Joesph Kelly, CEO, Unchained

Episode 90 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Unchained CEO Joe Kelly

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Joseph Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Unchained, joins The Block's Frank Chaparro on The Scoop to discuss how his bitcoin-native financial services firm kept growing even as the broader crypto lending market contracted sharply following the collapses of Celsius, BlockFi, and other centralized lenders.

Kelly co-founded the company, formerly known as Unchained Capital, around a multisignature, collaborative-custody model designed to let bitcoin holders retain direct control of their private keys while still accessing services like loans, trading, and inheritance planning, an approach the firm has positioned as an answer to the counterparty risk that undid many of its rivals.

On the episode, Kelly describes how Unchained became one of the last standing providers of bitcoin-backed loans in the United States after a wave of lenders exited the business or shut down entirely, and how the firm kept originating loans even as rising interest rates made that line of business more difficult across the industry. He also discusses Unchained's push into tax-advantaged bitcoin retirement accounts and inheritance solutions, framing these products as part of a broader mission to help long-term holders manage bitcoin across their financial lives without ever giving up custody to a third party.

The conversation touches on the roughly $60 million Series B round Unchained closed in 2023, led by Valor Equity Partners, and what that capital has meant for the company's ability to expand its lending book and product lineup during a period when investor appetite for crypto lending businesses had cooled considerably.

Kelly also reflects on lessons he believes the industry should take from the failures of 2022, arguing that self-custody and collaborative-custody models offer a more resilient path forward than the opaque, rehypothecated lending practices that contributed to the sector's meltdown. It's a grounded look at bitcoin financial services built for durability rather than speed, from one of the space's longest-tenured operators, and a reminder that not every bitcoin-focused business built on lending disappeared once the broader credit cycle turned.