Why did we invest in Debifi? The simple answer: the last cycle proved, in painful detail, that custodial Bitcoin lending is a structural mistake. Debifi, founded in 2024 by Max Kei in Switzerland, is rebuilding the category from first principles, replacing rehypothecation and opaque balance sheets with a non-custodial, multi-signature escrow that keeps borrowers in control of their collateral throughout the life of the loan.

The product targets a segment that is underserved precisely because it cares most about counterparty risk: institutions, treasuries, and high-net-worth holders who want to unlock liquidity against bitcoin without trusting a single intermediary to honor a withdrawal. Lenders compete for deals on a peer-to-peer marketplace, while a 2-of-3 multi-sig with a neutral keyholder removes any single point of failure from the workflow.

Max Kei brings the right pedigree. As a co-founder of HodlHodl, he spent years building non-custodial Bitcoin financial products and learning the precise places where custodial shortcuts break. Debifi is the institutional-grade expression of that experience, designed to match the diligence requirements of professional lenders while preserving the ethos that makes Bitcoin worth holding in the first place.

This fits cleanly into Fulgur's thesis. Credit is the killer application for any monetary asset, and Bitcoin's credit markets must be rebuilt on top of self-custody if they are to be durable. Debifi is laying that foundation, and we are pleased to back Max and the team as they bring trust-minimized lending to scale.