Billionaire Howard Lutnick, the Chairman and CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald announced the launch of a Bitcoin lending program at Bitcoin 2024 on Saturday, July 27. 

Lutnick took the stage to give his full-throated support for the cryptocurrency community. His fiery speech touched on everything from the death of his brother — alongside 658 other Cantor Fitzgerald employees, at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks — to declaring both himself and his company Bitcoin supporters.

Bitcoin lending

The CEO then shifted matters to the announcement:

“Today I have an announcement to make. Cantor Fitzgerald is here to announce that we are launching a Bitcoin financing business. We will offer leverage to those who own Bitcoin. We are going to launch with $2 billion of lending.”

While the details of the lending business haven’t yet been announced, the fact that Cantor Fitzgerald is ponying up a $2 billion war chest for the endeavor could serve as a bullish signal for other financial institutions and the market in general.

In closing, Lutnick added that “the moral of the story is we are going to welcome Bitcoin into the financing family of the global financial market and Cantor Fitzgerald’s going to be your sponsor.”

Related: Cantor Fitzgerald head on Tether reserves: ‘They have the money’