Alameda Research, one of the biggest crypto market trading firms, is sidestepping banks to borrow up to $1bn of new money from peers as it seeks to expand its activities, in the first syndicated debt deal in decentralised finance markets.
Alameda will tap into a pool of stablecoin funds deposited by five investors for a $25m syndicated loan, which will take place on a blockchain infrastructure provided by marketplace Maple Finance
DeFi markets have grown 1,700 per cent in the past year to reach $247bn of total value locked into preprogrammed smart contracts, according to new research from data company Elliptic. Trading volumes on decentralised exchanges have seen similar growth with more than $300bn worth of transactions taking place each month.
https://www.ft.com/content/308a473c-47be-4175-a0c3-b1661bf94ebc?signupConfirmation=success