Crypto-to-USD lender BlockFi has announced that it will support loans backed by both Litecoin and Gemini’s recent stablecoin token GUSD. This is the first time the company is expanding to accept collateral in one of the crypto industry’s top-10 assets besides bitcoin and ether. In addition, BlockFi is also the first crypto-backed lender to support loans backed by GUSD.Founded in 2017, BlockFi offers both debt and credit products and seeks to bring liquidity to the cryptocurrency space. Based in New York, the company operates in over 40 states and is backed by some of the country’s leading financial firms including PJC and ConsenSys Ventures, as well as Galaxy Digital Ventures LLC, which provided the company with nearly $53 million in capital during a funding round in July 2018. This marked the first investment into crypto-backed loans from an institutional enterprise. Zac Prince is the company CEO. Speaking with Bitcoin Magazine, he said that BlockFi’s acceptance of Litecoin was a “logical first step” toward supporting most — if not all — of the world’s top 10 cryptocurrencies. “Litecoin was recently added to Gemini and has a long history of price appreciation,” he commented. “Having large, imbedded capital gains is one of the motivating factors for considering a loan backed by crypto. Litecoin also has strong liquidity with USD pairs in multiple trading venues.” With the addition of GUSD, BlockFi can o...
