SALT, provider of crypto loans for cryptocurrency holders, announced the mega popular joke altcoin, Dogecoin as its latest collateral for users looking to leverage their digital assets to secure a USD loan.
This news comes only weeks after SALT did another upgrade and integration of Litecoin backed loans while expanding its international presence in countries like UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
As the official announcement on SALT Medium blog states:
Dogecoin has a rich history and incredible support from its community, is widely traded, offers high liquidity, and is built using the Bitcoin code base — all factors that make it not only a viable asset to loan against, but an obvious collateral choice for SALT, as it enables the company to connect with the broader crypto community in a fun, approachable way.
In addition to this, earlier this month, SALT also revised its interest rate model to include rates as low as 5.99 percent for loans less than $75,000 and 11.99 percent for loans up to $25 million. With the listing of dogecoin, SALT launched a voting system for new coins that borrowers want to see on the platform.
“We’re listening to members of our community and are continuing to learn what’s most valuable to them. Currently, people can vote on ETH Classic, Monero, XRP, Cardano, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, or they can fill in their own recommendation, as we’re always working to expand our collateral offerings,” said Nealson.
Dogecoin was originally created as a joke, referencing a meme about a funny-looking Shiba Inu dog that gained wide popularity on the internet.
Yet, since its creation, the cryptocurrency’s popularity and value has achieved stratospheric heights. A rabid online community has developed over the years with many loyal supporters of the coin. The community has done some incredible things with Dogecoin, from utilizing the cryptocurrency to raise funds for the Jamaican bobsled team to go to the Sochi Winter Olympics to funding a project to build a well in rural Kenya to provide access to drinking water.
SALT is a lending platform that allows users to borrow fiat currency by using their cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum etc) as collateral.
This is no different to a person’s house being used as collateral against their mortgage for example. Their tagline was “keep your crypto, get your cash”. Basically speaking, one could put up their cryptocurrency as collateral and receive a low interest loan that could be repaid with either dollars or SALT tokens at a rate of $27.50 per token. The company issued a number of loans but it was quickly revealed that the majority of US states (where loans were initially available) were not able to apply for loans of any kind.
