Crypto lending firm Genesis Capital processed $1.1 billion in loans last year. This is according to the company’s recently released ‘Lending Snapshot’ for Q4 2018.

Genesis Capital

The figure shows the massive growth in processed loans as Bitcoin price fell over 44% in 2018.

The first Digital Asset Lending Snapshot was released at the end of Q3 2018. This reported that Genesis processed $553 million in loans from the period starting March 2018.

Therefore the most up-to-date figures show that “Q4 loan originations increased more than 100% in the final three months of 2018 compared to the prior six-month period.”

The company effectively doubled its business in the final months of 2018.

Loan Increases

Genesis Capital showed that its loans increased to $153 million in active loans, an increase of $20 million from Q3. This was most likely led by Bitcoin price hitting new lows in this quarter.

In fact, the most active months were November and December, two incredibly volatile months for BTC where the coin dropped from $6,350 to below $3,500 USD in a two week period. These were the months where Genesis Capital reportedly “saw new hedge funds and trading firms utilizing ‘spot’ borrow.”

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Fiat Currency Lending with Crypto Collateral

At the end of 2018, Genesis launched fiat currency lending with crypto collateral. This is a new service that has been developed in response to demand from its institutional clients. The company stated:

“Long-term digital currency investors with appreciated assets can borrow cash against their crypto holdings without triggering a taxable event.”

Bitcoin lendings made up for a majority of the company’s business, but Genesis stated that “Ethereum (ETH) borrowing more than doubled since Q3 but still only accounts for less than 10% of our loan book, well below the highs seen in Q1 and Q2.”

Bear Market

The crypto bear market has taken hold for months now. BTC has steadily declined in value over the year and currently sells for $3,493 according to CoinMarketCap. This is a far cry from this time last year when BTC price was valued at over $10,000 per coin.