NFT-collateralized loan platform Arcade raises $15M in funding round
Arcade, a platform that allows users to utilize nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as loan collateral, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round with participation from Pantera Capital.
In a Wednesday announcement, Arcade said Pantera, Castle Island Ventures, Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund, Golden Tree Asset Management, Eniac Ventures, Protofund, Probably Nothing Capital and Lemniscap in wing to sweetie-pie investors BlockFi CEO Zac Prince and Quantstamp CEO Richard Ma were overdue the investment in an effort to connect NFT-collateralized lending with the decentralized finance space. The platform is moreover coming out of a private release with $3.3 million in total loan volume secured on a total of $10 million in assets.
Arcade co-founder Gabe Frank said NFTs worth for a significant portion of the ever-growing DeFi market, which is currently worth over $250 billion in terms of total value locked. “However, the lack of infrastructure in DeFi prevents NFT holders from achieving liquidity on their holdings despite massive market caps,” he said.
Arcade’s LinkedIn page shows at least 10 U.S.-based employees, with the visitor currently hiring for various roles, including a senior software engineer, lead talent specialist and team coordinator. Lauren Stephanian, principal at Pantera Capital, said the platform’s collateralization of NFTs had the potential to incentivize participation from “institutional lenders, high-net-worth individuals, DAOs, companies with NFTs on their wastefulness sheets and NFT collectors.”
Other platforms have once launched or are in the process of launching services to facilitate loans versus NFTs, including ETNA Network and Lithuania-based lending platform Drops. In March, lending protocol Teller Finance spoken that some of its users would be worldly-wise to obtain credit without posting collateral, wieldy through special NFTs.
Arcade (previously Pawn.fi), a stage that allows clients to get against their NFTs as security, has brought $15 million up in a Series A financing round.
Pantera Capital drove the round, with Palace Island Adventures, Franklin Templeton Blockchain Asset, Brilliant Tree Resource The board, Eniac Adventures, Protofund, Most likely Nothing Capital, and Lemniscap likewise taking part.
Private backers, for example, BlockFi President Zac Ruler and Quantstamp Chief Richard Mama additionally joined the round.
The raise money was a value subsidizing round and will assist Arcade with growing its group, send off the stage freely, and arrive at additional clients, fellow benefactor Robert Masiello told The Block. Arcade's ongoing headcount is 13, and the startup is recruiting for different jobs across item, business advancement, showcasing, and designing capabilities.
Arcade is presently accessible in a confidential beta structure and will open to people in general in early Q1 one year from now, said Masiello. In its confidential delivery, Arcade says it has worked with the biggest credit of $800,000 and that its complete advance volume to date has been $3.3 million.
The stage presently upholds Ethereum-based NFTs as security for getting credits in all ERC-20 tokens like wrapped ether (wETH) and stablecoins USDC and DAI. Masiello said other blockchains and Layer 2 organizations are likewise being investigated for help in 2022.