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The Attorney General of New Jersey has ordered high-yield crypto lender BlockFi to stop accepting new customers. The order calls for BlockFi to stop accepting new [BlockFi Interest Account] clients residing in New Jersey beginning July 22, 2021," although the company will be able to continue to serve existing customers in the state and other jurisdictions. BlockFi is accused of offering unregistered securities to its customers.

BlockFi launched its new Bitcoin Trust that was registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last month. The Trust will issue shares through private placements, and the value of the shares will reflect the value of BTC held by the trust (minus expenses and other liabilities). Initially, trust shares will be made available to global institutions and other qualified investors. Later on, access will be expanded to include accredited individual investors in the United States. https://blockfi.com/the-blockfi-bitcoin-trust-offers-a-new-way-to-invest-in-bitcoin

Crypto lender BlockFi and eight affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. district of New Jersey on Monday, the latest casualty in the implosion of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange this month. BlockFi owes more than $1 billion to its three biggest creditors, the largest being Ankura Trust Company, followed by FTX US, and an undisclosed company. BlockFi has $256.9 million in cash on hand, which is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to support certain operations during the restructuring process," according to the filing.

"Crypto lender BlockFi filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, days after suspending withdrawals amid the ongoing fallout from exchange FTX's bankruptcy filing."

"In the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion of conversation about BlockFi centered around their new Crypto Interest Account product, which differs from their Crypto Backed Loans product."

Gemini is acquiring Blockrize and launching a credit card based on Blockrize's work. The Gemini Credit Card will be available in the U.S. Customers will earn up to 3% in crypto-asset rewards deposited into the user's Gemini account. BlockFi already announced its own card in December 2020, but hasn't yet to launched it. BlockFi promises 1.5% rewards on fiat purchases. There's a $200 annual fee but users gets $250 back if they spend at least $3,000 with the card in the first three months.

Cryptocurrency lending startup BlockFi is almost halving the interest rates it offers on ether (ETH) deposits, while some bitcoin (BTC) rates will increase slightly.

Gemini Trust Company has more than $10 billion in total crypto under custody. Customers include BlockFi, CoinList, CI Global Asset Management, Eaglebrook Advisors, WealthSimple, and 3iQ Digital Asset Management.

Fidelity Digital Assets will allow its institutional customers to pledge Bitcoin as collateral against cash loans in a partnership with blockchain startup BlockFi. The unit of Fidelity Investments will hold the digital asset and not make loans itself. The target is Bitcoin investors who want to turn their digital stash into cash without selling, and potential customers include hedge funds, crypto miners and over-the-counter trading desks.

"Digital asset hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has been forced into liquidation by a court in the British Virgin Islands. The firm, which had been around since 2012, now appears to be dragging other industry names into its whirlpool. Trading platform Voyager Digital suspended withdrawals after Three Arrows defaulted on a payment from a US$670 million loan. Meanwhile, BlockFi was looking for a buyer after its own $1 billion loan to 3AC went bad."

"Friday was quite a day. The crypto lender BlockFi provisionally agreed a bailout deal with FTX. The hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), already in compulsory liquidation in its home territory the British Virgin Islands, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States. And the crypto broker Voyager suspended trading and withdrawals. "

"The Himalayan kingdom has quietly been dumping millions of dollars into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Its investments, which have never been publicly disclosed, were revealed in the bankruptcy filings of lenders BlockFi and Celsius."

"The crisis that has engulfed crypto in the last year is a crisis of fractional reserve banking. Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank NY were fractional reserve banks. So too were Celsius Network, Voyager, BlockFi, Babel Finance and FTX. And still standing are the crypto fractional reserve banks Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, Nexo, MakerDAO, Tether, Circle, and, I would argue, every one of the DeFi staking pools. All of these are doing some variety of fractional reserve banking. Custodia Bank and Kraken Finance claim to be full-reserve banks - but 100% reserve backing for deposits is both hard to prove and not a guarantee of safety. What do I mean by "fractional reserve banking"? My definition might surprise you. For me, fractional reserve banking simply means that the composition of a bank's assets is less liquid than that of its liabilities."