Maple Finance, a blockchain-based credit marketplace, has announced the launch of Maple Direct, a direct lending desk that will underwrite and issue loans to Web3 businesses starting in July. This expansion comes as digital asset firms face challenges to secure banking ties and financing, due to the implosion of centralized lenders like BlockFi and Genesis.
There’s a big gap in the market because of the exit of those players, said Sidney Powell, co-founder and CEO of Maple Finance. This is like a natural extension of what Maple can do as a protocol.
Maple Direct will work as a separate lending pool on the platform, and will raise funds from crypto funds, DAOs, venture capital firms, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. The loans will be executed on the blockchain with smart contracts, and the terms and loan book will be visible on Maple’s public loan dashboard.
Clients of centralized lenders never got reporting on the level of collateral backing loans, the equity protection, and financial health of the borrower, Powell explained. Here, [investors in the pool] get reporting in real time on all the borrowers, how they are performing, and the level of collateral.