Crypto lending company Celsius Network said yesterday that it has issued more than $4.25 billion in cryptocurrency-backed loans. The growth in the rate of new loans issued by the company has boomed since hitting $2.2 billion less than 90 days ago, the firm claims.

Celsius also revealed that it had paid out “over $5 million in interest to its depositors,” who have entrusted the platform with $450 million worth of deposits. Customer deposits and interest payments also increased by 50% and 66% respectively over the last three months. “These new numbers reflect the company's growth as the largest and fastest-growing crypto lending platform,” said the London based firm.

The platform claims to have more than 50,000 members in 150 countries. The company also says it has more than 150 institutions among its clients, though Celsius Network has previously declined to disclose the names of those clients.

Celsius, like other, competing DeFi services, reports its data in real-time. However, its loans are issued via a centralized platform, not a blockchain. Rival DeFi services lock-up funds via smart contracts deployed on public blockchains. According to data from Defipulse, DeFi loans issued by decentralized finance platforms (including Maker and Compound) also hit a record $150 million this week—up from $125 million in August. On those loans, some $9.3 million is expected to be paid out in interest over the next 12 months.

Celsius started supplying crypto-backed loans in July 2018, and allows customers to borrow against their Bitcoin or other digital currency funds. In a recent interview with Decrypt, CEO Alex Mashinsky explained the lending process—and said that if one has Bitcoin, for example, Celsius can use that money to lend out either cash or stable coin-based loans. The platform offerers users “up to 10% interest on deposits” in 24 major cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

Apart from the assets that are supported on the platform, the only part of the project that is “on the blockchain” looks to be the projects ethereum-based CEL tokens that can be used to get discounts on lending fees.

In today’s announcement, Mashinsky said: "Celsius gives back 80% of loan interest to our depositors with no minimums, caps, fees or penalties.” The business model certainly sounds sustainable, and the growth has been impressive. But one is left wondering how these figures can be independently verified on Celsius’s currently centralized lending platform. Well, fear not: The company plans to offer its services via their own public blockchain next year.