Celsius, one of the largest CeFi lenders in blockchain finance, has announced a $30M sum of wrapped eth to Maple Finance in their first move of CelsiusX, the company’s newest addition, a DeFi-specific focus of their company. The pool will be held on Maple Finance, a DeFi provider of undercollateralized lending for institutional borrowers. They also offer fixed income opportunities for lenders.

“We are a technology platform for credit experts to run lending businesses and are in constant consultation with regulated and listed firms,” Sidney Powell, the co-founder and CEO of Maple Finance told The Defiant. “Our infrastructure is built to scale and support institutions across CeFi, DeFi, and TradFi.”

The tussle between DeFi and CeFi has been an ongoing schism in the crypto finance space. Believers of DeFi want the autonomy as account holders to choose where their assets are being lent out and at what terms, while CeFi believers think that institutions should have that power.

With Celsius making this investment into Maple, it shows that the two schools of thought can merge into one financial philosophy of a blend of DeFi and CeFi, rather than compete and argue which one is more morally and economically sustainable. 

From Celsius’ perspective, it looks like CelsiusX is a product offering to get more users on their platform. “We are excited to use Maple’s DeFi rails to provide efficient access to capital for blue-chip crypto institutions,” said Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of Celsius to The Defiant. “Celsius will draw on its deep experience in underwriting and look forward to welcoming new borrowers this year and beyond.”’

According to Powell, Maple has originated more than $768M worth of loans since launching in May of last year. He also claims that the company currently has $654M worth of assets in their protocols. 

Mashinsky even told The Defiant names of specific companies that were the first to be approved for funds. Leading algorithmic crypto market maker Wintermute, the digital asset venture capital firm Framework Ventures, and cryptocurrency trading firm Amber have apparently already been approved as some of the inaugural borrowers by Celsius.