Genesis Global Trading claims $1.1 billion in Cryptocurrency loans and borrows in 2018

Genesis Global Trading claimed in its Digital Asset Lending Snapshot that its crypto / digital assets loans have crossed USD $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018. The total of all crypto originations stood at USD $1.1 billion in loans and borrows in 2018.

In March 2018, Department of Financial Services (DFS), New York, granted virtual currency license to Genesis Global Trading and also received approval for future offerings of Zcash (ZEC). Genesis conducts over-the-counter virtual currency block trading in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ether Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) with counterparties. The minimum transaction size is USD $75000.

Executive Opinion

Chief Executive Officer of Genesis, Michael Moro, "We are very pleased with the strong growth of the lending business and continue to believe that digital asset lending will play an important role in developing this ecosystem. We are committed to investing in this business and expanding globally in 2019."

Founder and CEO of BKCM LLC, Brian Kelly, said, "The ability to borrow and lend cryptocurrency is an essential step toward the maturation of the asset class. As a fund manager, Genesis is an essential part of my tool box."

Genesis Crypto Lending Updates

The fourth quarter of Genesis Global Trading witnessed more than $500 million in origination, according to the announcement. Genesis also started with their fiat currency lending business due to the demand from lending counterparties. Investors whose digital assets have appreciated can borrow cash against their crypto / digital asset holdings.


Bitcoin (BTC) continues to be the main digital currency with 75% of the overall composition. BTC loans contributed 62% to the overall portfolio in the third quarter of 2018. Genesis also observed XRP lending declined from 18% to 9% quarter-over-quarter while Ethereum (ETH) loans increased from 4% to 8% quarter-over-quarter. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) lending approached towards nearly zero possibly due to hard fork on November 15th.

The report concluded by stating "Momentum trading, expedited short settlement, basis trading, and cash lending will all be key drivers of lending growth in 2019 and we’re excited to see the market we pioneered continue to mature."

The detailed digital lending snapshot of the fourth quarter of 2018 is available here.