Crypto lender Nexo opens PAX Gold credit line for retail clients

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo has opened PAX Gold (PAXG) credit line for retail investors.

Revealing the news exclusively to The Block on Wednesday, Nexo said the move would allow all clients to access the PAXG token as a collateral option. Previously, the offering was only available for institutional clients.

PAXG is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. Each token is backed by one troy ounce of a 400 troy ounces London Good Delivery gold bar, stored in Brink’s vaults.

Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of Nexo, told The Block that all clients can now "seamlessly acquire gold and borrow against it."

“With Nexo and PAXG, you can invest in physical gold, represented by the PAXG token. You can then pledge your tokens as collateral and get 70% of the investment amount as a loan with an annual percentage rate (APR) starting at 5.9% and buy even more gold,” Trenchev told The Block.

He said the offering has been extended to retail clients because of “phenomenal” demand from them. "Especially in high-volatility times, as in the present, gold is sought after by many of our retail clients," he said.

When asked how many institutional clients are currently opting for the offering, Trenchev said "several dozen."

Nexo claims to have a total of over 650,000 users, both institutional and retail.

Last December, Nexo purchased $5 million worth of PAXG tokens. At the time, the firm also added the token for its "Earn Interest" product to pay users up to 8% per year of interest on gold.

Nexo is backed and advised by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. The firm raised $52.5 million in a private token sale in 2018.