The first platform to ever make a loan against a .eth name no longer exists. RocketNFT, which made the loan against brantly.eth in April 2020, was wound up just a few months later. Founded by Alex Masmej, Masmej revealed that the platform’s “shared lending pool managed 170 ETH (around ~$60,000) and returned 6.01% on ETH in 7 months.”
“After a few months of operating Rocket, COVID-19 happened and everyone’s mental model of what truly matters suddenly shifted,” Masmej wrote. “It was time for me to find a bigger market pull, a true breakthrough that could bring crypto unique advantages to the world: a fairer, cheaper, faster, globally accessible financial system.”
Masmej founded RocketNFT in February 2020. One of the earliest NFT loan types they focused on was Decentraland plots. In April, the loan against brantly.eth made headlines but the concept ground to a halt because its liquidity was all tied up in loan receivables.
“I like that my project @RocketNFT basically still works although we stopped taking loans because some loans took 3-6 months,” Masmej wrote on July 3, 2020.
By then, Covid had overtaken the world. He announced that he was stepping away from RocketNFT in September.
We‘re looking to transfer Rocket leadership. You will manage loans & operate the DAO.
We will sell all ownership to the highest bidder.
You will have
– access to our twitter account
– manage the $40,000 DAO
– access the NFT Multisig
– access to our typeformIs that you? DM us!
— Rocket (@RocketNFT) July 15, 2020
“Will someone take over Rocket for a second wave of loans? Will the DAO just automatically run itself? That’s left to the Ethereum ecosystem. In the meantime, I @AlexMasmej will no longer be operating for the DAO. I ragequitted my 10 shares. With rocket-fueled love,” he wrote.
Masmej is now the founder and CEO of showtime.xyz.