US-based mortgage company Caliber Home Loans recently announced it will originate loans on the Provenance blockchain. It is the first company outside Figure to offer loans using the distributed ledger network. The developer of the Provenance blockchain, Figure Technologies, is rumored to be raising money at a unicorn valuation. Figure has already raised $130 million and was started by Mike Cagney, the SoFi founder.
Provenance can be used to originate loans, to receive loan payments, to buy and sell loans in the secondary market, to finance loans and to securitize loans. Caliber said it is the first to license Figure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for its Caliber Home Equity Line of Credit loans.
Currently, Figure SaaS offers loan origination platforms in home equity and mortgage and is planning to support other asset classes in future. “Figure is excited to inaugurate our third-party Figure SaaS platform with Caliber,” said Mike Cagney, CEO of Figure.
Figure itself offers two consumer-oriented credit products, and earlier this year it said it was originating $80 million in new loans in a month. A key selling point is five-minute approval and loan disbursal in five days. Caliber is looking to bank on this speed by leveraging Figure SaaS.
“We think the ease and speed of this process is truly unique. Unlike traditional home equity lending timeframes which often stretch out for weeks, our borrowers can now complete the entire process digitally and access their funds in days,” said Sanjiv Das, CEO of Caliber.
Figure developed the Provenance platform but later spun it off into another company while holding a controlling share. Provenance is a public, permissioned, proof of stake blockchain. It is permissioned to comply with Know Your Client (KYC) and anti-money laundering rules. Although Provenance has been built from the ground up, it uses a Hyperledger consensus model.
In April, the spun off company Provenance Blockchain Inc completed a $20 million security token offering. Last month, Jefferies and Indeed owner Recruit revealed they have invested.
