P2P Bitcoin lending market Bitbond receives $1.2 million in new financing, and the development of the lending market is hampered by the regulatory environment

Peer-to-peer bitcoin lending marketplace Bitbond has raised $1.2 million in new funding.

Bitbond provides a web platform for lenders and borrowers to make loans denominated in bitcoin. The funding round was led by Şekip Can Gökalp, founder of Turkish mobile network company Mobilike, and was led by a group of angel investors who already hold stakes in the company.

Other investors include Janis Zech and Andreas Bodczek, founders of technology startup Fyber, and Alexander Graubner-Müller, CEO and co-founder of German online lender Kreditech.

Chris Grundy, a spokesman for Bitbond, said that most of the funds raised this time will be used for business development and expansion. So far, Bitbond, located in Berlin, Germany, has raised more than $2 million in funds. The last round of financing dates back to 2015, when Bitbond completed an angel round of financing of 600,000 euros.

Bitbond CEO Radoslav Albrecht said in a statement:

“The additional resources provided by this financing will help us continue to achieve our mission of global lending. We are very pleased to have the support of such experienced investors.”

The funding comes at a time of shifting landscape in the bitcoin P2P lending market.

In December last year, BitLendingClub announced that it would begin to shut down some of its businesses in the coming months due to an unfavorable regulatory environment.

BitLendingClub CEO Kiril Gantchev said at the time that pending regulatory requirements from the Bulgarian government were a major factor in their decision. The company expects to terminate its services completely in August this year.

Another P2P Bitcoin market, BTCJam, also expressed concerns about regulation and began to withdraw from the U.S. market last year.