Mike Novogratz Leads $50 Million Dollar Investment in Crypto-Lending Startup BlockFi
The merchant bank belonging to billionaire and Bitcoin bull Mike Novogratz, Galaxy, has led a $52.5 million dollar fundraising round for New York-based crypto-lender BlockFi.
BlockFi allows investors to borrow as much as $10 million dollars in fiat currencies against their balances of Bitcoin or Ethereum. The crypto-holdings act as collateral and are kept in the ownership of the borrower. The borrower can still take advantage of cryptocurrency price surges and keep hold of their gains, whilst freeing up fiat capital for other ventures.
BlockFi, founded in 2017 by Zac Prince, also raised $1.55 million from ConsenSys Ventures, SoFi, and Kenetic Capital in February 2018. The new round of funding will propel BlockFi’s expansion across the U.S. and into international markets. It will also allow the company to add more products and investigate the addition of new cryptocurrencies as collateral options for borrowers.