Online payments processor Stripe announced the launch of its lending service Stripe Capital for the internet businesses in the United States. On Sept. 5, Stripe announced the launch in a blog post, noting that — once approved — access to funds is usually granted on the next day. The press release states: “Stripe Capital’s full integration with Stripe means there’s no lengthy application, eligibility is determined quickly, funds hit a user’s Stripe account the next business day, and businesses can repay as they earn. [...] In addition to serving Stripe users directly, Stripe will also extend Stripe Capital to its …

San Francisco-based crypto lending and borrowing firm Dharma has announced the start of a closed beta for a new version of its platform. Upcoming changes and short-term timeline Dharma announced its new platform iteration in an official blog post on Aug. 29. According to the announcement, Dharma has partnered with the Ethereum-based money market Compound and will reportedly use its protocol as infrastructure for the new platform. Additionally, Dharma will now make its smart contracts open source prior to production, per the announcement. Dharma V2 is currently in closed beta, which means that it is only accessible to existing Dharma …

Major crypto exchange Binance will launch its first crypto lending product on Aug. 28, 2019. According to an official announcement on Aug. 26, holders of Binance Coin (BNB), Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Tether (USDT) will be able to lend their assets and earn interest through Binance’s new service called Binance Lending. The services will be available for subscription from Aug. 28 till Aug. 29, Binance noted in the announcement. Lending products will have an initial 14-day period. BNB will have the highest annualized interest rate of 15% while the rates for USDT and ETC amount to 10% and 7%, respectively. …

San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva, a company that crowdfunds loans for financial inclusion, has launched a blockchain platform for credit history with the government of Sierra Leone. According to a Reuters report on Aug. 21, Kiva and the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, jointly launched the blockchain initiative in Freetown, the country’s capital. Biometric data collected by the government, such as fingerprints, will be used by the platform to give lenders a way of obtaining the credit history of loan applicants. Individuals looking to borrow money would have a digital wallet for loans, and their transactions would be recorded …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has added support for MakerDAO tokens and decentralized apps (DApps) in its wallet. Huobi Group shared the announcement with Cointelegraph on Aug. 19. MakerDAO has a stablecoin called Dai, a token named MKR, and applications including CPD Portal. The Maker project is a combination of its stablecoin, collateral loans and community governance. MakerDAO is a type of decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which is an organization that is managed solely by smart contracts and code, not human managers. A DAO is also operated by users via a consensus voting mechanism, which can be used to make changes …

The holding company of cryptocurrency-friendly Silvergate Bank, Silvergate Capital Corporation, announced that the firm plans to offer cryptocurrency-collateralized loans. In an S1/A form filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 15 the bank notes: “We believe there may be attractive opportunities to provide digital currency borrowing facilities to deepen our high quality customer relationships and further enhance our interest income.” In the document, the firm states that it found significant demand for cryptocurrency-related borrowing. The service would consist of the client providing crypto assets or U.S. dollars as collateral in exchange for significantly greater credit. The …

Fully collateralized crypto-to-crypto lending platform Lendingblock has received a distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider license from Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC), reports Crowdfund Insider on Aug. 15. The accreditation brings the institution-focused platform one step closer to launch. The GFSC awarded an in-principle DLT provider license in late 2018. New capital lending model for digital assets Providing collateralized lending and borrowing reportedly allows Lendingblock to support short-term trading, hedging and working capital needs. This mirrors traditional financial markets, which the company aims to reinvent with a better model to service the digital asset lending market. To this end, it recently …

Digital asset lender DrawBridge Lending (DBL) announced that it received funding from cryptocurrency commercial bank Galaxy Digital. A fiat-crypto lending and investing service DrawBridge announced in a press release published on Aug. 8 that it received funding from Galaxy Digital, further strengthen DBL’s fiat-crypto lending and investing capabilities. Furthermore, the two firms reportedly plan to jointly develop a co-branded special-purpose loan funding vehicle to provide structured financing against institutionally held crypto assets. Michael Novogratz, CEO and founder of Galaxy Digital, commented on the development: “The institutionalization of digital assets is still relatively nascent despite increasing momentum and interest from a …

San Francisco-based crypto lender Dharma has decided to pause new deposits and loans on its platform. Dharma announced their decision in a series of official Twitter posts on Aug. 7. Their second tweet in the series reads: “For now, we're pausing new deposits and loans in Dharma. If you have an existing deposit or loan with Dharma, you'll still be able to access your account and will have the option to withdraw any funds that are not currently locked up.” While not appearing to offer any further details, Dharma assured the public in the rest of their posts that they …

American cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has secured $18.3 million in a funding round led by Valar Ventures. The Series A funding round saw participation from a number of crypto-focused investors, including Winklevoss Capital and Galaxy Digital, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 6. Other investors included ConsenSys Ventures, Akuna Capital, Avon Ventures, Susquehanna, CMT Digital, Morgan Creek and PJC. Peter Thiel’s Valar makes its first crypto investment Per the report, Valar, which led the BlockFi’s new funding round, has made its first investment in a crypto-related company. Based in New York, Valar is one of three venture …

South Korea’s oldest bank, Shinhan Bank, is developing a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled stock lending platform, local media Econonews reports on Aug. 1. Blockchain-based stock lending Per the report, Shinhan Financial Investment signed an agreement with financial services company Directional to develop a blockchain-based stock lending service on May 28. Personal stock lending is part of a broader development of innovative financial services that are currently being pursued by the company. Not the first Shinhan Blockchain-based Service At the end of May, Shinhan Bank also launched a blockchain-enabled lending platform to boost cost and time efficiencies in the lending process, …

Cadence, an American blockchain-based alternative investment provider, has launched an investment platform for debt, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on July 10. By launching its private credit investment platform, Cadence aims to bring more transparency and efficiency to the asset class in order to help companies grow their businesses. Cadence turns commercial debt into digital tokens that can be traded on its platform. Private credit, or private debt, is a type of alternative investment which has only been accepted as a separate asset class very recently. Private debt investments are not backed by banks and are not …