Goldman, BlackRock Alumni Raise $4 Million to Put Farm and Apartment Loans Onchain

Introduction

A new Wall Street‑born startup, Birch Hill, has closed a $4 million seed round to build a regulated pipeline for bringing U.S. private‑credit assets onto public blockchains. Led by former Goldman Sachs analyst Bhavin Vaid and ex‑BlackRock executive Connor Flanagan, the company aims to tokenise farm, multifamily and energy loans, offering accredited investors a familiar, on‑chain credit product.

A Wall Street pedigree meets crypto infrastructure

Birch Hill’s leadership blends deep investment‑bank experience with hands‑on crypto expertise. Vaid spent years in investment banking and private‑equity before co‑founding Halo Capital, while Flanagan managed risk on BlackRock’s Aladdin platform and later worked at Digital Currency Group. The team has also recruited talent from Yearn Finance and risk‑management firm Gauntlet, giving the firm strong technical chops for building on‑chain credit vaults.

How the on‑chain loan model works

The startup operates three complementary divisions:

1. Vaults – As an official curator on the Morpho lending protocol, Birch Hill assesses borrower creditworthiness, sets risk parameters, and manages vaults that pool loan assets. This mirrors traditional loan syndication but leverages smart contracts for transparency and efficiency.
2. Strategies – The firm creates bespoke credit products, such as the “Birch Hill Absolute Value” strategy, which packages loan cash flows into tokenised securities that can be traded on secondary markets.
3. Enterprise – Birch Hill is applying for FINRA broker‑dealer registration, a step that would allow it to sell private‑credit offerings to verified accredited investors under existing U.S. securities regulations.

By anchoring its operations to a regulated broker‑dealer framework, Birch Hill hopes to bridge the gap between conventional private‑credit markets—historically fragmented and relationship‑driven—and the emerging on‑chain finance ecosystem.

Funding, partners, and regulatory outlook

The seed round was led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and Nascent. The $4 million injection brings Birch Hill’s total capital to $6.5 million, enough to expand its eight‑person team and accelerate product development.

The company has already engaged with the SEC’s Crypto Task Force and is positioning itself to benefit from the proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would streamline token‑sale compliance. Moreover, Morpho’s growing adoption by mainstream players—such as Coinbase’s USDC‑backed Bitcoin loans—demonstrates increasing institutional comfort with on‑chain lending protocols.

What this means for the broader market

Birch Hill’s approach highlights a clear use case for blockchain technology: providing transparent, liquid, and programmable exposure to traditionally opaque private‑credit assets. If successful, the model could:

• Unlock new capital sources for farm and multifamily lenders that struggle to raise funds through conventional channels.
• Offer investors a regulated, tokenised vehicle that combines the yield profile of private credit with the tradability of digital assets.
• Set a precedent for other legacy financial institutions to explore on‑chain securitisation of real‑world assets under U.S. regulatory oversight.

Closing thoughts

Birch Hill’s blend of Wall Street pedigree, crypto‑native talent, and a clear regulatory strategy positions it as a pioneer in the on‑chain private‑credit space. As regulators become more comfortable with digital securities and on‑chain lending protocols gain traction, the startup could pave the way for a new generation of tokenised loan products that bring liquidity, transparency, and broader investor access to sectors like agriculture and multifamily housing.