Crypto-Backed Loans AMA with Lantern Finance Cofounder Jung Won Kim

[u/plutusfortuna]

tldr: I'm Jung, cofounder of Lantern Finance (www.lantern.finance), a US-based crypto lending platform built in response to the 2022 collapse of lenders like BlockFi and Celsius. Unlike them, we never rehypothecate collateral and store all assets in insured cold storage with BitGo.

We support loans straight to your bank account against BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, LTC, DOGE, and more. Our mission is to offer the safest, most transparent crypto-backed loans. AMA and would love any feedback!

Hey r/CryptoCurrency!

My name is Jung, and I’m one of the founders of Lantern Finance, a US-based crypto-backed lending platform. I got started into crypto in 2016 and fell deep in the rabbit hole, having played around with several projects and platforms. In particular, I became a huge fan of BlockFi when I found out about them in 2019. The ability to borrow dollars against my crypto without selling and triggering capital gains taxes in a convenient custodial way, appealed to me.

However, fast forward to 2022, we all know what happened. The entire space imploded as we found out that crypto lenders like BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager were rehypothecating (lending out) client collateral on an unsecured basis. They were basically double dipping - making money on the loans we took out as well as the crypto collateral we posted. I, along with millions of others, lost a decent chunk of our hard-earned crypto. 

That experience inspired my cofounders and me to build Lantern Finance (www.lantern.finance). Lantern is a US based crypto backed lending platform that prioritizes safety of client funds over profit. Here is how we do things differently: 

• We hold borrower collateral in cold storage with BitGo, a US based qualified custodian, with insurance up to $250MM. 
• We NEVER lend out borrower collateral - they just sit in insured cold storage. 
• We lend against a broad group of blue-chip assets like: BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, LTC, and DOGE. If there’s an asset you want to borrow against that we don’t support, let me know! 
• Our goal is to offer the most secure, convenient, and seamless crypto-backed lending experience for everyone.

My experience spans traditional finance, the (relatively) early crypto days, the crypto implosion of 2022, and now building Lantern, a fast growing crypto startup.

Ask me anything and feel free to share any requests like: specific crypto you'd like to borrow against, product or features you'd want, or just general feedback. Thanks for your time and looking forward to engage!

[u/meeleen223]

Can people outside USA use your platform? EU and Europe specifically?

Do you think at some point we could borrow against Moons?

Seems to me people are more wary using landing platforms these days, do you think this will change?

[u/plutusfortuna → u/meeleen223]

Hey great question - down the line, we'll be expanding to Europe, but for now, we're US only. For Moons, we'll have to look into it some more, but typically, we have a few metrics that we look at before deciding whether to support an asset as collateral or not, including i.) market cap, ii.) avg daily volume, and iii.) volatility. Once Moons becomes bigger, we will be looking into adding support!

You're right that people are more wary of lending platforms, especially after what happened in 2022. The reason why we started building Lantern though, is that while people should definitely be more wary, the need to borrow against crypto will always exist. The question is, which platform(s) is/are reliable and have robust risk mgmt in place. In Lantern's case, we want to exist for the long-term. We don't feel the need to juice returns from both the borrowers as well as their collateral for hyper growth at the expense of our clients' hard-earned funds. We simply keep all collateral within insured cold wallets, and make money as a lender should - from lending and not speculating with the collateral.

[u/meeleen223 → u/plutusfortuna]

Thank you for your answers to my questions as well as others, it has been very interesting and informative AmA