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New Bitcoin lending platform: BitLendingClub Beta is now live

We are glad to announce the launch of BitLendingClub Beta. BitLendingClub is a peer to peer bitcoin lending platform which uses Dutch auction-style lending in order to offer borrowers the most efficient rates and to provide lenders with the best return on investment. Another key feature of our business is that we only collect loan fees when the loan gets repaid. To be more precise: our fee is 1% of the loan and each time the borrower makes a payment, we factor out 1% to cover the loan fee. This approach gives our lenders the confidence that BitLendingClub also has a financial stake at reducing defaults. Be the first to join us and find out abut the great features we offer to our customers: * Dutch auction-style lending. * Efficient interest rate discovery. * Peer-to-peer lending platform. * Close partnership with lenders to maximize return on investment. * Loan fees only collected when the loans get repaid. As much as we're excited about the launch, we would still like to let you know that we're in Beta. There may be some minor issues with the website, but we're always available to address any problems via chat or e-mail. Do not hesitate to contact us and share any problems that you notice. With that said, please join our website and help us deliver the best lending platform for your needs. With Kind Regards, The BitLendingClub Team http://www.bitlendingclub.com

t0 13y ago
How will you combat the huge amount of fraud?
- BitLendingClub 13y ago
  It's a challenge, but people are willing to take risks at the moment despite there being fraud. We're verifying IDs, addresses, phone numbers (coming soon), social media profiles and we have a comment section with each loan so lenders can ask borrowers for additional information. Our main competitor is btcjam.com and people have funded over 15k BTC worth of loans in the last year. We're hoping to offer a better platform and we're also eventually looking to target a slightly different borrower segment. Our main recommendation is that people don't invest a lot of money in a single loan. Investments should be split up into small chucks and spread out accordingly. If a particular borrower's credit history is lacking, but their loan request is fairly big, then the lenders should probably avoid funding that loan. We're also going to integrate with WoT and integrate all the loans terms with the block chain, so people can monitor lending transactions/credit ratings just by scanning the block chain for our transactions. In the future we're hoping to provide more standard ways to collect on defaults and insure loans.
ig1 13y ago
Doesn't look serious. First pass: * Doesn't list a regulator, probably unlicensed money lender * Company about page is empty, no registered company address or identity * No legal jurisdiction given. * No evidence on who the team is and what they're experience in loans are (legal, risk, etc.) * Empty T&C - probably means you don't even have lawyers, can't find lending contract anywhere on site, does one even exist ? And the list could go on. It's like launching Amazon without having any books or the logistics to handle ordering. There's also a decent chance the site as it exists (even if it's not currently processing loans) might violate the law (in a "Go to jail, do not pass Go" sense) depending on where it's operating from. This is the kind of business where you have to have a lawyer, because there's so many things going on which can have serious legal repercussions.
- BitLendingClub 13y ago
  Hi, Thanks for the constructive criticism, we are working to address all of our clients' and potential clients' concerns in a timely manner. First and foremost, I'd like to make a clarification: we're not a money lender, we only facilitate the lending. Lenders sign up on our website, fund their accounts with BTC and they decide who to lend to, at what interest rate and how much to fund loans for. BitLendingClub does not perform any funding itself. Bitcoin lending, and Bitcoin in general, don't fall under any particular state/country's regulatory jurisdiction. As such, it's not necessary for us to register with any regulators as long as we don't facilitate lending of some state currency, such as USD, EUR, GBP, etc. I live and operate this website from Chicago, IL, but based on the current statements from the government and since we only allow lending with Bitcoins, it doesn't seem like we have to comply with any specific lending regulations within Illinois or the states. I've updated the company page to include the corporate information: BitLendingClub is owned by Tanager, Inc registered in the State of Illinois in October 08, 2009. File number: 66992225 Name registered under: Kiril Gantchev Address registered under (residential): 217 N. Park Blvd. Streamwood, IL 60107 Please feel free to look up the corporate information at http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController With regards to the team: people can find out about the team by visiting the About Us page (http://bitlendingclub.com/content/about-us http://bitlendingclub.com/content/about-us). The page lists the CEO (myelf) and the CTO of the company as well as links to our LinkedIn profiles. The LinkedIn profiles include our current employers and cities where we live/work. I live and work in Chicago, IL and a cursory search in google will confirm all of that information. Both of us are software developers, so we don't have particular experience in loans, but we hope that the key aspect we're going to resolve is providing the platform where people with experience in lending can conduct lending. The T&C is empty because we're still in Beta and we were more focused on the functionality rather than the content. We're working with our lawyer to draft a T&C prior to completing the Beta. Best Regards, Kiril Gantchev CEO of BitLendingClub
LexanneLexanne 13y ago
I need to learn about bitcoin investing but I'm almost computer illiterate. Does that exclude me?
- BitLendingClub 13y ago
  With respect to your computer literacy skills, you seem to be doing pretty fine if you're posting here :). With that said, I still wouldn't recommend investing in bitoin unless you understand the technology behind it and you understand some basic about investing in general.
LexanneLexanne 13y ago
I need to learn about bitcoin investing. Can you direct me to anyone?
- BitLendingClub 13y ago
  I would suggest you visit http://www.reddint.com/r/Bitcoin http://www.reddint.com/r/Bitcoin on or http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com and post your questions there. I would NOT recommend that you begin investing unless you have a descent understanding of bitcoin and investing in general. There is a lot of fraud now and the people that are likely to lose money are the ones that are not very familiar with the various aspects of investing and bitcoin.

t0 13y ago

How will you combat the huge amount of fraud?

