Nexo to Launch NFT-Backed Lending; Bitwise Debuts an NFT Index Fund

The Nexo lending service will allow Nexo OTC clients to use NFTs such as Bored Apes and CryptoPunks as collateral, while Bitwise will allow clients to invest directly in NFT art through a fund

article-image

Bored Ape Yacht Club | Source: NTFS.WTF

share

key takeaways

  • Nexo will partner with Singaporean hedge fund Three Arrows Capital for its lending service
  • Bitwise’s fund will offer direct exposure to prominent collections of NFT art

Cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo will launch its first NFT lending desk in partnership with Singaporean hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, according to a press release on Thursday.

The service will allow Nexo clients to use non-fungible tokens such as Bored Apes and CryptoPunks as collateral. Nexo will only accept NFTs from those specific collections, but the company says more will be continuously added.

Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev told Blockworks that although currently the blockchain-based digital collectibles are commonly seen as profile pictures, NFT use cases will expand (and so will their services.)

“An NFT can be anything and can provide so many functions,” Trenchev said. “[In the future,] we’ll be providing loans and financing people’s purchase against anything from digital real estate, to gaming items, or even limited edition Nike sneakers.”

The news follows Nexo’s recent balance sheet acquisition of three Bored Ape NFT via Christie’s auction house in October. The NFTs of the cartoon primates were snapped up for $1.3 million by Nexo founder Kosta Kantchev.

Other more established digital assets like bitcoin and ether have long been used to collateralize loans, allowing holders to access fiat currency without having to sell their assets. This week, savings and loan service Ledn previewed a new product for clients to back real estate mortgages with bitcoin.

An NFT Index Fund

In another novel deployment of NFTs, Bitwise, the world’s largest crypto index fund manager, unveiled their Bitwise Blue–Chip NFT Index Fund on Thursday, according to a tweet from CIO Matt Hougan. The fund, which Bitwise calls the first of its kind, will hold collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, Fidenzas and more.

The index will rebalance quarterly and use a market cap weighting scheme based on the floor price (the lowest sale price) of each collection.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful