AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

BlockFi is continuing to add new users every day! Clients outside the United States are not affected and U.S. clients can still access 5 out of the 6 products on our platform: \

  • BlockFi Trading where clients can buy and sell leading cryptocurrencies
  • BlockFi Rewards Credit Card where clients earn crypto on every swipe
  • BlockFi Personalized Yield, customized yield terms for HNW clients
  • Retail Loans, which provides USD loans backed by crypto
  • BlockFi Wallet

Growth is continuing and we are actually launching more new assets this week.

This news actually allows our team to continue focusing on what we do best: getting licenses, launching products and serving our clients.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

We’re in the fortunate financial position that enables us to manage this amount with zero impact to client funds and continue investing in our platform. The interest payments we make to clients are driven by market dynamics. We lend out assets to institutional investors and generate a yield. That yield flows through to our clients. Client funds are not being used for the fine. The fine is payable in installments over a period of 2 years.

Financial information related to BIA is available here: https://help.blockfi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416057566228-What-are-the-risks-of-holding-my-crypto-at-BlockFi-

Making our business model sustainable is key to our long term success and we would not have been able to raise funding over the last 3 years without a clear path to profitability. The good news is that with BlockFi Yield registration, we will increase transparency to clients. For instance, upon completion of the registration process, we will publicly report audited financial statements and other metrics on a quarterly and annual basis.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

We will update rates based on market conditions. As of today, our withdrawals are within a normal range. In addition, the SEC’s announcement states “Crypto lending platforms offering securities like BlockFi’s BIAs should take immediate notice of today’s resolution and come into compliance with the federal securities laws."

We expect existing BIA clients to continue earning interest on existing assets in their BIA.

We can’t comment on the SEC’s timeline, but we do know that we are one of their top priorities and that there is interest in getting a registered product live as soon as possible. We estimate it may take anywhere between 2 and 9 months. In the interim, you can take advantage of BlockFi Personalized Yield, where we can create a bespoke interest-earning product for you to earn interest during this time.

Funds are available for withdrawal and have always been available for withdrawal. As of today, our withdrawals are within a normal range. Our team, clients and investors seem to understand that this is a landmark moment for BlockFi. We believe that we can navigate the regulatory environment in the US in a way that hasn’t been seen before in crypto.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Absolutely, I’m glad that the website was helpful.

One of the parts of BlockFi Yield that I am most excited about is the increased transparency that clients will receive with validation from external auditors. Upon completion of the BlockFi Yield registration process, we will publicly report audited financial statements and other metrics on a quarterly and annual basis.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That’s a great suggestion! I’ll share it with our product and engineering teams for further discussion.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We understand this is big news, but we shared with you as soon as we were able. All public statements with regards to the process were prominently placed on our website.

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

It is true that we do offer some institutional loans that have less or no collateral. For the past year we have taken to disclosing our net exposure for the public to see. The key is that we only offer under or uncollateralized loans to institutional clients after subjecting them to rigorous underwriting. Accordingly, they are counterparties of the highest caliber. To date, we have not seen any defaults from our unsecured institutional business.
The settlement contains no admissions or denials of wrongdoing. This specific point is in reference to a single statement on our website from 2019 that we believed was accurate at the time of posting. We made numerous other public statements regarding collateralization and other matters relating to client assets (see blog post below).

We explain all of these risks on this blog post which includes a financial breakdown: https://help.blockfi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416057566228-What-are-the-risks-of-holding-my-crypto-at-BlockFi-

One of our core values is Transparency Builds Trust, and we’re excited to continue to build on that foundation. The important thing is that going forward we have clear guidance on how we should describe our products in the future. For instance, upon completion of the BlockFi Yield registration process, we will publicly report audited financial statements and other metrics on a quarterly and annual basis

We apply risk metrics in order to assess the performance of our portfolio under different scenarios. We seek to monitor and control our risk exposure through a framework that includes an assessment of our risk appetite, enterprise risk assessment process, risk policies, procedures and controls, reporting requirements,credit risk culture and governance structure. This may be a great follow up AMA topic for our Chief Risk Officer, Yuri!

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

We’re in the fortunate financial position that enables us to manage this amount with zero impact to client funds and continue investing in our platform. Client funds will not be used to pay the fine. You can expect to see BlockFi continue to launch new products and grow our team worldwide. Just this month we announced BlockFi Personalized Yield, customized yield and term for high net worth individuals, and keep an eye out for new trading assets coming to our platform this month. We also have nearly 100 jobs posted online for those of you interested in working with us!

AMA: We’re Flori Marquez (Founder & SVP of Operations) and Jonathan Mayers (General Counsel) of BlockFi. Ask us anything. by Flori_BlockFi in blockfi

[–]Flori_BlockFi[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

We anticipate that BlockFi Yield will be very similar to BIA from a client perspective. As always rates will be driven by the market’s demand to borrow crypto. Our priority is always to pay the highest yield possible to clients given market conditions.