Jane Street Dives Into DeFi With $25M USDC Loan
Prominent trading firm Jane Street has made its first stride into decentralized finance (DeFi), borrowing $25 million in USDC from BlockTower Capital via DeFi marketplace Clearpool, with plans to eventually increase that amount to $50 million, Clearpool confirmed in a press release Tuesday. Bloomberg first reported on the news.
Clearpool is a platform where institutions can access uncollateralized loans from a network of lenders. It is backed by investors including Arrington Capital, Sequoia Capital, Sino Global Capital and HashKey."This is the first time that a major Wall Street institution has entered into a borrowing transaction on a DeFi protocol," Clearpool noted in its press release.BlockTower general partner Sanat Rao told Bloomberg that DeFi protocols typically earn 15% to 25% in annualized interest, but declined to specify the rate BlockTower will receive from Jane Street.Jane Street made its first DeFi investment last month, backing decentralized lending protocol, Bastion.The New York firm also provides liquidity for Bitcoin and Ethereum on Robinhood and made its first crypto trade in 2017.In January, Jane Street's Turner Batty described crypto trading as “a clear growth area” and that the number of people at Jane Street working on cryptocurrency has "never been higher."