Bitcoin (BTC) savings and loan startup Ledn raised US $ 30 million in a new round of funding. The series A fundraising included, among others, billionaire and investor Alan Howard, as well as funds Coinbase Ventures, Kingsway Capital, ParaFi Capital, Hashed and Susquehanna.
This week was Ledn’s second fundraiser in less than four months after the Toronto, Canada-based company raised another $ 2.7 million in seed funding in February. The new amount will help the company expand its operations on a global scale and develop new business models.
“With this new injection of capital, we will expand our success in North and South America and increase our global presence, prioritizing growth markets. Our goal is to build simple and secure solutions that enable customers to participate in the growing digital asset economy, ”said Adam Reeds, co-founder and CEO of Ledn.
Ledn’s services would now target the African market where other startups in the bitcoiner ecosystem have emerged. Currently, the platform maintains more than $ 1 billion in assets with an 800% growth in its loan book and 280% in its savings products by 2021, as reported through a press release.
Bitcoin loans and savings
Ledn has several services that include: savings in bitcoin and USDC with an annual interest rate of 6.1%, for BTC, and 12.5% in the case of the stablecoin. For loans, users offer their bitcoins as collateral and obtain US dollars in return with an interest rate of 1%.
This last product is aimed at those people who hold positions in BTC and require funds for a specific situation, but without selling their cryptocurrencies. The company safeguards the user’s assets and transfers the required money to their bank account.
According to Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn, in the first three months of the year the company processed more than $ 120 million in bitcoin-backed loans. According to the executive, with the capital injected the company already has a valuation of 230 million dollars.
Loans collateralized with bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are expanding business models within the digital asset industry, especially in bull markets. According to a study published by CriptoNoticias, in February of this year, more than 400,000 BTC are used as collateral to request financing of some kind.
