Radiant V1 Review 2026: Arbitrum Lending Market Winding Down

Radiant V1 is the Arbitrum deployment of Radiant Capital, a lending protocol that describes itself as an omnichain money market. Users deposit assets to earn interest and borrow other assets against them. DefiLlama has tracked it since July 2022 and lists the RDNT token and two audits.

The current picture is poor. Public reporting from June 2026 report that Radiant Capital is ending DAO operations 18 months after a roughly $50 million hack in October 2024, and that it failed to recover. TVL on this version sits at about $238,600.

The homepage still promotes cross-chain lending, RDNT locker rewards and community governance, and it claims 155,000+ holders. Those claims describe the project's earlier ambitions more than its present state. Anyone considering it should treat it as a legacy or wind-down protocol, not an active growth platform.

Radiant is a lending market. Depositors supply assets to a shared pool and earn interest. Borrowers post collateral and can borrow other supported assets from the pool. If a borrower's collateral falls too far in value, it can be liquidated to protect lenders.

On top of interest, Radiant used its RDNT token as an incentive. According to the homepage, users lock RDNT to receive a share of platform revenue, from interest and flash loan fees, paid in assets such as BTC, ETH, BNB and stablecoins. Locking also activates RDNT emissions for lending and borrowing, so rewards depend on commitment to the token.

Governance follows a similar pattern. Proposals are discussed on a forum and voted on through Snapshot, with locked RDNT counting as voting power. Proposals that meet quorum and a majority are implemented. The wider mission was to merge fragmented lending liquidity across chains into one omnichain protocol.

Radiant does not publish a fee schedule on its homepage. It says lockers of RDNT receive platform fees, which come from borrowing interest and flash loan fees. Interest rates on deposits and loans vary by asset and are shown inside the app, not on the marketing page.

Anyone using the protocol would also pay normal Arbitrum network gas for each transaction. Early exit from locked RDNT carries a penalty, according to a token description in public reporting. Check the documentation for the current terms.

The main fact is the October 2024 hack of about $50 million, reported in public reporting. The same reporting says Radiant Capital is winding down and ending DAO operations after failing to recover. That is a serious counterparty and smart-contract risk signal. Two audits are listed on DefiLlama, and the site mentions BlockSec and an Immunefi bug bounty, but audits did not prevent the loss.

Lending protocols carry risks beyond code: liquidations, oracle problems, bad debt and thin liquidity. With TVL near $238,600, exits and borrowing may be harder than on larger markets. The project does not publish a team or licence on its homepage, and DeFi lending is not covered by deposit insurance. Check the local legal position before using any DeFi protocol.

Radiant V1 is mainly relevant to existing depositors, borrowers and RDNT holders who need to understand their position, and to researchers studying how an omnichain lending project and its token incentives fared after a major exploit. It is not suited to newcomers looking for a safe place to earn yield.