BlockFi, a crypto-to-USD lender, today said they will be supporting Litecoin (LTC)and Gemini’s GUSD stablecoin towards USD loans. This marks the company’s first expansion of accepted collateral into top-10 cryptocurrencies. Additionally, BlockFi is the first crypto-backed lender to support GUSD as a loan funding option.
Supporting GUSD as a loan funding option enables BlockFi to fund loans 24/7, rather than just during U.S. banking hours. Gemini announced the GUSD stablecoin in September as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum network. Backed by U.S. dollars in a bank account, the GUSD deposit balance is examined monthly by BPM LLP, a registered public accounting firm.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=” Zac Prince, CEO and co-founder of BlockFi” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We’re excited to add support for GUSD and LTC and to welcome the Litecoin community to our platform. BlockFi is already the lowest-cost crypto-backed lender in the U.S. and we’re planning to expand our services to more collateral types and geographies in the short term.”[/perfectpullquote]
BlockFi plans to continue the expansion of their lending products by supporting a number of other major cryptocurrencies. The company considers this another major step toward providing reliable and timely liquidity in global markets.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”Flori Marquez, BlockFi co-founder and VP of operations” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”This announcement is a big step towards BlockFi’s global expansion, which has been a part of our vision since the company’s founding. It’s easy to forget that people in many parts of the world do not have access to low-cost credit. We look forward to providing that stability to residents of countries with less-stable currencies.”[/perfectpullquote]
In July 2018, BlockFi raised $52.5 million from Galaxy Digital Ventures LLC, a digital currency and blockchain technology investment firm founded by Mike Novogratz. This marked the industry’s first institutional investment in crypto asset-backed loans.
