Moon Mortgage, a Miami-based cryptocurrency lending platform, said this week it has launched two products that allow crypto investors to materialize their digital wealth.
The first product, Trade & Borrow, is the world's first crypto loan margin account that allows investors to borrow against the value of their cryptocurrency while still maintaining some control over it, the company said. Investors can still trade their digital assets after they have taken out a cash loan, meaning they don't have to lose their potential upside, it said.
Moon Mortgage added it is working with a fully chartered U.S. digital asset bank to ensure borrowers' cryptocurrency is secure, and all digital assets are stored by Moon Mortgage with the bank on a like-for-like basis.
Investors can take out a loan using Trade & Borrow on one-, three-, or six-month terms, and borrowers have the option to renew their loans. There are no prepayment penalties or origination fees, and investors can easily exit their position when they feel the time is right, the company said.
Moon Mortgage said it has focused on keeping the process as simple as possible, with investors able to receive their loans in as few as three steps.
The second product is Moon Mortgage's core mortgage product, which allows crypto investors to use their assets to secure funding for purchases of real estate. The product has been designed to work like a traditional mortgage, with the difference being that digital assets serve as additional collateral. Investors can receive financing for real estate purchases in as few as six steps, with the expected average close time in as little as 14 days. the company said.
The crypto mortgage has been launched for house buyers in Florida, Texas, and Colorado, and will be open to investors in most states across the U.S. for investment properties, the company said. Moon Mortgage will take the investors' digital assets as additional collateral and will then provide 100% of the financing for investment properties, and later for owner-occupied properties. As with its Trade & Borrow offering, assets used to secure financing for mortgages will be stored by Moon Mortgage with its U.S. banking partner.
Moon Mortgage's two new products follow its raising of $3.5 million in seed funding in October 2022. The platform is actively looking to engage more brokers to partner with as it looks to build in scale to supply investor demand. The company is also looking to offer support for more digital assets in the future.
"The use case for crypto has to go beyond investment potential. It has to be about how an investor can use it for real-world gains," said Tristan Marino, co-founder and chief operating officer for Moon Mortgage. "While the full convergence of TradFi and crypto is still a long way off, we are working to bridge the gap now. Our crypto mortgage product is how we are doing that; allowing investors to be able to truly materialize their digital wealth into real estate investments, as simply as possible and with compliance and safety. Along with our Trade & Borrow product, we are aiming to transform the crypto space from a simple investment speculation to a true financial system."
