Crypto Lending Startup BlockFi Raises USD 30M, Plans Singapore Office
Following the millions raised in the series A funding, major U.S.-based cryptocurrency lending startup BlockFi sees almost 64% more in funding just six months later. Also, they’re about to open a Singapore office.
The company announced that it has raised USD 30 million in Series B funding, which was led by Valar Ventures, a U.S.-based venture capital fund that among its founders has Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal. BlockFi was Valar Venture’s first investment in the crypto sector.
The lender said that the other investors participating in the round include Morgan Creek Digital, PJC, Akuna Capital, CMT Digital, Avon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital, Winklevoss Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, and Hong Kong-based HashKey Capital.
The money raised will be used for growing the team “at an accelerated pace,” says the startup, and as well as expanding their product line for a mainstream audience, the first among which is a mobile app “in the coming months.”
BlockFi added that their revenue has grown more than 20 times in 2019 (no other numbers were provided), and that now they are servicing over 50 institutional clients in the crypto market. “The company now boasts more than USD 650 million in assets on the platform, with a 0% loss rate across its entire loan portfolio since the company began lending in January 2018,” they write.
Furthermore, the company has announced a new office in Singapore, scheduled for opening in the first half of 2020, with the goal of serving its Asia Pacific institutional clients better.
In their previous, Series A funding round, back in August 2019, BlockFi raised USD 18.3 million, also led by Valar Ventures, with nine more participants, including ConsenSys Ventures, a venture capital arm of blockchain company ConsenSys.
BlockFi currently offers zero-fee trading, crypto-based interest accounts providing up to an 8.6% annual percentage yield on bitcoin, ether and stablecoins, as well as crypto-backed loans made to allow investors access to liquidity up to 50% of an asset’s value in USD, they write.
Meanwhile, the company has recently announced their partnership with the Litecoin Foundation, and it added support for litecoin and USD coin (USDC) across its product portfolio, thus enabling trading among bitcoin, ether, gemini dollar (GUSD), USDC and litecoin.
In January, as reported, the company also stated that it plans to develop a BTC reward card and launch it this year, while their March 2019, their introduction of BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) – new saving accounts for bitcoin and ether with an industry-high 6% annual interest rate paid monthly in cryptocurrency – triggered various reactions from the Cryptoverse.
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Learn more: What Can You Expect in the Bitcoin Saving Account Market Today?
