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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.