members while simultaneously offering a unique access mechanism for its first alpha,” Teller Finance CEO Ryan Berkun said in a statement. “Teller NFT holders will obtain immediate APY gains, and may have access to longer-term benefits we’ll reveal at a later date”

According to CoinDesk, Teller Finance has worked with fintech giant Plaid to incorporate real-time fico ratings in to DeFi from over 2,000 financial services. The protocol plans on decentralizing its governance over time as data suppliers start natively lending throughout the application, Berkun stated in a Telegram message to CoinDesk.

The integration with the TradFi world is a markedly different step than other DeFi protocols also resolving the charge conundrum. Lending protocol Aave, by way of instance, introduced a credit score delegation attribute last August that relied more on cryptographic assumptions than incumbent banking systems. Berkun said Teller Finance sees Aave or alternative DeFi lending protocols as complements, and not competitors.

“We see ourselves becoming a protocol for additional DeFi markets to launch atop or integrate. Maple Finance and Aave are partners in our own eyes, that will leverage Teller to bring data based threat assessment into their markets.”