Sid Powell, CEO and co-founder of Maple, is taking a page from Wall Street and bringing it on-chain. His company is rethinking institutional lending with crypto as the foundation — starting with Bitcoin.
In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Powell described the approach as “asset-backed lending on-chain.” It’s already getting attention from high-net-worth individuals and fixed-income investors.
Maple makes loans to institutions like trading firms and hedge funds, using crypto — like Bitcoin — as collateral. Borrowers get stablecoins sent directly to their wallets, while Maple holds the collateral in liquid digital assets. Investors then earn yield from those loans, much like traditional credit markets.
Unlike private credit markets, where loans are often unsecured and locked for years, Powell says Maple offers something far more appealing: loans that are over-collateralized and redeemable within 30 days.
This sounds familiar to anyone who’s dealt with margin lending or pledged securities. But crypto has one major edge: liquidity.
“Selling a house takes six months, but selling a billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin can take a couple of hours,” Powell said. “There are plenty of places I can sell (digital assets) if the loan goes sour.”
The collapse of crypto lenders such as BlockFi in 2022, combined with the volatility of crypto markets has made risk management a top concern.
Maple addresses this with institutional-grade custodians like BitGo and clear margin policies, offering yields comparable to high-yield credit but with a safety net of liquid collateral.
“We spend a lot of time explaining how we manage margins,” Powell noted. “If Bitcoin drops in price, how long do we wait before selling the asset? How much time do we give someone to post more collateral or pay down the loan?”
Powell’s vision extends beyond this product. He sees it as a stepping stone to compete with traditional finance giants like Apollo or Ares, potentially partnering with firms like J.P. Morgan to distribute standardized Bitcoin-backed securities to pension funds and marry the speed of crypto with the stability of traditional finance.
