The Trump administration’s friendliness toward the crypto sector is going to deeply change the bitcoin (BTC) lending market over the next four years.
That’s according to Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn, a firm that specializes in providing digital asset loans.
“You’re going to see a Cambrian explosion of bitcoin-backed loans, because the rates are going to drop to a point that is going to make them competitive with home equity or personal lines of credit, or other types of instruments,” Di Bartolomeo told CoinDesk in an interview.
The kicker, he said, is that these rates will drop not just in the U.S. but for countries all around the globe, thanks to bitcoin’s nature as a digital asset. “Gold in a vault in Switzerland is not gold in a vault in Venezuela, but bitcoin in Colombia is bitcoin in Madrid is bitcoin anywhere in the world. As an underwriter, I have uniform collateral,” Di Bartolomeo said.
In practice, this means that investors from developing countries, who may not have the same kind of efficient financing opportunities as people in Western nations, will soon have a way to access what Di Bartolomeo called world-class financing at fair rates.
That’s because big banks are finally ready to wade into crypto lending, now that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rescinded SAB 121, a controversial accounting rule that made it prohibitive for firms to custody crypto assets.
Historically, very few players have offered crypto lending services in the U.S., which has made the space relatively uncompetitive, according to Di Bartolomeo.
“It’s a seller’s market right now. We are lending out dollars fully collateralized at north of 12.5%, with zero losses over seven years. Banks are going to look at this and say ‘Wow, this is a great rate of return.’ One bank will come in with 12% interest. Another will do 10%. Another says 9%. So this is going to compress, and compress,” he said. “It will really benefit the consumer.”
Born and raised in Venezuela, Di Bartolomeo entered the crypto sphere in 2014. Back then, the country was reeling from hyperinflation and Nicolás Maduro’s ascent to power. While most of Di Bartolomeo’s friends were focused on emigrating, his brother was benefitting from bitcoin mining thanks to the nation’s cheap energy.
The family got in on the business, then other acquaintances, but they were confronted with the issue of financing their operations — a single mining rig can cost thousands of dollars. Bitcoin miners residing in Canada also had the same issue, Di Bartolomeo (who studied in Ontario) discovered. That’s what pushed him to launch Ledn in 2018 with co-founder Adam Reeds.
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