Coinbase, Kraken Back Crypto Lending Platform CLST Seed Round

Crypto lending and borrowing platform CLST has attracted investment from the venture arms of crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken for its seed funding round, taking its funding to $5.3 million a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.

• CLST did not disclose the size of the round, led by Spartan Group, in its announcement.
• CLST's aim is to attract hedge funds, trading firms, asset managers and banks looking to lend and borrow digital assets. The firm offers automated price negotiation and settlement for short-term debt.
• Through allowing instant sharing of financial data between parties, CLST is hoping to attract institutional investors to digital assets who might otherwise be concerned by a lack of visibility over trading risk, collateral deposited and so on.
• CLST said its platform will go live later this year.
• Luno Expeditions, the early-stage investment arm of CoinDesk parent company Digital Currency Group, also participated in the round.

Read more: Crypto Lender BlockFi Had $1.8B in Open Loans at End of June and $600M of Exposure

UPDATE (12:08 UTC July 28 2022): Amends hed and first paragraph to reflect $5.3 million being the total figure raised by CLST thus far