Genesis Capital originated over $400 million in crypto loans in 1Q, pushing cumulative volumes to more than $1.5 billion in a year
Genesis Capital, an institutional lending business within Genesis Trading and the broader Digital Currency Group umbrella, announced in its 1Q lending snapshot that it originated $425 million worth of loans to clients in the first quarter of 2019. Total cumulative origination volumes are now more than $1.5 billion over the prior 12-months.
Since 3Q18, cumulative origination volumes have now almost tripled, with total outstanding loans growing by over 40% and ending the quarter at over $180 million. Genesis said it saw market-makers and high frequency trading firms enter the market and drive "consistent BTC borrowing demand" in 1Q, and highlighted they expect this trend to continue in 2019.
In terms of loans outstanding, bitcoin loans continue to grow relative to the rest of loan book; now making up over 68%. In contrast, ether loans finished the quarter under 4% of the total portfolio, down from 27.7% highs set in 2Q18.
Meanwhile, its new cash lending business launched in 4Q now already makes up 10% of active loans. Genesis added that it expects this cash lending business can reach "significant growth" in the market this year.
The report also highlighted short dynamics its lending desk has seen in both ETH and LTC over 1Q, and provided color on the likelihood of rate compression and the potential for competition to lead to lower risk-adjusted returns, among other items.
