Thiel-Backed Venture Fund Leads Latest BlockFi Finance Round

BlockFi, one of the largest crypto lending platforms announced a $30 million Series B led by Valar Ventures with participation from WInklevoss Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital, among others. The firm plans to use its fresh capital to bring on additional staff, expand its geographic footprint, and increase its suite of products to target those who are not already deeply involved in crypto. After adding crypto to crypto trading last year, BlockFi has a number of new developments in the pipeline including a mobile app, fiat wire transfers, credit cards, and Automated Clearing House (ACH) payment capabilities.

Why it matters

• With an $18 million Series A raised just last August, the new infusion of capital shows that the firm is growing at an incredibly rapid pace. According to their CEO Zac Prince, BlockFi saw their revenues increase 20x in 2019 and now has more than $650 million in assets. Crypto lending is evidently a large market and BlockFi is looking to position itself to be a leader, however, they will be competing with a number of other players including Genesis Capital, Celsius and as of late last year Blockchain.com.
• While BlockFi started as a simple retail loan platform they are quickly becoming a full-service bank, expanding into ancillary services you see provided by the biggest Wall St. banks. Many of these services require a large balance sheet and massive marketing budgets which means BlockFi will have to continue to pump cash into their business.