Ledn co-founder: The 'culture of excess' in crypto lending is over

Lending • October 17, 2022, 5:00AM EDT

UPDATED: October 17, 2022, 2:20PM EDT

Episode 100 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Ledn Co-Founder & CSO Mauricio Di Bartolomeo.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected].

After a tumultuous first half of the year, the crypto lending market is maturing, according to Ledn Co-Founder and CSO Mauricio Di Bartolomeo.

In this episode of The Scoop, Bartolomeo shares his insider perspective on the state of crypto lending, including what types of lending he reckons involves the least amount of risk.

The liquidity crisis following the collapse of Three Arrows Capital earlier this year has the surviving lenders thinking more seriously about risk management, according to Bartolomeo.

“Right now there is a huge focus on risk management — everybody is tightening up their covenants, everybody is trying to ensure that this doesn't happen again — and I think that has brought the space to a more balanced equilibrium,” he said.

Out of the various sources of demand for crypto loans, Bartolomeo stated that delta-neutral market makers provide some of the best opportunities, given such market making strategies do not rely on the market moving in a particular direction.

“The entities that performed the best typically were these high-quality market makers that take non-directional positions… that is the type of activity that we think is best suited to minimize risk,” Bartolomeo said.

One sign of increasing market maker activity, Bartolomeo explained, is the tightening of average spread on exchanges:

“Today, what you are seeing is that the average spread in most exchanges is getting tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter, and I think this is an expression of how many market makers are now coming in to narrow those gaps,” he added.

During this episode, Chaparro and Bartolomeo also discuss:

Why Ledn never worked with 3AC
How Bartolomeo got into crypto by mining BTC in Venezuela
Borrowing against bitcoin versus real estate

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Tron

About Tron
TRON is dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and decentralized applications (dApps). Founded in September 2017 by H.E. Justin Sun, the TRON network has continued to deliver impressive achievements since MainNet launch in May 2018. July 2018 also marked the ecosystem integration of BitTorrent, a pioneer in decentralized web3 services boasting over 100 million monthly active users. The TRON network completed full decentralization in December 2021 and is now a community-governed DAO. | TRONDAO | Twitter | Discord |

About Authors

Davis Quinton is the Director of Podcasts at The Block and runs our flagship podcast called The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. Since joining The Block as an 'intern' in early 2022, he has worked closely with leaders across departments to translate The Block's written content into engaging multimedia formats. He holds a degree in Social Research & Public Policy from New York University in Abu Dhabi and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].