This crypto lending product from Block Earner will debut at the month’s end, initially enabling loans backed by Bitcoin.
Despite an impending court case with the financial regulator for suspected unlawful financial product sales, Australian fintech startup Block Earner is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a crypto-backed loans product.
Australian crypto investors may now use their digital assets as security for traditional bank loans thanks to a new lending product.
Coinbase used to provide a similar service to its U.S. customers until it was discontinued in May of this year. In a similar vein, SALT, a lending platform located in Colorado, delivers crypto-backed loans to U.S. consumers.
Launching at the end of September, Block Earner’s cryptocurrency lending product will at first only accept Bitcoin as collateral.
Block Earner co-founder Charlie Karaboga has underlined that these loans have been carefully crafted to conform to current licensing structures.
In November, Karaboga’s company ran into legal difficulty when it was accused of marketing cryptocurrency-linked fixed-yield earning instruments without an appropriate Australian Financial Services (AFS) license.
Karaboga said that at the time Block Earner had worked hard to conform their goods to ASIC’s requirements despite the regulator’s lack of clarity.
In light of the recent demise of FTX in November, Block Earner’s regulatory challenges and measures against rival Finder seem to be reactive, as indicated by Karaboga.
In light of ASIC’s legal efforts, however, Block Earner has chosen to discontinue its “earn” goods and provide refunds to all customers.
Block Earner’s head of business, James Coombes, said the company had learned from its mistakes with the introduction of the previous “Earn” product and that the new product has the required Australian credit license.
Karaboga foresees that the Australian government will be forced to keep up with the rate of regulation development in other jurisdictions like Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom or risk losing its portion of the crypto business market.
In the coming year to two years, he hopes to see more regulation certainty. Karaboga underlined that Australians are easy marks because to the country’s high per-capita GDP and early adoption of crypto technology.
