Diginex crypto exchange adds borrowing and lending services

Diginex Limited (Nasdaq: EQOS), a crypto exchange operator and full digital assets financial services company, is expanding its product suite to add borrowing and lending facilities. The technology will enable customers of Diginex to lend and earn interest on their Bitcoin assets and Ether, which is the asset of the Ethereum network, as well as borrow these cryptocurrencies against their existing crypto holdings.

The crypto borrowing and lending market has increased tenfold over the past 12 months. In 2020, crypto-backed loan volumes grew to $10 billion[1] from just $1bn in 2019, driven by increased investment activity from institutions.

The market for yield enhancement opportunities for crypto assets has grown as hedge funds and institutional investors look for facilities that will allow them to earn an additional return on their crypto holdings and to enable margin trading.

Richard Byworth, CEO of Diginex commented: "Borrowing and Lending provides yield to this asset class and a necessary hedge for derivative and volatility traders as we continue to expedite the growth of crypto derivatives. We look forward to completing the integration of this institutional grade technology."

This announcement follows Diginex's listing on October 1st, becoming the first Nasdaq listed company with a cryptocurrency exchange and setting the industry standard in good governance. It also underscores its commitment to providing a full suite of digital asset financial services products to institutional and professional investors.

The new integrated borrowing and lending platform will manage the entire lending lifecycle, actively managing collateral throughout the term and is a key to providing efficient and liquid markets.  

The technology will seamlessly integrate with Diginex's ecosystem to provide licensed borrowing and lending capabilities, subject to regulatory approvals.

The ability to borrow and lend on the platform is key to Diginex's customer base of professional traders and will complement the planned suite of derivatives and trading tools including cross collateralization, portfolio margining and capital efficiency products that are being rolled out.

Shane Edwards, Head of Investment Products at Diginex, said: "With interest rates at historic lows there has never been a better time to offer crypto borrowing and lending. We are excited to unveil truly differentiated products with uniquely attractive risk return characteristics, unmatched in the traditional marketplace."