Goldfinch's $20 million lending pool has encountered bad debts, and the RWA projects favored by a16z are experiencing frequent risks
There is a risk of a loss of 7 million dollars, and the underwriter of the borrower Stratos, Warbler Labs, stated that it will compensate all losses for the investors in the lending pool.Author: BlockBeats
Two Risk Events in the Past Month, Previously Led by a16z in Two Rounds
On October 7, according to CoinDesk, a report from the governance platform of the RWA DeFi lending protocol Goldfinch indicated that a $20 million lending pool on its platform has experienced bad debts, with $7 million at risk of loss. It is reported that this lending pool provided a $20 million loan to the fintech credit fund Stratos in February 2022, with a four-year term and secured at an annual interest rate of 11%. Warbler Labs acted as the underwriter. However, Stratos did not meet expectations for a real estate tech company REZI and digital asset investments, and Warbler Labs stated it would compensate all losses for the investors in this lending pool.
This is not the first risk and default event that has occurred on Goldfinch. BlockBeats previously reported that on September 14, Goldfinch reached an agreement with the $5 million loan defaulter Tugende on a loan restructuring plan. It is reported that this plan may recover the $5 million loan that Tugende defaulted on for its motorcycle financing project in East Africa.
It is noted that Tugende had previously defaulted on the $5 million funds drawn from the Goldfinch protocol for its Kenya operations in October 2021. As of May this year, Tugende's monthly interest was $53,400, with five months remaining until the principal was due. Since it began defaulting in June, this has caused panic within the Goldfinch community.
Goldfinch is a star project in the RWA track and has high hopes from venture capital firms like a16z. According to previous reports, Goldfinch raised $11 million and $25 million in funding led by a16z in 2021 and 2022, respectively. On May 6, 2022, the outstanding balance on the Goldfinch platform exceeded $100 million.
Related Reading: “ Goldfinch: Bridging Traditional Finance and the DeFi World | Project Introduction” The Goldfinch protocol will grant credit lines to lending institutions, which can borrow stablecoins from the protocol's funding pool through these credit lines. After obtaining stablecoins, the institutions will convert them into fiat currency and lend the fiat to their users through traditional means. This way, the off-chain market can fully enjoy the value of on-chain assets, and the value of on-chain assets will be infinitely magnified. All issuance, underwriting, and related business of off-chain debts will be handled by relevant professional institutions.
Community Comments: Goldfinch "Blows Up Faster than P2P"
Now, with two consecutive events involving financial risks occurring on the Goldfinch platform within a month, community users have expressed doubts about its safety. BODL Ventures partner @fishkiller posted on social media X (formerly Twitter), pointing out that the Stratos pool has continuously invested in two projects, both of which yielded nothing, and questioned whether there are more hidden operations behind Goldfinch's blow-up.
Some users have compared it to previous P2P blow-ups, believing that Goldfinch's blow-up speed is "much faster" than that of P2P.
