Lending and borrowing venue CLST has closed a funding round, led by Spartan Group, with participation from Coinbase Ventures.
Through the capital raised, CLST aims to automate bilateral price negotiation and settlement for the unsecured and collateralised short-term debt market.
With a large number of institutions participating in the network following its launch in early 2022, CLST is going live with a wide market version of the application later this year.
CLST claims that the absence of counterparty risk assessment has plagued the lending industry, prohibiting sophisticated parties from participating in a lucrative sector of the industry. Currently, lenders have limited visibility over a borrower’s trading risk, while borrowers have no oversight over the collateral deposited to obtain loans, CLST adds.
Consequently, CLST identifies automation and security in collateral management, combined with counterparty risk assessment, as its key pillars.
Kraken Ventures, GSR, Menai Financial Group, Luno Expeditions, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, and TX Ventures — the venture capitalVC investment arm of TX Group — also participated in the funding round.
Michael Guzik, founder and CEO of CLST, says: “In tandem with our world-class investors and partners, we are establishing a market for stablecoins, digital assets, fiat, and beyond.
“With the new funding, CLST will bolster its peer-to-peer infrastructure through increased operational and market expansion, ultimately creating an ease of lending that has not yet been made possible between institutional entities, until now.”
Leeor Groen, director of Spartan Group, adds: “With the current market environment exposing points of failure, it is clear that the crypto industry needs a better way to manage liquidity and counterparty risk as it continues to mature.
“We are glad to back the CLST team as they launch the leading platform to facilitate both institutional borrowing and lending, as well as treasury management solutions for digital asset market participants.”
