Founder: Max Kei (CEO)
Date Founded: March 2024
Location of Headquarters: Lugano, Switzerland
Website: https://debifi.com/
Public or Private? Private
Max Kei is a builder in the Bitcoin P2P space as well as a seasoned banker, which makes him uniquely qualified to create Debifi, a noncustodial, bitcoin-backed P2P lending platform that primarily serves institutions.
Kei’s work in the Bitcoin space began in 2017, when he first contributing to Hodl Hodl, which quickly became a widely used noncustodial P2P trading platform.
In 2020, he helped the exchange launch Lend at Hodl Hodl, the first noncustodial P2P borrowing and lending product in the Bitcoin space.
The product gained traction in Latin America and Southeast Asia, where it was used to facilitate microloans, while the likes of Preston Pysh (now Strategic Advisor to Debifi) took interest in the product and renowned cypherpunk Adam Back also sang its praises.
According to Kei, it’s the high-quality reputation of the team behind Lend at Hodl Hodl, some of whom now work on Debifi, that’s attracting users to Debifi.
“A lot of lenders and borrowers go to Debifi because they know the team has very extensive experience,” Kei told Bitcoin Magazine.
“People are satisfied, as we’ve been through multiple bear cycles and managed to survive,” he added.
“Now, we’ve taken the concept of Lend at Hodl Hodl and moved into the institutional space.”
From Banker To Bitcoiner
For 10 years before finding Bitcoin, Kei worked as a private banker.
He resigned from his position before “going full Bitcoin rabbit hole” at the end of 2015, partially as a reaction to an experience he had with one of his clients.
“A year before I quit, I was sitting in a meeting in the bank office with one of my clients and he was showing me his phone and saying ‘You know at some point in the future, I’m not going to need you because I have bitcoin,’” recounted Kei.
The client then proceeded to send $15,000 worth of bitcoin to a contact of his in Brazil, according to Kei, who thought to himself that his client was insane. However, it didn’t take long for Kei to realize that his client wasn’t crazy but, instead, onto something.
“I started doing my own research, and I quickly realized that Bitcoin is a real thing,” said Kei.
Kei pivoted to Bitcoin soon after. However, after spending eight years building in the Bitcoin space, he’s come to believe that banks will still have a role in a hyperbitcoinized future.
“Banks aren’t going to go away,” explained Kei.
“They will become infrastructure providers for Bitcoin companies, for startups, for everyone. They’re still going to be a backbone,” he added.
He realized this when banks and other financial institutions began expressing interest in using the Lend at Hodl Hodl product.
Differentiating With Debifi
Within months of launching Lend at Hodl Hodl, institutions reached out to the Hodl Hodl team requesting to use the platform.
“They said ‘Hey, we want to be available for bitcoin lending,’” recalled Kei.
“But we didn’t want to mix the world of microlending with the world of institutional lending. We realized we needed to do something different. That’s how the concept of Debifi came into existence,” he added.
In 2022, Kei began brainstorming Debifi. A year later, they raised money from venture capital firms including Ten31 and Timechain to build a minimum viable product (MVP). By March 2024, Debifi was live.
The platform has been operating in beta, and the official version will go live at the end of the month. With that said, Kei explained that Debifi is fully functional already.
“Just because the product is in beta doesn’t mean that it’s not operational — it’s actually fully operational,” 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 in tandem.
“We have a very unique value proposition is that the mobile app acts as a key storage,” said Kei. “The mobile app becomes a wallet, storing your private key, but you need to use the website in order to engage in contracts.”
When you sign a transaction, create an escrow for a loan, or pay off a loan, you use the mobile app to do so.
Users can also opt to use the COLDCARD devices (the Mk4 or the Q) in place of the mobile app, and Kei hopes to add support for other hardware wallets as well.
“We want to support Jade from Blockstream, Ledger devices, Trezor devices, the Foundation Passport, and BitBox — all these good names — because we want to provide flexibility for our customers,” explained Kei.
The collateral for Debifi loans is escrowed in a multisignature (multisig) wallet featuring four keys, three of which are needed to sign off on transactions.
“At Debifi, we have a unique multi-signature setup,” said Kei. “All loans are held in a 3-out-of-4 multsig wallet, while the standard is 2-out-of-3.”
The borrower, the lender and Debifi each hold one key, while the fourth is held by AnchorWatch. Kei claims that having a fourth key held by a trustworthy institution like AnchorWatch increases security dramatically.
“With two institutions holding keys, even if the lender’s and borrower’s keys are somehow compromised, you still need to get one more key,” said Kei. “If we remove AnchorWatch and go with a simple 2-out-of-3 model, then we might end up in a situation where attackers have two keys and the attacker doesn’t need a third key.”
Debifi loans are overcollateralized (forced liquidations occur if the value of the bitcoin collateral drops below a certain level, which varies based on the agreement between the borrower and lender) and the average APR is just above 10%.
Kei explained that his team’s research has shown that many are willing to pay the higher APR for noncustodial loans.
“A while back, we talked with 300 Bitcoiners and we gave them a very simple option: You can borrow custodially at an 8% interest rate or you can borrow noncustodially at 11% or 12% interest rate,” he explained. “91% of people said that they would prefer to hold their keys.”
Users can take out loans up to $1 million via the platform and the loan durations range from three to 12 months. As of April, this will expand to 24 months.
Users can borrow in U.S. dollar stablecoins, U.S. dollars, euros, and Swiss francs, and Debifi is working on adding British pounds, Brazilian reals, and Mexican pesos to that list.
Debifi monetizes through origination fees, which it takes from the collateral put in escrow, and it has a dispute resolution team that helps to resolve loan repayment issues and other problems.
What’s Next For Debifi
As mentioned, Debifi just brought on Preston Pysh as a strategic advisor in efforts to help the company with networking and publicity. Pysh will also provide advice on how to improve Debifi’s product.
The company also plans to partner with Blockstream’s Asset Management (BAM) division. BAM will utilize Debifi as a technical provider for institutions looking to offer bitcoin-backed lending products.
Beyond that, Kei noted that a number of other important partnerships are in the pipeline as well, and that Debifi will announce them in the coming months.
And he concluded with a pitch to all the institutions out there who might be interested in working with Debifi.
“Debifi helps you plug and play in the bitcoin-backed lending world as an institution,” said Kei.
“We provide you with all the necessary infrastructure. We’ll onboard you, and we’ll guide you with private support. We’ll give you all the necessary tools,” he added.
“Effectively, we’re going to be like a one-stop shop. Not only do you not have to build this stuff because it’s already there, we bring you the customers, which we allow you to communicate with directly. And the best part is that as a liquidity provider, you don’t pay us anything. Zero.”
It’s hard not to argue that Kei and his team are onto something here.
