AUTO Finance, formerly known as Tokemak, is a protocol that automates how liquidity moves across decentralized finance (DeFi).
It aims to make it easier for people, businesses, and developers to access onchain yield without managing dozens of pools and positions by hand.
At the center of AUTO Finance are "autopools." These are vaults that gather deposits, route them into selected DeFi markets, and update those positions over time according to onchain rules. Keep reading to learn more about AUTO Finance and how Plasma works with them.
What is AUTO Finance?
AUTO Finance is an onchain protocol where you deposit assets like ETH or stablecoins into autopools, and in return receive a yield-bearing token while the protocol automatically allocates your funds across a curated set of DeFi pools to seek risk-conscious returns.
AUTO Finance grew out of Tokemak and its Autopilot product. The protocol now sits under the AUTO Finance brand, while keeping the same core idea.
Users deposit into autopools, receive a token that represents their share, and let the system handle allocation and rebalancing. Over time, the team plans to unify products, including institutional offerings and a future AUTO token, under this brand.
How AUTO Finance Works
AUTO Finance centers on autopools. Each autopool focuses on one base asset, such as ETH or a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Inside that autopool, the protocol maintains a predefined set of destinations, such as liquidity pools or lending markets, that are considered suitable for that asset.
When you deposit into an autopool, the protocol converts your funds into the base asset if needed, then issues a receipt token, often called a Liquid Auto Token (LAT), such as autoETH or an equivalent.
This token tracks your share of the pool and reflects yield over time. You can usually withdraw back to the base asset when you want to exit.
Behind the scenes, AUTO Finance collects data on yields, trading fees, and other factors across its destinations. An offchain solver proposes ways to rebalance between these destinations.
An onchain strategy contract checks each proposal against strict rules, such as expected improvement, risk limits, and transaction cost. Only if a proposal passes these checks does the autopool move funds.
The protocol also harvests rewards from underlying markets and converts them back into the base asset so that returns accrue to autopool holders.
For developers and integrators, autopools follow the ERC-4626 vault standard with some documented differences. The LATs that autopools issue are designed to be composable in other protocols, such as lending markets or structured products.
Why People Use AUTO Finance
AUTO Finance reduces the operational burden of DeFi while keeping assets onchain. Instead of managing many single pools, users can hold one yield-bearing token that represents a managed portfolio of liquidity positions.
For individual users, AUTO Finance lets them deposit ETH or stablecoins into an autopool and receive a single token, such as autoETH, that tracks multiple strategies and consolidates decisions into one balance to monitor.
DAOs and protocols can place part of their treasury in autopools that deploy across selected DEXs and lending markets, turning many LP positions into one onchain asset and simplifying reporting and risk management.
Exchanges, custodians, and funds can use AUTO Finance, often through the Auto Pro product line, as a yield engine that powers automated onchain yield products while they retain control over access, compliance, and user experience.
For developers, AUTO Finance offers ERC-4626-style vaults and yield-bearing receipt tokens that plug into existing DeFi standards, so they can build lending markets, structured products, or collateral systems without designing allocation logic or rebalancing infrastructure.
Even with audits, controls, and automation in place, using automated, yield-bearing DeFi protocols like AUTO Finance still involves market, smart contract, and integration risk.
Whatever your reason for using AUTO Finance, always review the official documentation, understand where your assets are deployed, and make sure the overall risk level fits you.
How AUTO Finance Works with Plasma
AUTO Finance runs some of its Autopools directly on the Plasma blockchain. Plasma focuses on fast, low-cost stablecoin transactions, so it provides an environment where automated, onchain yield strategies can rebalance frequently without high fees.
On Plasma, Autopools work the same way as on other chains, but they target Plasma-native DeFi protocols. When a user deposits a stablecoin into a Plasma Autopool, the protocol issues a yield-bearing token that represents their share.
The Autopool then allocates that liquidity across supported markets on Plasma and adjusts those positions as conditions change.
The main example is the plasmaUSD Autopool. A user holding USD₮ on Plasma can deposit into plasmaUSD, receive the plasmaUSD Autopool token, and hold that single token while the vault spreads their funds across venues such as Aave, Fluid, Euler, and Balancer on Plasma.
From the user’s perspective, it feels like one position, even though the underlying liquidity sits in several places.
In Plasma’s ecosystem, this vault shows up in ecosystem and yield dashboards as a native yield option. It allocates USD₮ across integrated DEXs and lending protocols on Plasma, and displays live TVL and APY data.
Within Plasma’s stablecoin stack, Autopools act as a core building block for moving stablecoin liquidity between protocols.
For DAOs, businesses, and institutions, this setup turns Plasma into a place where they can park stablecoin treasuries in a single onchain vault and let the protocol manage routing. They can treat the plasmaUSD token as one line item on their balance sheet.
For developers, the Plasma Autopools use the same ERC-4626 style interfaces as on other AUTO Finance networks, so integrating plasmaUSD into lending markets, dashboards, or structured products follows familiar patterns.
Closing Thoughts
AUTO Finance takes the complexity of active liquidity management and packages it into autopools and yield-bearing tokens.
For many users, it is a way to access onchain yield in a simpler form. For institutions and builders, it is a piece of infrastructure that can sit beneath their own products.
The protocol continues to evolve under the AUTO Finance name, with official updates shared through its documentation, blog, and the @autopools account on X.
This article is for educational purposes. It is not legal, tax, or investment advice.
