BitLendingClub
| Industry | Financial services / peer-to-peer lending |
| Founded | 2012–2013 |
| Defunct | announced December 2016 (wind-down into 2017) |
| Founder(s) | Kiril Gantchev, Yasen Yankov |
BitLendingClub was a peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform. Borrowers sought bitcoin-denominated loans. Lenders competed in a Dutch-auction style process to set rates. The company described a fee model of about 1% of loan value paid by borrowers as loans were repaid.
History
Public materials associated founders Kiril Gantchev and Yasen Yankov with an October 2012 founding and a mid-2013 website launch. CoinDesk later described a May 2014 launch window and a seed investment from LAUNCHub later in 2014.[1] Corporate filings and reporting also placed the operating company in Bulgaria.
In early December 2016 the company emailed users and posted that rising regulatory pressure in Bulgaria made continued operation unfeasible. New registrations, loan requests, and similar growth features were to stop. Repayment and withdrawals were to remain for a limited wind-down period. Operators expected full termination after outstanding loans were repaid or written off, with estimates pointing toward mid-to-late 2017.[1][2]
CEO Kiril Gantchev told CoinDesk that Bulgarian regulators had contacted the firm and that the resulting requirements made the platform unworkable, without detailing the discussions further.[1]