Blockchain -based financing company Uphold has partnered with crypto-backed lending company Salt to offer loans in cash and crypto using digital currencies as collateral.
Reported by CoinTelegraph on Friday, this will allow the users of Uphold, which the firm claims to be around 1.7 million, to issue loans from Salt using six digital currencies - Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, and XRP - as collateral.
Commenting on the partnership, Robin O’Connell, Uphold’s chief revenue officer, told the publication: “Millions of Uphold users that are holding Cryptocurrencies might want access to those funds without having to sell their crypto assets. The partnership with Salt allows users to free up liquidity while maintaining the potential upside of the underlying crypto asset.”
Crypto lending - a profitable business
Crypto loans have a major market and remained profitable despite the long-reigning bear in the crypto market. Companies like MakerDAO have seen tremendous demand over the past few years.
Recently, MakerDAO proposed to raise its loan ceiling to $120 million as its existing $100 million ceiling was breached. Last year, the foundation doubled the range of its original set loan ceiling at $50 million.
Due to the lucrative nature of the lending business, many crypto players from other sectors are also jumping into the business. Blockchain.com, a crypto platform known for its Bitcoin wallets, recently announced a crypto lending platform for institutions.
Unlike most of the crypto lending platform, Salt is centralized and offer its services only to limited jurisdictions.
“When applying for a loan through SALT, Uphold users can customize their loan by choosing their preferred loan type, loan amount, duration, and Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio. SALT currently offers Loan-to-Value ratio options of 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% for crypto-backed loans and does not require customers to undergo a credit or income check,” Rob Odell, VP of product and marketing at Salt, told the publication.