BitLendingClub 13y ago
It's a challenge, but people are willing to take risks at the moment despite there being fraud. We're verifying IDs, addresses, phone numbers (coming soon), social media profiles and we have a comment section with each loan so lenders can ask borrowers for additional information. Our main competitor is btcjam.com and people have funded over 15k BTC worth of loans in the last year. We're hoping to offer a better platform and we're also eventually looking to target a slightly different borrower segment. Our main recommendation is that people don't invest a lot of money in a single loan. Investments should be split up into small chucks and spread out accordingly. If a particular borrower's credit history is lacking, but their loan request is fairly big, then the lenders should probably avoid funding that loan. We're also going to integrate with WoT and integrate all the loans terms with the block chain, so people can monitor lending transactions/credit ratings just by scanning the block chain for our transactions. In the future we're hoping to provide more standard ways to collect on defaults and insure loans.

ig1 13y ago

Doesn't look serious. First pass: * Doesn't list a regulator, probably unlicensed money lender * Company about page is empty, no registered company address or identity * No legal jurisdiction given. * No evidence on who the team is and what they're experience in loans are (legal, risk, etc.) * Empty T&C - probably means you don't even have lawyers, can't find lending contract anywhere on site, does one even exist ? And the list could go on. It's like launching Amazon without having any books or the logistics to handle ordering. There's also a decent chance the site as it exists (even if it's not currently processing loans) might violate the law (in a "Go to jail, do not pass Go" sense) depending on where it's operating from. This is the kind of business where you have to have a lawyer, because there's so many things going on which can have serious legal repercussions.

BitLendingClub 13y ago
Hi, Thanks for the constructive criticism, we are working to address all of our clients' and potential clients' concerns in a timely manner. First and foremost, I'd like to make a clarification: we're not a money lender, we only facilitate the lending. Lenders sign up on our website, fund their accounts with BTC and they decide who to lend to, at what interest rate and how much to fund loans for. BitLendingClub does not perform any funding itself. Bitcoin lending, and Bitcoin in general, don't fall under any particular state/country's regulatory jurisdiction. As such, it's not necessary for us to register with any regulators as long as we don't facilitate lending of some state currency, such as USD, EUR, GBP, etc. I live and operate this website from Chicago, IL, but based on the current statements from the government and since we only allow lending with Bitcoins, it doesn't seem like we have to comply with any specific lending regulations within Illinois or the states. I've updated the company page to include the corporate information: BitLendingClub is owned by Tanager, Inc registered in the State of Illinois in October 08, 2009. File number: 66992225 Name registered under: Kiril Gantchev Address registered under (residential): 217 N. Park Blvd. Streamwood, IL 60107 Please feel free to look up the corporate information at http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController With regards to the team: people can find out about the team by visiting the About Us page (http://bitlendingclub.com/content/about-us http://bitlendingclub.com/content/about-us). The page lists the CEO (myelf) and the CTO of the company as well as links to our LinkedIn profiles. The LinkedIn profiles include our current employers and cities where we live/work. I live and work in Chicago, IL and a cursory search in google will confirm all of that information. Both of us are software developers, so we don't have particular experience in loans, but we hope that the key aspect we're going to resolve is providing the platform where people with experience in lending can conduct lending. The T&C is empty because we're still in Beta and we were more focused on the functionality rather than the content. We're working with our lawyer to draft a T&C prior to completing the Beta. Best Regards, Kiril Gantchev CEO of BitLendingClub

LexanneLexanne 13y ago

I need to learn about bitcoin investing but I'm almost computer illiterate. Does that exclude me?

BitLendingClub 13y ago
With respect to your computer literacy skills, you seem to be doing pretty fine if you're posting here :). With that said, I still wouldn't recommend investing in bitoin unless you understand the technology behind it and you understand some basic about investing in general.

LexanneLexanne 13y ago

I need to learn about bitcoin investing. Can you direct me to anyone?

BitLendingClub 13y ago
I would suggest you visit http://www.reddint.com/r/Bitcoin http://www.reddint.com/r/Bitcoin on or http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com and post your questions there. I would NOT recommend that you begin investing unless you have a descent understanding of bitcoin and investing in general. There is a lot of fraud now and the people that are likely to lose money are the ones that are not very familiar with the various aspects of investing and bitcoin.