BlockFi, a company which offers USD loans to crypto asset owners who collateralize the loan with their crypto announced it has raised $52.5 million from Galaxy Digital Ventures LLC, a digital currency and blockchain technology investment firm founded by Mike Novogratz. This deal includes a loan purchasing facility and equity investment.
Customers of BlockFi range from world-travelers to first-time home buyers to industrial-scale miners. Users are looking for fast, simple, affordable, and reliable access to USD without having to sell or trigger taxable events. BlockFi can take an application-to-funding in as little as 1.5 hours, having the money transferred directly into a customers’ bank account.
Since launching in January, the BlockFi team said it has been able to “prove to investors that there is significant demand for crypto-to-USD lending.”
“We’re excited to partner with BlockFi and jointly lead the way for financial institutions to participate in crypto investing strategies. A robust lending market is the keystone for financial systems and BlockFi’s institutional approach and deep lending expertise were key drivers in our decision to partner with them.”
“Galaxy’s investment and decision to make us their exclusive consumer lending partner is a strategic step towards BlockFi delivering credit across the crypto ecosystem. The support we’ve seen from existing clients and investors highlight the strong demand for leveraging Bitcoin or Ether for low-cost USD loans. We look forward to expanding our services to support more cryptocurrencies and more geographic markets in the near future.”
As part of the deal, Chris Ferraro, Head of Principal Investments at Galaxy Digital Ventures LLC joined the BlockFi Board of Directors.
“BlockFi has differentiated itself in the lending business with capital cost and scale, which will help them raise incremental institutional capital as demand grows. We believe BlockFi’s risk management lens, regulatory approach, and marketing capabilities position the firm to be the market leader.”