BlockFi founder and CEO Zac Prince mentioned Wednesday {that a} funding deal from FTX allowed the corporate to bolster its stability sheet and “navigate these market conditions from a position of strength.”
However, talking to CNBC, the head of the cryptocurrency alternate pushed again on the concept the agency was near changing into one other high-profile casualty of the present market downturn, saying its scenario was not similar to these of flameouts like Celsius and Luna.
Drawing parallels to 2008, when a chapter at Lehman Brothers sparked the start of the monetary disaster, Prince mentioned, “It’s night and day. You can’t compare Goldman to Lehman Brothers in terms of how they’ve continued to operate.”
He added: “With the passing of time, folks will realize how different platforms like BlockFi are from some of those [others].”
Early this month, embattled BlockFi entered right into a take care of FTX to obtain a $400M revolving credit score facility. The settlement additionally contains an possibility for FTX to doubtlessly buy BlockFi.
Asked if BlockFi was on the verge of chapter when the deal was struck, Prince prevented the query however famous “we had a lot of options.”
Looking on the general crypto market, Prince predicted that the trade would survive “whatever this is going to be” due to the long-term worth of particular person initiatives. Specifically, he pointed to Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rising as a possible retailer of worth and the continued growth of blockchain expertise.
“This is a market that’s going to be in a long-term growth trend. There’s a lot of very valuable things happening in this sector,” he mentioned.
Prince’s feedback come because the crypto market has crashed in 2022. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) at the moment sits simply above $19K after having traded just below $69K late final yr. Ethereum (ETH-USD) hovers above $1K after topping $4.8K final yr.
Meanwhile, in style names like Cardano (ADA-USD), Solana (SOL-USD) and Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) have all fallen no less than 60% thus far in 2022. However, taking a look at these declines, Prince nonetheless sees long-term worth.
“We’re going to look back years down the road from now at prices that were observed over the next few weeks and months and say, ‘that was a phenomenal time to build a position,'” he mentioned.
For extra on what’s in retailer for Bitcoin, see why Seeking Alpha contributor Knox Ridley thinks latest volatility could possibly be half of a bigger uptrend.
