BTCJam

BTCjam was a peer-to-peer lending service using bitcoin. BTCjam was part of 500 Startups accelerator program and received investments from Ribbit Capital, Foundation Capital, Pantera Capital, and other venture capital firms. BTCJam closed on 2017, citing regulatory difficulties operating out of various jurisdictions.

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.

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.

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.

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. In May 2015, BTCjam launched new automatic investing tool.Patrick Murck, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, has joined the board of advisors of BTCJam.

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.

In 2017 the company disclosed that it would be shutting down entirely and ceasing operations.