BROOKLYN, N.Y., Dec. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Arcade, a DeFi marketplace and lending platform leading the financialization of NFTs, closes a $15M Series A with investment from Pantera Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund, Golden Tree Asset Management, Eniac Ventures, Protofund, Probably Nothing Capital, and Lemniscap. Angel investors include CEO of BlockFi Zac Prince and CEO of Quantstamp Richard Ma.
"The DeFi industry currently contains over $200B in Total Locked Value, with NFTs accounting for a significant portion of that value; however, the lack of infrastructure in DeFi prevents NFT holders from achieving liquidity on their holdings despite massive marketcaps," explained Gabe Frank, Co-Founder of Arcade.
Robert Masiello, Co-Founder of Arcade, added, "We are very pleased to close our Series A from notable investors, who, like us, recognize the opportunity and potential for financializing NFTs and enabling NFT holders to unlock the value of these digital assets."
Lauren Stephanian, Principal at Pantera Capital, shared, "We are very excited for the potential of Arcade to bring about the next phase of NFTs' evolution. Arcade's collateralization of this new asset class will incentivize the participation of new entities from both the traditional and digital art and finance worlds, including institutional lenders, high-net-worth individuals, DAOs, companies with NFTs on their balance sheets, and NFT collectors & creators."
In its private release, Arcade facilitated the largest and first, permissionless, on-chain loan of $800,000 against an NFT portfolio from a $10B+ lender. This milestone joins $3.3M in total loan volume that has been secured during Arcade's private release, with the total value of assets that have been loaned on Arcade equaling $10M.
Arcade brings expansive utility to the DeFi lending space and is fully compatible with all ERC20 tokens, including wETH, USDC, and DAI. Arcade also features proprietary Wrapped NFT (wNFT) technology which allows multiple NFT assets to be bundled and utilized to acquire a single loan, enabling for the acquisition of larger loans and greater liquidity. As an open-source DeFi primitive, Arcade will also enable developers to build on top of the platform, supporting the broader utilization of this new asset class.
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About Arcade
Arcade is the leading DeFi marketplace & infrastructure for loans backed by NFT collateral, where lenders and borrowers come together to turn idle holdings into liquid assets. Bridging the gap between the traditional art market and a new digital asset class, Arcade independently appraises, validates, and curates NFT collections for institutions, DAOs, and high-net-worth collectors. Lenders gain access to a new source of yield, and borrowers gain insight into the true value of their assets. Asset owners retain all rights and access to collateral on Arcade and the platform is completely self-custody. As an open-source DeFi primitive, Arcade also enables developers to build on top of the platform, supporting the open financialization of this new asset class.
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SOURCE Arcade
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