In one year, the total value of Ether (ETH) locked in DeFi markets has increased from $317 million to over $1 billion. With the increasing level of activity in the market sector, the next logical progression appears to be focused on making DeFi solutions more mainstream. However, like other decentralized apps, DeFi protocols still have issues with usability among everyday users. Factors such as liquidity and governance could also hold serious implications for introducing DeFi products to the broader financial market. With lending products occupying the greater majority in the current DeFi ecosystem, DApp developers have to consider real-world hitches …

Cryptocurrency-lending startup BlockFi has secured $30 million from an array of investors, including Morgan Creek Digital, Winklevoss Capital and Arrington XRP Capital. The Series B funding round was led by United States-based capital fund Valar Ventures, with participation of Akuna Capital, CMT Digital, Avon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital, and Hong Kong-based HashKey Capital, among others, according to a Feb. 13 announcement shared with Cointelegraph. With a view to launch products for mainstream With the raised funds, BlockFi — whose users can earn compound interest on and trade loans backed by assets — now has more …

Over-the-counter digital currency trading and lending firm Genesis closed the fourth quarter of 2019 with record high results in loan originations since its inception. Per a Jan. 30 press release, Genesis facilitated over $4.25 billion in loans since its incorporation in March 2018, which made Q4 the best in company history. Genesis originated more than $1.1 billion in loans and borrows for its institutional customers, with total active loans of $545 million, showing a 23% increase compared to $450 million in Q3. Genesis noted an increase in its active loan book and originations despite a 14% decline in the Bitcoin …

Asiff Hirji has joined Figure, a U.S. lending company utilizing blockchain to process the loans, a Jan. 30 press release revealed. Hirji will be company’s new president, having previously served as president and COO of Coinbase and other financial services companies. During Hirji’s two year tenure at Coinbase, he is credited with growing the company to over $1 billion in revenue and overseeing the expansion of its business and management team. Previously, Hirji occupied leadership roles at Andreesen Horowitz, TD Ameritrade, TPG Capital, Saxo Bank and others. At Figure, he will lead key business divisions while working to establish the …

Decentralized apps (DApp) continue to be a major focus point for developers in the crypto space. However, 2019 ended with DApps still far off from reaching their much-touted potential of being the “future of the internet.” DApp projects in 2019 continued to suffer from their usual issues like poor user retention and the difficulties of navigating user interfaces (UI), among others. While some projects boast market capitalizations north of $100 million, they fail to attract more than a handful of daily users. In the early weeks of 2020, some analytics firms dedicated to monitoring the DApp ecosystem have released reports …

Major cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi has added support for two new assets to its list of supported digital currencies. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 8, the firm has added major altcoin Litecoin (LTC) and USD Coin (USDC) — the dollar-backed stablecoin from major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The new additions mean that BlockFi users can now trade and receive loans as well as interest with the aforementioned cryptocurrencies. Clients can earn monthly compounding interest through the BlockFi Interest Account (BIA). USDC carries an annual percentage yield (APY) of 8.6%, while Litecoin’s APY through the …

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The Central Bank of China has recently issued 20 billion Chinese yuan ($2.8 billion) of special bonds, which it has sold in order to fund small and micro-enterprise businesses, according to the China Development Network. This recent issuance of $2.8 billion in bonds is nothing to look twice at and was largely expected, given the bank's inclusive small and micro-enterprise loan balance at 404 billion yuan so far this year — representing an increase of 35.36% since the end of the previous year and catering to nearly 410,000 small and micro-enterprise owners. However, these bonds weren’t issued the standard way, …

Uphold, a digital money platform providing access to investments and payments using blockchain technology, has announced a partnership with crypto-backed lending company Salt. Together, the two plan to provide users with cash or stablecoin loans using cryptocurrencies as collateral. Uphold’s 1.7 million users can now secure loans through Salt against their holdings in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dash (DASH), and XRP. The integration of the two platforms provides enhanced access to liquidity, enabling users to unlock additional value in their crypto holdings. Robin O’Connell, Uphold’s chief revenue officer, told Cointelegraph: “Millions of Uphold users that …

California-based fintech company Figure Technologies has completed its $103 million funding round led by cryptocurrency asset manager Morgan Creek Digital. In conjunction with closing the Series C round, the blockchain-focused firm announced that Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano had joined Figure’s board, according to a press release on Dec. 5. The news comes three days after Figure secured $58 million of the planned $103 million, according to its filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the new announcement, Figure Technologies’ total funding now exceeds $225 million, while its valuation amounts to $1.2 billion. MUFG’s VC arm …

Cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network announced that it reached $4.25 billion in total crypto loan origination as of Nov. 12 in a press release shared with Cointelegraph. Celsius reached $4.25 billion of cryptocurrency loans since the start of its activity in July 2018 calculated at current Bitcoin (BTC) prices, a 93% increase from the $2.2 billion reported on Aug. 1, 2019. A fast-growing lending network The company also claims $450 million in customer deposits and collateral from loans under management, which represents a 50% increase from $300 million on Aug. 1 this year. Furthermore, Celsius also reveals it paid its users …

Major global investment bank JPMorgan has developed a new solution for derivatives designed to speed up cash and collateral transfers. The tool was developed in partnership with California-based fintech firm Baton Systems and aims to enable the real-time movement of transfers to multiple clearinghouses, the firm announced Nov. 14. The current process requires collateral custodians to manually coordinate multiple systems and reports. Integrated with JPMorgan’s proprietary automation system, the new solution reportedly eliminates manual intervention in the collateral process and therefore expedites the collateral workflow. According to the announcement, the platform automates margining and collateral flows and allows users to …