BlockFi, a New York-based non-bank lender that offers USD loans to cryptoasset owners, announced a $1.55 million raise from ConsenSys Ventures, Kenetic Capital, PJC, SoFi, Purple Arch Ventures and Lumenary. The new capital injection will be used to bridge the gap between traditional debt capital markets and the cryptoasset ecosystem.
“Cryptoassets are natively digital and global by design, which creates opportunities that haven’t existed before from a lending perspective. By bringing institutional quality technology infrastructure, data science, risk management and operations to the cryptoasset market, we aim to be the leading lender in the cryptoasset market and a leading provider of low cost credit globally,” noted BlockFi CEO and Founder Zac Prince. “We’re building a diversified financial institution for the future, designed to operate within a blockchain based world, and we’re starting it all with lending. We will have a positive impact on the trajectory of global credit availability and the cryptoasset market.”
[clickToTweet tweet=”.@TheRealBlockFi CEO and Founder Zac Prince: We’re building a diversified financial institution for the future, designed to operate within a #blockchain based world, and we’re starting it all with lending…” quote=”.@TheRealBlockFi CEO and Founder Zac Prince: We’re building a diversified financial institution for the future, designed to operate within a #blockchain based world, and we’re starting it all with lending…”]
BlockFi, a secured lender which holds clients’ cryptoassets with a registered custodian and issuing loans in USD to their bank accounts, is currently operating in a beta launch, lending in 35 US states to individuals, companies and institutions. For individuals, loan performance data is reported to major credit bureaus, which can have a positive impact on borrowers’ credit scores. The cryptoasset market is growing exponentially. In just the last twelve months, BlockFi claimed that total market capitalization of all crytpoassets has grown from $10 billion to over $400 billion. Despite this rapid ascent, there is still room for massive growth within the industry when compared to traditional asset classes.
“This market needs access to debt beyond fragmented, short term margin trading options in order to reduce volatility, facilitate scale and put the financial infrastructure for this ecosystem on par with other asset classes. We’re happy to have BlockFi as part of the ConsenSys family and see tremendous growth opportunities for their platform,” explained Kavita Gupta, Founding Managing Partner at ConsenSys Capital and a member of BlockFi’s Board of Directors.
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