Type Private Founder Celso Pitta | Founded 2012 Products Peer-to-Peer Lending | |
 | ||
Industry Personal Finance, Software Headquarters 211 Sutter St.
San Francisco, United States | ||
BTCjam is a company based in San Francisco, California, that provides a peer-to-peer lending service where people from around the world connect to borrow and lend using bitcoin. It is allowed to users in countries that lack a local credit score system to receive loans, based on an in-house credit-scoring algorithm. Its mission is to make credit affordable and accessible everywhere.
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BTCjam was part of 500 Startups accelerator program and received investments from Ribbit Capital, Foundation Capital, Pantera Capital, and other venture capital firms. It has facilitated bitcoin loans for more than US$14,000,000 in over 120 countries worldwide.
History
BTCjam was founded in late 2012 in order to help people have access to affordable credit. In some developing countries like Brazil, interest rates for personal loans can reach over 200% per year. Borrowers are unfortunately subject to aggressive predatory lending practices making credit difficult when not possible to be obtained.
2013
In October 2013, BTCjam was accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator program and secured seed financing from Ribbit Capital, 500 Startups, FundersClub and Bitcoin Investment Trust.
2014
In February 2014 BTCjam moved from Mountain View to San Francisco, California, and started expanding the company largely. Gustavo Guida Reis, a Brazilian entrepreneur and former shareholder of the Brazilian e-commerce property Buscapé, joined the company in May as shareholder and Chief Product Officer.
By the end of 2014 BTCjam had facilitated bitcoin loans in excess of US$10 million with more than 100,000 users in over 120 countries worldwide.
2015
In January 2015 BTCjam secured their Series A fundraising round, led by Foundation Capital (investors in Netflix, Uber and Lending Club), Ribbit Capital, 500 Startups, FundersClub, Bitcoin Investment Trust and Pantera Capital.
Patrick Murck, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, has joined the board of advisors of BTCJam.
2016
In March 2016, BTCjam stopped customers from the United States from creating an account on the site. The CEO of the firm cited regulatory issues and uncertainty in the United States as the reason for the restriction.