Debifi is the leading non-customer-specific P2P-Bitcoin Rent platform for institutions
Founder: Max in (CEO)
Date founded: March 2024
Location of the headquarters: Lugano, Switzerland
Website: https://debifi.com/
Public or private? Private
Max Kei is a building contractor in the Bitcoin P2P area and an experienced banker, which has clearly qualified for the creation of Debifi, a non-customer-specific, Bitcoin-supported P2P credit platform, which mainly serves institutions.
Keis work in the Bitcoin area began in 2017 when he contributed to Hodl Hodl for the first time, which quickly became a widespread non -customer -specific P2P trading platform.
In 2020 he helped the exchange start at Hodl Hodl, the first non -customer -specific P2P product and credit product in the Bitcoin area.
The product achieved Latin America and Southeast Asia at the appeal where it was used to facilitate microcoloa, while Preston Pysh (now strategic advisor to Debifi) is interested in the product and the well -known Cypherpunk Adam Back Sang.
According to Kei, it is the team’s high quality reputation behind Hodl Hodl, some of whom are now working on Debifi and attract users for Debifi.
“Many lenders and borrowers go to Debifi because they know that the team has very extensive experience,” Kei told Bitcoin Magazine.
“People are satisfied because we have gone through several bear cycles and let them survive,” he added.
“Now we have taken over the concept of loans at Hodl Hodl and moved them into the institutional space.”
From banker to the bitcoiner
Kei worked as a private banker before searching for Bitcoin.
He resigned from his position before he went “full Bitcoin rabbit hole” at the end of 2015, partly in response to an experience he had had with one of his customers.
“A year before I quit, I sat with one of my customers in a meeting in the bank office and showed myself his phone and said:” At some point you know in the future, I will not need you because I have Bitcoin, “said Kei.
The customer then sent Bitcoin worth 15,000 US dollars to a contact from his in Brazil, said Kei, who thought himself that his customer was crazy. However, it didn’t take long for Kei to realize that his customer was not crazy, but on something.
“I started doing my own research and I quickly realized that Bitcoin was a real thing,” said Kei.
Kei turned to Bitcoin shortly afterwards. After he has spent eight years in the Bitcoin room, he is assuming that banks will still play a role in a hyperbitized future.
“Banks will not disappear,” said Kei.
“You will be infrastructure providers for Bitcoin companies, for startups for everyone. They will still be a backbone, ”he added.
He recognized this when banks and other financial institutions expressed interest in the use of the loans at Hodl Hodl.
Differentiation with Debifi
Within months after the start loan at Hodl Hodl, the institutions turned to the Hodl Hodl team, in which they applied for the use of the platform.
“You said” Hey, we want to be available for Bitcoin credit, “recalled Kei.
“But we did not want to mix the world of the microlender with the world of institutional loans. We found that we had to do something else. So the concept of Debifi was launched, ”he added.
Kei Brainstorming Debifi started in 2022. A year later, they collected money from risk capital companies such as Ten31 and Timechain to build a minimally viable product (MVP). Debifi was live until March 2024.
The platform has in operation in the beta and the official version will go live at the end of the month. Nevertheless, Kei explained that Debifi was already fully functional.
“Just because the product is in beta does not mean that it is not ready for operation – it is actually fully functional,” he said.
And so this brings us to the next question: How exactly does Debifi work?
How Debifi works
Debifi is both a website and a mobile app and the two work together.
“We have a unique promise of value that the mobile app acts as a key memory,” said Kei. “The mobile app becomes a wallet that stores your private key, but you have to use the website to conclude contracts.”
If you sign a transaction, create a trust for a loan or pay off a loan, use the mobile app to do this.
Users can also choose the ColdCard devices (MK4 or Q) instead of the mobile app, and Kei hopes to also support other hardware money exchanges.
“We would like to support Jade from Blockstream, Ledger devices, Trezor devices, the foundation pass and bitbox – all these good names – because we would like to offer our customers flexibility,” said Kei.
The collateral for Debifi loans are equipped with four keys in a multi -digit letter bag (multi -signature), three of which are required to log out transactions.
“At Debifi we have a unique multi-signature setup,” said Kei. “All loans are kept in a 3-out-of-4 multi-brief bag, while the standard is 2-out-of-3.”
The borrower, the lender and Debifi each hold a key, while the fourth is held by Anchorwatch. Kei claims that a fourth key, which is held by a trustworthy institution like Anchorwatch, dramatically increases security.
“With two institutions that keep the keys, even if the keys from the lender and the borrower are somehow endangered, they still have to get a key,” said Kei. “If we remove anchorwatch and decide a simple model with two years, we may end in a situation in which attackers have two keys and the attacker does not need a third key.”
Debifi loans are over -collateralized (forced liquidations occur if the value of Bitcoin security drops under a certain level, which varies on the match between the borrower and the lender) and the average APR is just over 10%.
Kei said that his team’s research had shown that many are willing to pay the higher APR for non -customers.
“Some time ago we spoke to 300 Bitcoiners and gave them a very simple option: You can borrow the custody at an interest rate of 8% or not borrow interest with 11% or 12%,” he said. “91% of the people stated that they would prefer to keep their keys.”
Users can take on loans via the platform up to $ 1 million and the loan duration range from three to 12 months. From April this will take 24 months.
Users can borrow stable coins, US dollars, euros and Swiss francs in US dollars, and Debifi is working on this list to add British pounds, Brazilian reality and Mexican pesos.
Debifi monetizes the creation fees that it takes out of the collateral, and it has a dispute settlement team that contributes to solving problems and other problems with the repayment of loans.
What’s next for Debifi
As already mentioned, Debifi Preston Pysh has just received a strategic consultant to help the company with networking and advertising. Pysh will also give advice to improve Debifi.
The company also plans to join the Department of Asset Management (Blockstreams Asset Management). BAM will use Debifi as a technical provider of institutions who want to offer Bitcoin-supported loan products.
In addition, Kei noticed that there are also a number of other important partnerships in the pipeline and that Debifi will announce it in the coming months.
And he concluded with a pitch to all institutions who are interested in working with Debifi.
“Debifi helps you to play as an institution in the Bitcoin-supported credit world,” said Kei.
“We offer you the necessary infrastructure. We will have them on board and lead them with private support. We give you all the necessary tools, ”he added.
“We will be effective like a one-stop shop. You don’t just have to build this stuff because it is already there, we bring you the customers with whom you can communicate directly. And the best thing is that as a liquidity provider you don’t pay us anything. Zero.”
It is difficult to argue that Kei and his team are on something here.
