Cryptocurrency trading bank Galaxy Digital, founded by billionaire Mike Novogratz, invested in startup DrawBridge Lending, specializing in lending secured by digital currencies.

DrawBridge Lending Announces an Investment by #GalaxyDigital to Bring Financing Vehicles to Institutions with Crypto Assets cc: @novogratz https://t.co/gkHxUVW5Im

– DrawBridge Lending (@DrawBridgeLend) August 8, 2019

So, DrawBridge Lending gives out quick fiat loans only to accredited investors on the security of digital assets, the storage of which is carried out by a qualified custodian – a third party for the repayment period. At the same time, all cryptocurrencies in the cold storage are insured.

A drawback of DrawBridge Lending is the absence of margin calls: if the value of cryptocurrencies in collateral drops sharply, the borrower is not required to deposit more digital assets in order to maintain ownership. This risk the startup takes upon itself.

Note that the activities of DrawBridge Lending are regulated by the United States Derivatives Commission (CFTC), where the company is registered as a commodity asset trading adviser and commodity pool operator.

It is worth adding that Galaxy Digital is not the first to invest in such products. Last year, the crypto-bank invested $ 52.5 million in BlockFi startup, and then took part in two more rounds of financing for it – $ 4 million ( headed by Akuna Capital) and $ 18.3 million ( headed by Valar Ventures).

Meanwhile, another startup from the rapidly growing cryptocurrency lending industry, Dharma Labs, which at one time raised $ 7 million from Green Visor Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Polychain Capital, recently announced the suspension of deposits and loans, promising to tell more about its development later.

2 / 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.

– Dharma (@Dharma_HQ) August 7, 2019

It is known that at the end of June the company launched the Instant Match product, which allows users to receive dividends from deposits, but after a month the support of the service was suspended, promising to soon share “exciting” news.

According to LoanScan, at least mid-July, loans stopped being issued through the Dharma protocol.

LoanScan Data

In addition, Dharma developers also encountered a front-end bug that prevented users from withdrawing funds. Thus, despite the boom in lending in the cryptocurrency industry, the future of this project seems rather vague.

It was a front-end software bug in our application

– Dharma (@Dharma_HQ) August 1, 2019

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