Cross River buys $250m of crypto-backed loans

Fintech lender Cross River Bank is set to purchase up to $250m (£187.6m) of assets from blockchain lender Figure Technology Solutions.

The forward-flow agreement will support Figure’s crypto-backed lending business, providing consumers with liquidity without requiring them to sell their digital asset holdings.

Through Figure’s crypto-backed loan product, borrowers can use their digital assets as collateral to access financing while retaining ownership of those assets, the firm said. Figure and its partners have originated more than $25bn of home equity to date.

“For many consumers who own digital assets, crypto-backed lending provides a lower-cost financing option than the alternatives,” said Noah Cooper, chief investment officer and head of the capital solutions group at Cross River. “We are thrilled to support Figure as this financing tool continues to mature.”

Cross River provides warehouse lines, seasoning facilities and forward-flow purchase solutions to fintech platforms, facilitating more than $32bn of consumer loans in total.

“We’re proud to welcome Cross River as a financing partner,” said Todd Stevens, chief capital officer at Figure. “With crypto-backed loans, we’ve gone from a relatively new idea, to allow borrowing against a highly popular appreciated asset, and we’ve achieved rapid adoption while creating a model that others have followed. Cross River’s involvement is a major proof point underscoring our success so far, as well as our continued upward trajectory.”