Accountable Secures $2.3M Funding to Enhance Transparency in Crypto Lending and DeFi Platforms
Accountable is transforming the crypto lending landscape by solving a fundamental problem: the trade-off between transparency and privacy.
By leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, zkTLS and fully-homomorphic encryption (FHE), Accountable enables borrowers to provide real time verifiable proof of their financial health to lenders without revealing sensitive data. This approach restores trust and efficiency to the crypto lending market, driving greater stability and inclusivity within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Accountable is announcing that it has raised $2.3M in seed funding led by MitonC and Zee Prime Capital, with participation from Maven 11 Group, CMCC Global, Summer Ventures, Moonhill Capital, and Aquanow Ventures. Key angel investors include Darius Rugys from Maven 11(@dariusrugys) and DCBuilder from the Worldcoin Foundation (@DCbuild3r). This investment marks a significant step forward in rebuilding the undercollateralized crypto credit space.
"Accountable is an example of a genuinely curious team that has a single unique insight, strong conviction, and applies it to non-obvious problems, far beyond where the typical crypto imitators are looking. The crypto credit market was broken in 2022, and it was left to die. If Accountable is right, they will be responsible for starting a great cycle of credit expansion in crypto. We will have a bull market that requires no blessing from the ivory tower of TradFi.
Rapolas from Zee Prime Capital
Addressing the Crypto Lending Crisis
The crypto lending sector has struggled to recover from the 2022 market downturn, which saw the collapse of dominant institutions like Celsius, BlockFi, and Genesis. In response, surviving lenders have implemented stringent terms, including high collateral requirements and steep interest rates. These requirements have stemmed primarily from the issue that it has not been feasible for lenders to access holistic and verifiable information about prospective borrowers’ creditworthiness — firms seeking credit in crypto are almost exclusively financial institutions where fully disclosing their finances would be tantamount to open-sourcing their entire business model, which is an impossible ask. This disequilibrium has stifled un(der)collateralized lending in the crypto space, and is the primary issue that Accountable was created to address.
"The future of finance lies in programmable cryptography. We believe that new advances in cryptography have the potential to revolutionize information exchanges. In the near future, all valuable data will come with verifiability levels and cryptographic proofs attached. A solution like Accountable might not have been possible five years ago, but today, we can leverage newly-developed cryptographic primitives to restart the credit industry—placing transparency at the heart of how we do business.”
Ioan Moldovan, CTO and Co-Founder of Accountable
Accountable's Novel Approach
Accountable leverages cutting-edge cryptographic technologies, including zero-knowledge proofs, zkTLS and fully-homomorphic encryption (FHE), to, for the first time, simultaneously enable live transparency and privacy in the credit process. These newly-developed primitives allow a potential borrower to paint a comprehensive picture of their financial status on the Accountable platform without revealing any sensitive information regarding their underlying assets. From there, the borrower can leverage Accountable’s decentralized architecture to share these comprehensive, yet private financial reports with potential lenders in a peer-to-peer fashion.
Key features of Accountable's Data Verification Platform include:
Custom connectors for various asset sources (custodians, banks, blockchain wallets, exchanges)
Decentralized application architecture ensuring user data never leaves their local environment
Peer-to-peer sharing of verifiable financial reports
Comprehensive analytics and smart alerts
"The crypto industry's oversight of credit markets since the 2022 fallout has been startling. It's as if we've been trying to build a skyscraper without a proper foundation. A robust lending ecosystem is the bedrock of any thriving financial landscape, yet our sector has only recently begun to grasp its significance. Accountable isn't just filling a gap; it's laying the groundwork for crypto's maturation. We see it as a pivotal force that could propel our industry beyond its current limitations, potentially reshaping crypto into a more resilient and comprehensive financial system."
Michael Kwok, CIO at Aquanow Ventures
Traction and Early Adoption
Accountable has already demonstrated significant traction, with a total of $2 million Bitcoin loans facilitated on its platform, connecting major lenders like MitonC and Tulipa Capital and borrowers like CyantArb Group and Amber Group in the space.
“Being able to get such comprehensive, real-time analytics from a borrower is a zero-to-one unlock in lending” says David Bala from MitonC. “In the past, prospective borrowers have been constrained by the sensitive nature of their holdings, and have not been motivated to provide us with the metrics we need in order to be comfortable issuing a loan. However, Accountable has eliminated this tension point and given borrowers the tools they need to comprehensively prove their creditworthiness. By leveraging Accountable, we have been able to lend out more capital with greater peace of mind by having a detailed picture of our counterparty’s finances.”
From a borrower’s perspective, CyantArb Group said, "As a group with HFT trading at our core, accessing debt without compromising proprietary data is essential to maintaining our competitive edge. Accountable’s innovative approach enables CyantArb Group to demonstrate our financial position securely, safeguarding the sensitive data integral to strategies being used by our trading entities. With cryptographically verified insights delivered through a decentralized architecture, Accountable empowers us to maintain confidentiality while building trusted connections with our lenders."
Broader Use Cases
The modularity of Accountable's tech stack also lends itself to use cases outside of crypto lending. Any time a piece of data needs to be verified, whether in the context of credit markets or not, Accountable can be leveraged.
One significant use case is proof of reserves for exchanges, stablecoin issuers and DeFi platforms. Traditionally, proof of reserves is completed infrequently, often only once a month in the most optimistic scenarios. This leaves room for doubt and uncertainty about the true financial health of these entities. With Accountable, exchanges and stablecoin issuers can prove their solvency in real-time by providing live, verifiable data about their assets and liabilities. This ability to prove reserves in real-time can help prevent bank runs and bolster market confidence during times of stress.
Beyond proof of reserves, Accountable's technology has potential applications in auditing, regulatory compliance, and any other domain where verified data is essential. As the crypto industry matures and faces increased scrutiny, tools like Accountable that provide transparency and trust will undoubtedly be indispensable.
Future Vision: The platform everybody interacts with to access crypto credit
While Accountable currently serves institutional clients, they have their sights set on becoming the platform everybody interacts with to access crypto credit, from the largest market maker down to the smallest retail participant. “While their fates were disastrous, platforms like Celsius and BlockFi illustrated the massive retail appetite for crypto-based yields,” says Accountable CEO Wojtek Pawlowski. “Our intent is to make crypto credit accessible to everybody, and to do it the right way this time.”
Accountable has their sights set on the following in the near future:
Expanding access to crypto lending for retail investors in a transparent and secure manner
Functioning as a capital formation and settlement layer
Offering privacy-preserving requests for quote (RFQs)
“Accountable is at the forefront of rebuilding trust and efficiency in crypto lending,” says Pawlowski. “We have worked in credit markets for years, and are intimately aware of its pain points. Programmable cryptography is a zero-to-one unlock for the space, and we couldn't be more excited to trailblaze a more open and equitable lending system.”
Accountable is on a mission to build a financial future that is transparent yet privacy preserving where the need for trust is eliminated - enabling both retail and institutional players to participate in more safe and efficient capital (credit) markets that drive economic growth and innovation.
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For any inquiries, please reach out to us via contact@accountable.capital