When Venezuela was experiencing hyperinflation, Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo hedged towards the collapsing native foreign money by shorting it in favor of the extra secure US dollar. Today, he’s utilizing an identical technique — this time borrowing towards his Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge towards the crumbling US dollar.
Di Bartolomeo linked with me throughout Canada Crypto Week in Toronto, the place he talked about the benefits of Bitcoin-backed loans and the fast development of collateralized BTC lending. In our interview, he made a compelling case for persevering with to stack sats, whilst Bitcoin’s value retains rising.
This week’s Crypto Biz dives into our dialog with the Ledn co-founder and covers the newest enterprise information from the blockchain world.
A lesson from hyperinflation
Before Bitcoin, di Bartolomeo’s most successful investment was shorting the Bolivar with US {dollars}, referring to his expertise in Venezuela throughout the hyperinflationary 2010s.
“I used to be borrowing Bolivars and shopping for {dollars} with them, holding the laborious {dollars} and having a borrow [position] on the weaker foreign money,” he mentioned.
He then based Ledn, an organization that lets Bitcoin buyers entry dollar liquidity with out parting methods with their BTC.
By borrowing towards Bitcoin, “you’re mainly doing the identical factor, however you might be in impact holding the laborious cash, which is Bitcoin, and taking a borrow [position] on {dollars}, which is a weaker foreign money,” he mentioned.
Many Bitcoiners have discovered this to be a successful technique. By the finish of This fall, Ledn’s mortgage guide worth was valued at $9.9 billion, in accordance to Galaxy Research.
Guatemala’s largest financial institution integrates “invisible” crypto infrastructure
Banco Industrial, Guatemala’s largest financial institution, has integrated crypto infrastructure SukuPay into its cellular banking app, enabling customers to obtain US {dollars} extra simply.
SukuPay mentioned this integration is the first time a serious Latin American retail financial institution has used a crypto-native protocol for its fee providers.
Banco Industrial has greater than 1,600 service areas throughout Guatemala and has additionally expanded into neighboring international locations.
The “key to mainstream adoption of blockchain expertise is making it invisible to the end-user,” SukuPay CEO Yonathan Lapchik advised Cointelegraph.
With SukuPay’s expertise, Banco Industrial app customers can obtain {dollars} from the US for a flat price of $0.99, considerably decrease than the typical 6% to 10% they at present pay, mentioned Lapchik.
Bankers are panicking about stablecoins, NYU professor claims
America’s banking foyer sees yield-bearing stablecoins as a threat to its enterprise mannequin, which depends on taking deposits, paying depositors minimal curiosity and utilizing these funds for higher-risk investments, in accordance to NYU professor Austin Campbell.
In a May 21 social media submit, Campbell claimed that he’s heard rumblings of “panic” over new stablecoins providing holders curiosity funds and different financial rewards.
He advised Democratic lawmakers that “banks need you to defend their cartel to allow them to preserve screwing your voters.”
Although Campbell didn’t point out any stablecoin belongings by identify, Cointelegraph reported in February that the Securities and Exchange Commission authorized the nation’s first yield-bearing stablecoin safety by Figure Markets. At the time of its launch, the YLDS stablecoin provided a yield of three.85%.
Pi Protocol and Spark Protocol have additionally developed interest-bearing tokens.
Strategy continues to stack sats
With Bitcoin again above $100,000, Michael Saylor’s enterprise intelligence agency, Strategy, has resumed its buying spree by buying 7,390 BTC final week for about $765 million.
The newest buy brings Strategy’s whole Bitcoin holdings to 576,230 BTC, with an unrealized achieve of round $20 billion.
The announcement got here simply two days earlier than Bitcoin surged previous its earlier all-time excessive, climbing above $109,000 for the first time since January. Like different danger belongings, Bitcoin has benefited from improved investor sentiment following the suspension of tariff hostilities between the United States and China.
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