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BlockFi Monthly Update – July 24th, 2019

Published, 23 July, 2019

Asset Growth – General State of the Business

Equity markets typically experience a summer slowdown. In stark contrast, July was a colorful month for crypto. While the price of Bitcoin has remained relatively unchanged on a month-over-month basis, much has happened in the 4 weeks spanning July. Notably, the Treasury Secretary issued a statement on the structure of crypto, Fidelity applied for a Trust License in NYC to become a custodian and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust hit an all time high of $2.8B AUM, signaling demand from retirement accounts, institutions, and family offices to invest in crypto.

At BlockFi, we continued to experience platform growth, notably our USD loans gained traction with international borrowers. The ability to borrow USD-denominated debt at interest rates as low as 4.5% is impactful to international borrowers with lack of low-cost financing options. In particular, international customers have been leveraging the ability to pay back their loan in stablecoins or with the collateral used to secure their loan with BlockFi.

Why Rates Are Changing

As we continue to scale out the BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), we are continuing to make updates to the amount of interest paid out to customers. Our ability to pay interest is tied to borrowing demand in the institutional crypto lending market. BlockFi actively lends crypto to institutions, which pay varying rates depending on the volume of crypto available and the volatility of crypto prices. In an effort to be able to pay interest to the largest amount of clients possible, we are updating our top tier pricing for Bitcoin.

BlockFi will be making the following rate adjustments to the BlockFi Interest Account as of August 1, 2019:

BTC balances above 10 BTC will earn 2.15% APY
The rate for GUSD deposits will increase to from 6.2% to 8.25% with no maximum

BlockFi on Security and the Withdrawal Process

This month we published an article that speaks to BlockFi’s position on security and some enhanced security protocols BlockFi is currently exploring. BlockFi has processed close to $120M in withdrawals of Bitcoin and Ether from our Gemini custodial account since launching the BlockFi Interest Account in March 2019. Over the last several months, we have confirmed that processing withdrawals within 24-48 hours of a request offers clients optimal mix of speed and security.

Additionally, we shared more details on our loan payoff process, highlighting the flexibility of the product. Clients can pay off with USD, stablecoin or the crypto posted as collateral for their loan.

BlockFi Featured on The Scoop

BlockFi founder, Zac Prince was featured on The Block’s podcast (The Scoop). Zac discussed BlockFi’s growth over the past year and the company’s current and future product development plans. BlockFi’s ambitious plans are broken down into three main phases:

Phase 1- provide products for people who already own Bitcoin or another crypto asset that BlockFi supports (crypto loans and the BlockFi Interest Account)
Phase 2- bring further functionality to current products and develop new product offerings designed for active crypto investors and for those who do not currently own cryptocurrency alike
Phase 3- focus on international expansion

Product Updates

This week, we will be rolling out a new series of updates to our product Dashboard, focusing on improvements to our user Profile and our Interest Account.

The Profile section now has additional user account functionality: clients can store and edit contact information which, in turn, seamlessly integrates into our identity verification and product applications.

The Interest Account landing page has been streamlined to include Deposit, Withdrawal, and Transaction-view functionality. Users can initiate Transactions with a single click directly from the Interest Account overview page.

BlockFi Partnership Highlights

Casa

All existing BlockFi clients are eligible for:

$50 off Casa Node with included Gold Subscription
$200 off first year of Casa Platinum with 3-of-5 Key Shield multisig
$500 off first year of Casa Diamond with 3-of-5 Key Shield and full team support

Additionally, Casa Gold, Platinum and Diamond members are eligible for:

Reduced rates on BlockFi BTC-backed loans
Plus an additional 10% interest each month on Bitcoin interest accounts. At BlockFi’s current rate of 6% annual interest, this would mean Casa clients are able to earn 6.6% annual interest.

* Note: the reduced rates and additional interest mentioned above only apply to new BlockFi account holders. A complete list of requirements can be found here.

Messari

BlockFi has joined Messari’s Reward Transparency initiative, which provides discounted professional services to registry clients. The registry is an open source database that focuses on bringing transparency to crypto project stakeholders. BlockFi offers registry projects (current and new registry members) a 10% bonus on interest payments, and a 0.25% reduction in borrowing rates.

As always, if you have any questions or comments you can reach out to our support team at support@blockfi.com or submit feedback here.

– The BlockFi Team

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Rates for BlockFi products are subject to change. Digital currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and BIA accounts are not subject to FDIC or SIPC protections. Crypto assets are deposited into an account with Gemini or BitGo, our primary custodians and licensed depository trusts. For more information, please see BlockFi’s Terms of Service__.

Last updated on February 3rd, 2021

As of February 14, 2022, the BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) is no longer available to new clients who are US persons or persons located in the US and existing US clients with BIA accounts are unable to transfer new assets to their BIAs. Learn More.

BlockFi Lending LLC NMLS ID#1737520 | NMLS Consumer Access

BlockFi Trading LLC NMLS ID#1873137 | NMLS Consumer Access

Digital currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and crypto accounts held with BlockFi are not subject to FDIC or SIPC protections. Digital currency values are not static and fluctuate due to market changes. Not all products and services are available in all geographic areas and are subject to applicable terms and conditions. Eligibility for particular products and services is subject to final determination by BlockFi. Rates for BlockFi products are subject to change.

BlockFi Rewards Credit Card: For more information, please see BlockFi’s Terms of Service. BlockFi is not a Bank. Cards are issued by Evolve Bank & Trust, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa® USA Inc. Rewards are not offered by Evolve Bank & Trust and are instead offered and managed by BlockFi.

BlockFi International Ltd. holds a Class F digital assets business license under the Digital Assets Business Act, 2018 (as amended) and is licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority to conduct the following digital assets business activities: (i) issuing, selling or redeeming virtual coins, tokens or any other form of digital assets (ii) operating as a digital asset exchange (iii) providing custodial wallet services (iv) operating as a digital asset derivative exchange provider and (v) operating as a digital assets services vendor.

See blockfi.com/terms for more information.