BlockFi, the crypto-to-USD lender, is now supporting Litecoin (LTC) and Gemini’s GUSD stablecoin towards USD loans. This marks the company’s first expansion of accepted collateral into top-10 cryptocurrencies. Additionally, BlockFi is the first crypto-backed lender to support GUSD as a loan funding option.
“We’re excited to add support for GUSD and LTC and to welcome the Litecoin community to our platform,” said Zac Prince, CEO and co-founder of BlockFi. “BlockFi is already the lowest-cost crypto-backed lender in the U.S. and we’re planning to expand our services to more collateral types and geographies in the short term.”
Supporting GUSD as a loan funding option enables BlockFi to fund loans 24/7, rather than just during U.S. banking hours. Gemini announced the GUSD stablecoin in September as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum network. Backed by U.S. dollars in a bank account, the GUSD deposit balance is examined monthly by BPM LLP, a registered public accounting firm.
BlockFi plans to continue the expansion of their lending products by supporting a number of other major cryptocurrencies. The company considers this another major step toward providing reliable and timely liquidity in global markets.
“This announcement is a big step towards BlockFi’s global expansion, which has been a part of our vision since the company’s founding,” said Flori Marquez, BlockFi co-founder and VP of operations. “It’s easy to forget that people in many parts of the world do not have access to low-cost credit. We look forward to providing that stability to residents of countries with less-stable currencies.”