Women in Fintech: At the Forefront of Making Crypto and Lending More Inclusive

One of these women is Flori Marquez founder of BlockFi who made a transition from traditional Fintech at Bond into the ecosystem of crypto lending At a highlevel she shared the company39s evolution quotBlockFi tries to build a bridge between traditional finance and crypto Our first product was a US dollarbacked loan by crypto so if you owned a lot of Bitcoin you could access liquidity without selling Over the last four years we expanded that business model and now offer interest accounts where you can earn up to eight percent on stable coinsquotFor those less familiar Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency cryptocurrency that you can buy sell and exchange directly without an intermediary like a bank Stable coins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to an outside asset such as the US dollar or gold to stabilize the priceFlori continued at rapid speed quotWe offer the ability to tradewe take in crypto assets from retail users and we also turn cash into stable coin and then we lend those assets out to institutional investors who pay us a yield to borrow those assets which we then flow back to our retail users in the form of an interest paymentquotThe biggest challenge she faced three and a half years ago were traditional investors were not interested in the riskiness of crypto assets Today quotit39s growing like nothing I ever imagined Before COVID we had 80 employees Today we have over 600 with 15 billion in assets on the platform and over 300000 usersquotTerry Angelos Visa senior vice president global head Fintech Visa who moderated the conversation was quick to add quotBlockFi recently raised another 350 million at a 3 billion dollar valuationquotIn Silicon Valley one of the most challenging parts of running a company is finding and retaining the right talent It39s supercompetitive and big companies have the financial resources to pay up making it harder for small startups Cynthia Chen founder of Kikoff found a way to attract talent quotInspire with missionquot She and her cofounder built Kikoff to help millions of underserved Americans who otherwise wouldn39t have easy and affordable access to credit productsquotWe knew it would be difficult for someone who isn39t affluent to build credit and those are the people who need credit the most We share our founders39 story of coming from lowtomoderate income families when recruiting and it has resonatedquotCynthia a serial entrepreneur with three unicorns including Figr under her belt said another method she uses to empower employees is to make a difference to do something that is impactful quotAt a small company everyone can be anything even if you39re an engineer you can still be a growth hacker you can share ideas to influence the customer experience That doesn39t usually happen at the big companies where you have a very defined scope of work Team members are joining us because they want to be entrepreneurs it39s a very good training camp for themquotThis is terrific advice for anyone starting a company Mission trumps everything elseSo how does the Kikoff loan work quotWe entered the market offering a microloan of 12 Users received a zero interest zero fee loan to pay back during a twelvemonth period It was a beta product that did very well We upgraded to a more traditional product line a 500 line of credit zero interest zero fee that consumers can use to shop at the Kikoff store Once they39ve made their final payment on the credit line we report their payment history to credit bureaus So basically consumers are building credit for freequotFlori highlighted the shift in our society to one of inclusion and diversity quotHistorically in finance whoever is running that company had an inherent bias you build for what you know It was primarily represented by one demographicquot Products that promote inclusivity make it easier for demographics that were traditionally excluded from financial products quotWith BlockFi it39s one price for all regardless of what country you39re fromquot Flori whose family is from Argentina has had the ability to influence that decision because of her background quot30 percent of our clients are nonUS and this is without active marketing outside the US It speaks to the needs of countries like Argentina and Peru They find us and convert themselves This is the first time in history you can send assets internationally without a partner bank it39s relatively seamlessquotBrynly Llyr general counsel at CLabs a blockchain technology company is at the forefront of where this innovation is going and what laws apply She has been active in the crypto world since 2016 with roles at eBay PayPal and Ripple Brynly acknowledged what keeps some investors at bay quotThere is still much to be improvedpart of what kept it on the fringe is that it has been associated with illegal activity We now have better technology that can give us better visibility If we go back 50 years why did we even have bank secrecy acts We didn39t have visibility into banks and we were concerned with folks going to open Swiss bank accounts and avoiding taxation That39s the genesis of the system we use todayquotShe continued quotWith open technologies we can see transactions across Blockchain we are starting from a different place and that is with much more visibility If we think about where we want to gobetter trusted compliant less expensive systems for more people in the world we39re getting there The current financial system excludes as many as 17 billion adults annually and this is a way to open it This is also an opportunity to monitor behavior we don39t want to see like money launderingquotSpeaking of her partnership with the Visa Fast Track Program Flori shared quotWe39re launching a credit card where you earn Bitcoin as a reward and Visa was the only partner I wanted because they move at the speed of light and were ready for a fast launch Crypto can be scary for someand maybe you don39t want to put your cash into buying Bitcoin for the first time but what if I told you you could give up airline miles and instead earn Bitcoin as a rewardquot Terry added there is currently a wait list for these cards so it39s something that has definitely struck a chord with consumersAs another vested partner in the Visa Fast Track Program Kikoff is launching a debit card with Visa attached to a deposit account that will help customers monitor their budget and plan so they can progress towards their goal of home ownershipFlori wound up the session on an inspiring note showing how women in crypto are helping people who have traditionally been excluded and making their assets work for them Cynthia hopes to help Americans who were affected by the pandemic recover and establish credit Brynly is excited about the opportunity for many innovators from all over the world to find a way to use Blockchain technology to invest in natural resources preserving forest and clean waterWe look forward to watching these women continue to disrupt the Fintech space View the full session hereClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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