Same tanda you know — a group, a shared pot, one turn at a time. What's new is that the rules run on public smart contracts. Cenkali doesn't hold or move the money; the code does exactly what everyone agreed to, in the open.
Say six friends form a circle and each contributes $200 a month. Every month the whole pot goes to one member, until everyone has received once. The order is set when the circle is created and can't be changed by hand.
You invite people you trust and, together, set the contribution amount, the number of turns, the schedule, and the payout order. Everyone can read these rules before joining — and once the circle starts, they're fixed and visible on-chain.
Members join through a Coinbase Smart Wallet, so there are no seed phrases to memorize. Network fees can be sponsored, which means members usually don't need to hold a separate token just to pay for transactions.
Each round, members send the same amount in USDC, a U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by Circle. Every contribution is recorded on Base, so the whole circle can see who has paid.
When the round closes, the smart contract sends the pooled pot to whoever's turn it is. No one releases it by hand, and no one can send it somewhere else — the code follows the order the circle agreed to.
Between payouts, the protocol supplies the circle's idle USDC to Aave V3 on Base — an independent lending protocol. Any interest Aave generates is passed through to the circle. Historically, USDC on Aave V3 (Base) has ranged 3.5–7% variable APY, but the rate moves with the market.
This is a pass-through of interest generated by a third-party protocol — not interest paid by Cenkali, and not a guaranteed or "risk-free" return. Cenkali is not a bank; there is no deposit insurance or FDIC coverage. A member's share is tied to their participation in the circle, and rates can fall as well as rise.
In a traditional tanda, one person missing a payment can put everyone else at risk. Cenkali softens that with a Default Solvency Reserve Pool (DSRP).
It's a buffer that lives inside the smart contract, funded by the pool's own yield. If a contribution is missed, the buffer can cover it under fixed rules so the scheduled payout still happens and the circle keeps turning.
Cenkali doesn't charge hidden costs. There are two components, and both are written into the contract for anyone to check.
The DSRP can cover a missed contribution under its fixed rules so the scheduled payout still happens. Circles work best among people who trust each other, and the on-chain record makes it clear who has paid.
A rotating circle is a shared commitment — the whole point is that everyone completes their turns. The rules for the full cycle, including your turn, are set and visible before you join, so you know exactly what you're agreeing to. There is no promise of "withdraw anytime," because that isn't how a savings circle works.
Base has had short outages in the past, so Cenkali is designed to retry transactions and wait for the network to recover rather than fail. Payouts follow the schedule once the network is back; your funds and the circle's rules aren't affected by a temporary outage.
Then the pass-through yield is small — that's the meaning of "variable." The core of a Cenkali circle is the rotating savings, not the yield. Any yield is a bonus generated by a third-party protocol, never a guarantee.
Cenkali is pre-launch. Join the list and we'll let you know when it's ready.
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