Latest news with #BlockFi
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Lender Ledn Goes Full Bitcoin Maxi as It Seeks to Reduce Client Asset Risk
Cryptocurrency lender Ledn is removing support for ether ETH and will begin offering a bitcoin-only loan model starting July 1 as it looks to simplify its product and sharpen its focus around bitcoin BTC. The Cayman Islands-registered company may be attempting to broaden its appeal among the corners of the crypto community that say BTC is the only cryptocurrency that is needed. Such BTC advocates are often referred to as "Bitcoin Maxis." 'With our new hyper-focus on Bitcoin-only lending, we're going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with,' co-founder Adam Reeds said in an emailed announcement on Friday. Ledn will also stop lending client assets to generate yield as it seeks to remove risk from its business model. Bitcoin offered to Ledn as collateral for loans will remain fully in its custody or that of its partners, Ledn said. "Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation," Reeds said. "Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model." Cryptocurrency lending was a major casualty of crypto winter in 2022, with the companies including BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius and Genesis going to the wall. Ledn managed to survive and is now attempting to resurrect the BTC-backed lending sector, with its simplified product offering and helped by the friendlier regulatory approach to crypto in the U.S, co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo told CoinDesk in a recent interview.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin Payments App Strike to Offer BTC Lending in Boost to Reemergent Sector
Jack Mallers' bitcoin (BTC) payments app Strike is set to move into the BTC lending business. Strike plans to offer users a means of borrowing fiat while continuing to HODL bitcoin, Mallers wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. "You shouldn't have to sell the best-performing asset in human history to access cash. Now you don't have to," he wrote. Strike Lending will initially be available in select regions of the U.S. with plans for international expansion. "If bitcoin continues to grow faster than your borrowing costs, your asset appreciates faster than your debt. In other words, the gains from holding bitcoin can more than offset the interest on your loan," Mallers said. A number of bitcoin lenders were casualties of the crypto winter that kicked off in 2022. BlockFi, Celsius and Genesis all capitulated during that period. The entry into this sector of cryptocurrency A-listers like Coinbase suggest bitcoin lending is prime for a resurgence after the rally that followed the election of U.S. President Donald Trump in November. Read More: Coinbase Targeting 4%-8% Returns With New Bitcoin Yield Fund
Finextra
06-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Visa invests in stablecoin startup BVNK
Visa Ventures has made a strategic investment in stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK. 1 The investment - terms of which were not disclosed - comes just months after a $50 million Series B for London-based BVNK. Stablecoin adoption is exploding, with $27 trillion in total transaction volume globally across 1.25 billion transactions in 2024, according to Visa analysis. As a licensed electronic money institution in the UK and Europe, BVNK provides named IBANs for EUR and GBP, and access to UK and Europe's payment schemes including Sepa, Sepa Instant and Faster Payments, so merchants can send and receive payments to suppliers and partners. The company processes more than $12 billion annually for companies like Ferrari and Rapyd, helping them send, receive, convert, and store stablecoins and fiat. This year, it is making a push into the US, opening offices in San Francisco and New York with a team led by former BlockFi executive Amit Cheela and ex-Cross River exec Keith Vander Leest. Rubail Birwadker, head, growth products and partnerships, Visa, says: 'Stablecoins are fast becoming a part of global payment flows, and Visa invests in new technologies and builders like BVNK, staying at the forefront of what's next in commerce to better serve our clients and partners.'
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase Targeting 4%-8% Returns With New Bitcoin Yield Fund
Coinbase Asset Management is rolling out a new fund for institutions to receive a yield on their bitcoin (BTC) holdings. Opening on May 1 for non-US institutional investors, the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund aims to deliver a 4% to 8% annualized net return, according to a press release on Monday. Among those backing the fund, Abu Dhabi-based Aspen Digital said yield will initially be generated through basis trading, with lending and options strategies to be used in the future. The so-called bitcoin basis trade involves capitalizing on the spread between futures and spot markets. It became popular at the tail end of 2024 as hedge funds notched a record high of $14.2 billion in BTC short positions, whilst simultaneously buying spot bitcoin ETF shares. The strategy produces yields depending on the spread between both markets, but isn't immune to risk. For instance, if an entity was short $1 billion on a BTC futures product and the price of BTC was to wildly surge, that entity would need to keep adding margin to avoid liquidation. Also, as the trade becomes more crowded, the spread and subsequent yield could become very thin. This has already led to a number of hedge funds exiting the trade early this year, with the short figure on Chicago Mercantile Exchange now standing at $8.4 billion, down from $14.2 billion four months prior. Coinbase's new product stirs memories of former crypto lender BlockFi's yield platform, which opened in 2019 but ultimately failed alongside crashing prices in 2022. BlockFi's fund, however, differed from Coinbase's latest product in that it generated its yield through lending, rather than a lower-risk basis in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto for Advisors: Generating Yield With Bitcoin
