On Thursday (5 December) startup FinTech the blockf , which is a well-known player in the blockchain with its crypto interest accounts (BTC, ETH and GUSD) and crypto dollar loans, has announced the launch of "BlockFi Trading". “, his new crypto trading platform.
A Brief History of BlockFi
BlockFi, based in New Jersey, USA, was founded in July 2017 by Zach Prinze (CEO) and Florie Marquez (VP of Growth) and launched in August 2017.
Among other things, it is supported by ConsenSys Ventures, a subsidiary of Fidelity Devonshire Investors, Morgan Creek Digital and Galaxy Digital by Mike Novogratz.
In April 2018, BlockFi began offering USD loans secured by your crypto assets (Bitcoin and Ether). After about six months, the company expanded the range of cryptoassets it accepts as collateral for Litecoin and the Gemini stablecoin dollar (GUSD).
Then, on March 4, 2019, BlockFi launched the BlockFi Interest Account (BIA):
... users can securely store their bitcoins or ethers in BlockFi and receive 6% per annum paid monthly in cryptocurrency. The interest accrued in BIA is the industry leading APY of 6,2% monthly. The program has been in closed beta since early 2019 and already contains over $ 10 million in assets from private, corporate and institutional crypto investors.
At that time, BlockFi CEO Zack Prince made the following comment:
The launch of BIA is another major step towards BlockFi's goal of becoming a financial services provider for crypto investors. Lending and borrowing is readily available at the institutional level, and we are pleased to use our knowledge of relationships and capital markets to ensure the usefulness and profitability of digital assets for all crypto investors.
The company also stated that the BlockFi account is “accessible to customers around the world” and that “customer assets are held by Gemini Trust.”
BlockFi notes that this product has the following competitive advantages:
- investment program;
- institutional support;
- interest is paid monthly in cryptocurrency (that is, in BTC if you have an interest account in Bitcoin and in ETH if you have an interest account in ether); as well as
- withdrawal without notice.
Here is a table from the BlockFi website that shows how a BlockFi interest account compares with its competitors:
Although BlockFi was originally launched with only Bitcoin and ether support, May 29 2019 of the year BlockFi announced the "Backed by Gemini Dollar (GUSD) stablecoin across its entire platform." BlockFi then said that this means two things:
- BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) customers based outside the US can now “earn up to 6,2% per annum in US dollars monthly.”
- GUSD has become available "as an option for lending in US dollars and as a guarantee from institutional cryptocurrencies."
New crypto trading platform BlockFi
According to a press release published in association with CryptoGlobe, today marks the launch of BlockFi Trading, a new trading platform that allows BlockFi individual/retail and institutional clients to “manage their crypto assets and optimize their asset allocation.”
In particular, BlockFi Trading allows anyone who is registered on the BlockFi website (i.e. even people who are not users of other BlockFi products / services) to easily and quickly convert between BTC, ETH and GUSD without paying any fees :
BlockFi founder and CEO Zack Prince said the following about today's launch of BlockFi Trading:
To date, we are focused on providing products for existing crypto investors that are readily available to investors in other asset classes. With the launch of trading, we are taking a big step towards enabling new net investors to enter the ecosystem. The growth of the crypto market as a whole is benefiting the entire industry and we are pleased to shift our focus in this direction, in addition to adding products and features that expand the offering for our existing customers.
To comply with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in the USA, BlockFi is registered in Financial crime networks (FinCEN) as a division of money service (MSB) and “expanded its state licensing strategy to include money transfer licenses in addition to its existing government lending license. “