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People are taking out loans against their Bitcoin to pay for college. And for business capital. And real estate. It’s not a niche experiment anymore — it’s becoming a real pattern, and the lenders behind it are growing fast.
Why It Matters
The rise of Bitcoin-backed loans signifies a significant shift in the perception of cryptocurrency, transitioning from a speculative asset to a viable financial tool for major life expenses. This trend highlights the growing acceptance of Bitcoin in mainstream financial practices, potentially altering traditional lending landscapes and affecting how individuals manage debt. As more borrowers leverage crypto as collateral, it could lead to increased regulatory scrutiny and necessitate the adaptation of existing financial frameworks to accommodate this evolving market.
SALT Lending’s Chief Revenue Officer, Hunter Albright, said borrowers are increasingly using Bitcoin as collateral for major life expenses. The asset, long treated as pure speculation, is now functioning more like a credit instrument. SALT originally built its business servicing Bitcoin miners. Now it’s pulling in institutional borrowers and older clients who want to understand how the loan process actually works before committing. That’s a pretty different customer base from where they started.
Ledn, a centralized lender founded in 2018, has already issued over $11 billion in loans.
Who’s Borrowing and Why
The appeal is basic: you need cash, but you don’t want to sell your Bitcoin. Maybe you think it’s going higher. Maybe you just don’t want to trigger a taxable event. Either way, borrowing against it lets you keep the position alive while getting liquidity now. That’s the core pitch from both SALT and Ledn, and it’s clearly resonating.
Ledn’s co-founder and CEO, Adam Reeds, said clients largely renew their loans specifically to hold onto their Bitcoin positions. They’re not borrowing because they’re desperate — they’re borrowing because they’re bullish and don’t want to exit. Ledn’s client mix runs wide: investors leveraging Bitcoin positions, entrepreneurs needing working capital, institutions with more complex balance sheet needs. Reeds also said Ledn expects to eventually reach $1 trillion in loans as non-trading loan demand surges. That’s an ambitious number, but the direction of travel seems clear enough.
Ledn’s private wealth clients borrow significant sums — for investments, real estate, education. The variety of purposes is probably the most telling sign that crypto-backed lending has moved past its early, niche phase.
Not just Bitcoin, either. Ledn has plans to expand collateralization to gold. Reeds pointed to the potential for broader hard asset collateralization — merging digital and traditional assets for modern investors. The idea is to democratize financial strategies that were once exclusive to institutions, letting everyday gold holders unlock liquidity from their holdings the same way big funds always could. Unclear exactly when that rolls out, but the direction is set.
Fixed Rates and Longer Terms Enter the Picture
The product structure is changing too. SALT wants to emulate traditional mortgages — fixed rates, longer terms, predictable payments. That’s a deliberate move away from the short-term, high-volatility loan structures that defined early crypto lending. Albright’s team is basically trying to make Bitcoin-backed borrowing feel less like a margin call waiting to happen and more like a home equity line.
Coinbase went a different direction but landed in similar territory. The company introduced fixed-rate Bitcoin-backed loans through its retail app, available through Morpho’s Midnight protocol. Borrowers can use Bitcoin to secure USDC loans with set interest rates and predetermined repayment dates. Short-term options, but structured and predictable. Coinbase’s outstanding loans sit at more than $1.4 billion against $3 billion in collateral — that’s a real book of business, not a pilot program.
It’s worth noting that SALT has been active in this space since 2016. That’s a decade of navigating crypto market cycles, regulatory shifts, and changing borrower expectations. The company’s push toward mortgage-style products isn’t coming from nowhere — it’s coming from years of watching what borrowers actually want when markets get rough.
What the Maturation of Crypto Lending Looks Like
There’s a broader shift happening across the sector. Crypto lending used to be almost entirely about traders — people who needed short-term liquidity to chase other positions. That’s still part of the market. But it’s not the whole story anymore. Tuition payments. Business launches. Real estate. These are the kinds of expenses that show up in traditional lending, and they’re showing up in crypto lending now too.
The lenders that survived the 2022 blowups — when several major crypto lending platforms collapsed — are the ones now building out more conservative, structured products. Fixed rates. Longer terms. Collateral ratios that don’t blow up on a bad week for Bitcoin prices. And the demand is there. Non-trading loan demand, per Ledn, is surging.
SALT and Ledn are both pushing the same general message: hold your Bitcoin, borrow against it, let it appreciate. It’s a bet on Bitcoin’s long-term value, dressed up as a lending product. And increasingly, borrowers seem to agree.
Coinbase’s $1.4 billion in outstanding loans, Ledn’s $11 billion issued since 2018, SALT’s decade in the market — the numbers aren’t small anymore.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much has Ledn issued in crypto-backed loans total?
Ledn has issued over $11 billion in crypto-backed loans since it was founded in 2018, with Adam Reeds saying the company expects to eventually reach $1 trillion as non-trading loan demand grows.
What is Coinbase offering in Bitcoin-backed loans?
Coinbase introduced fixed-rate Bitcoin-backed loans through its retail app via Morpho’s Midnight protocol, letting users borrow USDC against Bitcoin with set interest rates and repayment dates. Outstanding loans on the platform exceed $1.4 billion against $3 billion in collateral.