In today's crypto for advisors, Todd Bendell from Amphibian Capital breaks down bitcoin yield products as a strategy to grow bitcoin holdings beyond price appreciation. Then, Rich Rines, an initial Core DAO developer, provides guidance to Bitcoin developers in Ask an Expert. Exclusive event alert for financial advisors: Join CoinDesk for Wealth Management Day on May 15th at Consensus Toronto. Registered wealth advisors are provided with their own day of networking and learning where they will acquire timely and actionable information about digital assets. Approved advisors receive a complimentary 3-day Platinum Pass ($1,750 value) to Consensus. Apply today. – Sarah Morton You're reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk's weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets for financial advisors. Subscribe here to get it every Thursday. Bitcoin was never meant to sit idle. For over a decade, bitcoin has served as a digital store of value, a hedge against monetary debasement and more recently, a core allocation in institutional portfolios. As the asset matures and infrastructure improves, long-term holders are asking a new question: How do I put my bitcoin to work — without leaving the Bitcoin ecosystem? The answer lies in a growing but underexplored category of strategies: BTC-on-BTC yield. Let's be clear: this isn't about lending your BTC on unregulated platforms or chasing high annual percentage yields (APYs) à la BlockFi. That playbook collapsed under the weight of counterparty risk and opacity. What's emerged over the last two years is a more institutional alternative — diversified, risk-managed access to systematic arbitrage and quantitative strategies, all denominated in bitcoin. Why BTC-native yield matters For most assets, it's a given that money should work for you. We don't keep dollars under a mattress or tucked away on a thumb drive — we invest them. Yet in the bitcoin world, the dominant narrative has long been 'hold and wait.' That mindset made sense when bitcoin was fighting for legitimacy. But in today's environment — where BTC is being adopted by sovereign wealth funds and traded on major exchanges — long-term holders need better tools. BTC-on-BTC yield solves this. It aligns with the ethos of accumulating more BTC but does so through institutional-grade strategies that aim to generate returns in BTC, not just on BTC. That distinction matters. Cold storage isn't a strategy There's also a myth that simply holding bitcoin in cold storage is the safest option. The phrase 'not your keys, not your coins' has become dogma — but it deserves a second look. In reality, cold storage comes with its own risks: human error, hardware failure, loss of keys and in many cases, an inability to generate any yield whatsoever. Meanwhile, professional custodians — regulated, insured and audited — are now standard infrastructure providers in digital asset management. For allocators managing material BTC positions, yield-generating custody isn't a tradeoff. It's an upgrade. How these strategies work Today's BTC-native yield opportunities span a wide range — from delta-neutral basis trades and statistical arbitrage to DeFi yield farming and machine learning-driven quant execution — but all settled in BTC. Returns are calculated and distributed in kind. The objective is simple: accumulate more BTC over time, without needing to rely solely on price appreciation. By allocating across a diversified mix of strategies and managers, investors can pursue consistent BTC growth while mitigating single-strategy or single-manager risk. Why BTC-on BTC yield is timely Several forces are converging right now: Volatility has returned. Major liquidation events — like the $10 billion flush in February — create dislocations that sophisticated funds can capitalize on. Infrastructure is stronger than ever. Custody, execution and risk tools have matured significantly since the last cycle. Institutional interest is real. ETFs have opened the floodgates — but most capital is still under-allocated and under-deployed. In short, bitcoin is growing up. The question is whether the strategies around it will grow with it. Rethinking HODLing BTC-on-BTC yield and long-term holding aren't mutually exclusive. Allocators can continue to hold core BTC positions while using active strategies to pursue steady accumulation. That requires moving beyond cold storage maxims and exploring yield strategies that reflect the sophistication of today's markets. With proper risk controls, BTC-native yield offers a pragmatic path to accumulate more BTC without abandoning its core principles. The bottom line is that bitcoin doesn't have to sit on the sidelines. It can move with the market — and grow with it. For allocators thinking in decades, BTC-on-BTC yield opens the door to a more productive bitcoin strategy — one that matches conviction with action. - Todd Bendell, Managing General Partner, Amphibian Capital Q. What's the best way to align early developer incentives with long-term protocol value? A. The key is to reward real product-market fit and real users — not short-term speculation. That starts with building tight relationships and solving problems for real communities. From there, it's about fostering an 'eat what you kill' ecosystem, in which builders who ship products people actually use are rewarded with real economic upside — not just points, grants or temporary incentives. When developers are compensated based on the value they create for users, long-term alignment takes care of itself. Q. When just starting out in crypto, how can developers filter for signal over noise? A. Don't just chase the hot thing — look for what will still matter in 5 to 10 years. That's one of the key reasons Bitcoin remains a compelling foundation for builders. It has dedicated users, immense value and a clear product-market fit. Developers should focus on real usage and demand instead of short-term token price action. If you're building something that keeps people engaged because it's useful — not because it's yield-farming season — you're already filtering signal from noise. Q. What lessons from Bitcoin's design philosophy are still underutilized? A. Bitcoin is dominant not because it does the most, but because it does one thing better than anyone else. Its product-market fit as digital gold is crypto's most proven use case — and yet it's still underrated. Too many forget that simplicity with real utility wins. Building around Bitcoin and extending its utility without compromising its foundation remains one of the most underrated opportunities in the space today. - Rich Rines, an initial contributor, Core DAO CoinDesk's Digital Assets Quarterly Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the crypto market's performance. Sweden is the latest country to explore using bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the end of its crypto 'enforcement by prosecution' policies. Sign in to access your portfolio
