Apr 17, 2020
Location: Zoom
Date: Wednesday, 8th April
Project:
BlockFi
Role: Co-Founders
On March 12th Bitcoin fell by over 50% from ~$8,000 to ~$3,800. One day earlier, the World Health Organisation had escalated the evolving COVID-19 situation to pandemic status, and Bitcoin wasn't alone in this, markets around the world crashed.
The Coronavirus black swan event caused huge volatility which has been a critical concern held by many Bitcoiners about Bitcoin financial service companies. Critiques of these services have questioned what the impact would be of such an event on crypto-backed loans and whether they would lead to high default rates from borrowers. Would the risk management strategies put in place by companies such as BlockFi be robust enough?
Coronavirus would trigger the market collapse that would test the doubter's theories.
In this interview, I talk to Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, the co-founders of BlockFi, a bitcoin financial services business. We discuss how they manage high volatility, operating as a custodian and the state of the Bitcoin market.