Bitcoin-backed lending is moving past its original role in trading and investment finance and into everyday credit demand, according to a BlockBeats report published on Oct. 8. Lenders including SALT Lending and Ledn said more borrowers are choosing to post BTC as collateral to unlock liquidity instead of selling their holdings, a shift that reflects changing use cases for crypto credit.
The report said demand now covers tuition, living expenses, business operating capital and real estate-related borrowing. Ledn said its client base includes entrepreneurs and institutional investors seeking working capital, as well as individuals borrowing for children’s education, property investment and short-term household expenses. The company added that it has issued more than $11 billion in loans since its founding in 2018 and expects the market to grow to $1 trillion in the coming years.
At the product level, firms such as SALT are pushing fixed-rate, longer-duration structures that bring crypto-backed loans closer to traditional mortgage-style credit. Coinbase has also recently launched fixed-rate BTC-backed loans through Morpho. Ledn said similar models could eventually expand from BTC to traditional hard assets such as gold, widening the scope of collateralized lending.
Bitcoin-backed lending is expanding beyond crypto-native trading and investment use cases into tuition payments, living expenses, business operating capital and real estate-related credit demand, according to BlockBeats on Oct. 8.
Lenders including SALT Lending and Ledn said a growing number of borrowers are using BTC as collateral to access liquidity rather than selling their holdings. For those borrowers, the appeal is straightforward: unlock value from bitcoin while keeping exposure to any future upside.
Borrowing demand shifts toward real-world spending
Ledn said its clients include entrepreneurs and institutional investors looking for operating capital, along with individuals borrowing to cover children’s education, property investment and short-term living expenses. The change points to a broader shift in bitcoin’s financial role, from a tradable asset to one increasingly used as collateral.
Since its founding in 2018, Ledn has issued more than $11 billion in loans, the company said. It also expects the market to grow to $1 trillion in the coming years.
Loan products move closer to traditional credit structures
At the same time, firms such as SALT are pushing fixed-rate, longer-term products that make crypto-collateralized lending look more like traditional mortgage-style credit. Coinbase has also recently rolled out fixed-rate BTC-backed loans through Morpho.
Ledn said similar structures could eventually extend beyond BTC to traditional hard assets such as gold, suggesting the boundaries of collateral-backed lending are widening.
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