DeFi Upstart Dharma Brokers $6.4 Million in Crypto Loans in First 3 Weeks

Crypto loan platforms are booming as ether holders look to mitigate portfolio losses endured during 2018’s bear market. Among these decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, San Francisco-based startup Dharma Labs is emerging as one of the industry leaders by facilitating more than $6.4 million worth for crypto loans since its peer-to-peer lending platform launched on April 8. For comparison, Dharma has more than $10 million worth of ethereum in its system while the industry incumbent BlockFi garnered roughly $18 million in both bitcoin and ethereum deposits over the past month. Dharma Labs COO Brendan Forster told CoinDesk that, based on the noncustodial mobile app’s user accounts, roughly 650 people have acted as either a borrower or lender so far. He said these relatively short-term, fixed-rate loans allow borrowers to lock up ether and borrow the dollar-pegged stablecoin DAI, or vice versa, with lenders earning roughly 2.7 percent interest over a 90-day period.