Bitcoin-centric financial services startup Lava announced on Wednesday it launched a loan product that offers yields in US dollars along with a new $17.5 million funding.
In X’s post, the company said its platform allows users to fund excessive loans fully protected by Bitcoin (BTC), with lenders earning up to 7.5% on deposits.
The funding follows Lava’s previous $10 million Series A round, led by the Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures. New supporters for the extension include Peter Jurdjevic, Bijan Tehrani from Stake, Charlie Spears, Jacob Brown, Lee Linden and Zach White. The company said additional capital will be used to expand the infrastructure of Bitcoin-denominated financial products.
Lava’s services are available worldwide, accessing dollar liquidity without selling bitcoin, along with zero-cooked bitcoin trading and USD accounts with yields. The model resembles early cryptocurrency loan products such as Blockfi’s profit accounts, and was scrutinized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was subject to enforcement action in 2022.
According to Blockworks Research, Lava’s salary increases will come amid a late stage in September and a surge in strategic crypto funding activities. Crypto’s total funding has reached the highest level since early 2022, leading trading volumes leading infrastructure, finance and blockchain layer 1 projects.
