Figure Debuts Blockchain-Based Private Credit Marketplace

Figure Technology Solutions has launched a blockchain-based multi-seller, multi-buyer marketplace for private credit loans.

Dubbed “Figure Connect” and called a first-of-its-kind offering, the marketplace brings the company’s capital markets buyers to its loan origination partners, Figure said in a news release Wednesday (June 12).

The marketplace is a step toward building the first “highly liquid private capital marketplace for loans,” said Michael Tannenbaum, Figure’s chief executive.

“With Figure Connect, originators can receive forward commitments from buyers, lock active bids, control loan pricing to balance profitability and volume, and deliver pools of loans into those commitments,” the release said.

“This functionality is facilitated with common, standardized sale terms and documentation. Figure believes its loan origination partners now have unparalleled control over their business with committed liquidity, transparency, and informed loan pricing management — all integrated within Figure’s loan ecosystem,” the release added.

According to the release, Figure Connected uses Provenance Blockchain, a distributed, proof-of-stake blockchain, to increase efficiencies for loan buyers and sellers, allowing loans that may have taken months to settle happen in days.

“Figure Connect helps disintermediate the loan delivery process, standardizing key characteristics of loan pools and sale terms, and creating greater price certainty ahead of the initial loan origination,” the company said. “Ultimately, Figure believes this engenders market liquidity by adding certainty of funding to loan originators and collateral composition to loan buyers.”

In other recent blockchain related news, PYMNTS wrote last week that companies are increasingly exploring the potential of the technology to simplify cross-border payments while capturing improved cash flow and liquidity management.

“These payments have been shackled by high costs, slow settlement times and a lack of transparency in traditional payment rails,” that report said. “This friction imposes a punitive burden on businesses operating in multiple markets, stifling growth and innovation.”

But the evolution of blockchain technology could promise to reshape the landscape by providing a streamlined, cost-effective and secure alternative to traditional methods.

Assuming that blockchain-based cross-border payments go from experimental to essential, it will alter how businesses transact with each other around the world.

“Still, just as fiat and domestic-use payments innovations need to meet end-user expectations, cross-border settlement must align with local marketplace requirements — making compliance critical for any innovation to scale,” PYMNTS wrote.