BlockFi, a New York-based, fintech company whose first product is a loan for cryptoasset owners, announced today that it has raised $1.55 million from ConsenSys Ventures, Kenetic Capital, PJC, SoFi, Purple Arch Ventures and Lumenary.
The BlockFi team is comprised of veterans that have migrated from fintech and alternative lending in to blockchain technology. With the new capital raised, they are starting to bridge the gap between traditional debt capital markets and the cryptoasset ecosystem.
BlockFi is a secured lender, holding clients’ cryptoassets with a registered custodian and issuing loans in USD to their bank accounts. They are 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, the 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.”said Kavita Gupta, Founding Managing Partner at ConsenSys Capital and a member of BlockFi’s Board of Directors.
“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,” continued Prince.
About BlockFi
BlockFi, founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, is based in New York. BlockFi is a non-bank lender that offers USD loans to cryptoasset owners, bringing additional liquidity to the blockchain asset sector. BlockFi is changing the trajectory of digital financial markets with a mission to elevate these markets to a level of sophistication that meets the rapidly changing needs of both retail investors and institutions.
