Celsius Network reports to have more than doubled its interest payments in the three months since its last disclosure. This is one more signal of the continuous growth of the crypto lending industry, as decentralized finance (DeFi) operations attract more funds.
As per its Feb. 20 report, Celsius paid over $11 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies as total interest income. This is an increase of 120% from its $5 million figure reported on Nov. 12, 2019.
The company is managing $730 million in customer deposits and loan collateral, which is an increase of 62% from the last report’s $450 million figure.
The total value of outstanding loans has also increased by 46% since November, totaling $6.2 billion. This figure is counted in current BTC prices and is influenced by its price growth.
The user count has also grown from 50,000 to 75,000 since November.
Crypto lending growth
The crypto lending industry as a whole has been on the rise. It is divided into companies providing loans in crypto, such as Celsius and BlockFi, and decentralized finance based on Ethereum.
While both provide mostly the same services, DeFi uses smart contracts and blockchain oracles to power its lending activity.
The amount of funds locked in DeFi has recently surpassed $1 billion. Most of them are locked as collateral with MakerDAO (MKR) as part of a mechanism to generate Dai (DAI), a decentralized U.S. dollar stablecoin.
Celsius competitors such as BlockFi have also posted strong growth, showing that the lending industry is rapidly increasing its value.
The growth does not come without its pains, as DeFi protocol bZx was recently hacked twice in the span of two days.
Celsius developments
The Celsius Network is continually expanding its feature set. It recently added an integration with Simplex to provide instant fiat on-ramps for its users. In January, it began offering compounding interest on users’ loans.
Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky often shares his thoughts on the industry. In December he criticized the centralization of social media, pointing to blockchain as a possible solution.
