During the hyperinflation in Venezuela, Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo hedged against the currency collapse by shorting the local currency with the dollar. Today, he uses a similar strategy, borrowing against Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge against the continually depreciating dollar.
He spoke with me during Canadian Crypto Week in Toronto, discussing the advantages of Bitcoin-backed loans and the rapid growth of this market. In the interview, he firmly believes that continuously buying Bitcoin remains beneficial, even as prices soar.
This week's Crypto Business delves into a conversation with Ledn's co-founder and the latest business dynamics in the blockchain world.
The lessons of hyperinflation.
Before the emergence of Bitcoin, di Bartolomeo's most successful investment was shorting the bolívar against the dollar, referring to his experiences during Venezuela's hyperinflation in 2010.
"I borrowed bolívars and used them to buy dollars, holding hard dollars while borrowing a weaker currency," he said.
Ledn was then established to allow Bitcoin investors to access dollar liquidity without selling BTC.
By borrowing against Bitcoin, "you are essentially holding hard currency, which is Bitcoin, and borrowing a weaker currency, which is the dollar," he said.
Many Bitcoin investors have found this strategy effective. According to Galaxy Research, Ledn's loan book reached a value of $9.9 billion in the fourth quarter.
Guatemala's largest bank integrates 'invisible' crypto infrastructure.
Guatemala's largest bank, Banco Industrial, has integrated crypto infrastructure SukuPay into its mobile banking app, making it easier for users to receive dollars.
SukuPay claims this is the first time a major retail bank in Latin America has used a crypto-native protocol for payment services.
Banco Industrial has over 1,600 service points in Guatemala and has expanded to neighboring countries.
"The key to mainstreaming blockchain technology is to make it invisible to the end user," SukuPay CEO Yonathan Lapchik told Cointelegraph.
Using SukuPay technology, users of Banco Industrial's application can receive dollars from the U.S. for a fixed fee of just $0.99, significantly lower than the current 6% to 10% fees, Lapchik said.
Stablecoins trigger panic in the banking industry, NYU professor says.
The U.S. banking lobby believes yield-generating stablecoins threaten its business model, which relies on deposits, paying low interest to depositors, and using those funds for high-risk investments, said NYU professor Austin Campbell.
In a social media post on May 21, Campbell stated he had heard about the "panic" regarding emerging stablecoins, which offer interest and other rewards to holders.
He told Democratic lawmakers, "Banks want you to protect their cartel so they can continue to harm your constituents."
Although Campbell did not specify any stablecoin assets, Cointelegraph reported in February that the SEC approved the first yield-generating stablecoin security project launched by Figure Markets, which offers a yield of 3.85%.
Pi Protocol and Spark Protocol have also developed interest-bearing tokens.
Strategy continues to accumulate Bitcoin.
As Bitcoin rises back above $100,000, Michael Saylor's business intelligence firm Strategy has resumed its buying spree, acquiring 7,390 BTC last week for about $765 million.
The latest purchase brought Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings to 576,230 BTC, with unrealized gains of about $20 billion.
The announcement was made two days before Bitcoin broke its historical high, first climbing above $109,000 for the first time since January. Like other risk assets, Bitcoin was buoyed by improved investor sentiment due to the U.S. and China pausing their tariff dispute.
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