On The Brink with Castle Island Connor Dougherty (Valinor) on the Evolution of Private Credit (EP.712)
Apr 9, 2026
Connor Dougherty, co-founder and CEO of Valinor Digital and former Blackstone Credit investor, builds digital-native lending and Open Credit. He discusses how Open Credit expands private credit, the role of stablecoins in new borrowing types, on-chain transparency for institutional markets, and using tech to create modern credit infrastructure.
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From Blackstone To Building Open Credit
- Connor Dougherty left Blackstone Credit to pursue crypto because he believed the technology would impact his old job more than he first realized.
- Over four years he developed the Open Credit thesis, which led him to found Valinor to blend institutional credit expertise with crypto-native opportunity.
Open Credit Expands Private Credit Market
- Open Credit is a new era where digital infrastructure expands participation and coordination between borrowers and lenders.
- Technology enables PM expansion and access to direct lending at scale, enlarging the private credit total addressable market.
Private Credit Is Still Manual And Relationship Driven
- Traditional private credit processes remain manual: spreadsheets, PDFs, emails and heavy relationship lending.
- That manualism creates trust dependencies and limits transparency that digital tools and onchain approaches can address.