Mike Novogratz’s Merchant Bank Bets Big on Crypto Lending Platform ‘BlockFi’
- Galaxy Digital led a $52.5 million fundraising round for the crypto lending service.

Mike Novogratz’s crypto merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, has announced that it is the leading contributor in a $52.5 million fundraising round for BlockFi, a crypto lending startup. The company raised its funding over two rounds, the first bringing in a total of $1.55 million in February. Top contributors in the initial round were Kenetic Capital, Consensys Ventures, and SoFi.
Excited to get into the crypto lending business with @TheRealBlockFi https://t.co/ZC7qBloZtZ
— Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) July 24, 2018
BlockFi’s Crypto Lending Platform Allows Users to Keep their Crypto
According to BlockFi president Zac Prince, the company is also interested in opportunities in lines of credit and credit cards, as well as fixed-income and debt investments.
BlockFi currently offers investors the ability to use BTC or ETH as collateral to borrow up to $10 million. The idea is that the investors can gain access to fiat without having to sell their cryptocurrency completely. “That lets investors retain ownership of their crypto and not miss out on the next potential price surge, but also have cash on hand to pay employees or go on a vacation, for instance,” Business Insider explained.
Loans are offered with a 12 percent standard interest rate, which seems to be on par with the lending rates of other crypto lending platforms.
”A Herd of Institutional Investors” is Coming for the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Read this Term Space
Galaxy Digital has made a number of large, high-profile investments over the past several months. In June, the bank dropped $35 million and $15 million into High Fidelity and Alpha Point, respectively. A number of the bank's investments in the cryptocurrency market have not been publicly disclosed.
Despite the long-standing doldrums that the cryptocurrency markets have been stuck in since the beginning of the year, Mike Novogratz remains optimistic about the future of the industry. Last week, during his keynote speech at Korea Blockchain Week, Novogratz said that “a herd of institutional investors” is headed for the crypto markets.
Mike Novogratz’s crypto merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, has announced that it is the leading contributor in a $52.5 million fundraising round for BlockFi, a crypto lending startup. The company raised its funding over two rounds, the first bringing in a total of $1.55 million in February. Top contributors in the initial round were Kenetic Capital, Consensys Ventures, and SoFi.
Excited to get into the crypto lending business with @TheRealBlockFi https://t.co/ZC7qBloZtZ
— Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) July 24, 2018
BlockFi’s Crypto Lending Platform Allows Users to Keep their Crypto
According to BlockFi president Zac Prince, the company is also interested in opportunities in lines of credit and credit cards, as well as fixed-income and debt investments.
BlockFi currently offers investors the ability to use BTC or ETH as collateral to borrow up to $10 million. The idea is that the investors can gain access to fiat without having to sell their cryptocurrency completely. “That lets investors retain ownership of their crypto and not miss out on the next potential price surge, but also have cash on hand to pay employees or go on a vacation, for instance,” Business Insider explained.
Loans are offered with a 12 percent standard interest rate, which seems to be on par with the lending rates of other crypto lending platforms.
”A Herd of Institutional Investors” is Coming for the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Read this Term Space
Galaxy Digital has made a number of large, high-profile investments over the past several months. In June, the bank dropped $35 million and $15 million into High Fidelity and Alpha Point, respectively. A number of the bank's investments in the cryptocurrency market have not been publicly disclosed.
Despite the long-standing doldrums that the cryptocurrency markets have been stuck in since the beginning of the year, Mike Novogratz remains optimistic about the future of the industry. Last week, during his keynote speech at Korea Blockchain Week, Novogratz said that “a herd of institutional investors” is headed for the crypto markets.