Bitcoin holders cling to their coins. The 80% drawdowns of 2018 and 2022 taught them that. Selling feels like surrender. Borrowing against those holdings offers a different path. Liquidity without parting with the asset. Yet a wide divide separates interest from action.
Over 88% of crypto holders in the U.S. and Australia say they would consider a loan backed by their digital assets. Just 14% actually use one. That six-to-one ratio defines what Ledn terms the collateral gap. The numbers come from a survey of 1,244 holders conducted in February 2026. Ledn commissioned the work. Research firm Protocol Theory carried it out. (Ledn; Protocol Theory).
The gap matters. Bitcoin sits in portfolios worth trillions. Institutions manage growing slices of it. Ratings agencies assign grades to related securities. Still, collateralized borrowing lags far behind what happens with equities, real estate or bonds. Traditional margin lending runs into the trillions. Mortgages dominate U.S. household debt. Crypto lending reached $73.6 billion in outstanding volume by Q3 2025, per Galaxy Research data cited in the Ledn report. Impressive on paper. Modest relative to the asset base.
The Trust Deficit Behind the Numbers
Non-borrowers point to three main worries. Managing Bitcoin’s price swings. Handling liquidation risk. Regulatory uncertainty around these loans. Lack of sufficient holdings barely registers. Trust signals trump rates or product features. Respondents want strong risk management, solid platform reputation, clear terms, ease of use and a proven track record.
And the borrowers? They form a sophisticated group. Comfortable with leverage. Focused on long-term accumulation. Among them, 62% buy more Bitcoin with the proceeds. Only 1% sell. These aren’t desperate moves for emergency cash. They preserve exposure while unlocking capital. Seventy-two percent of all surveyed holders agree that such loans deliver convenient liquidity without forcing a sale. The behavior mirrors home equity lines or securities-based lending. Familiar in traditional finance. Novel in crypto.
Regional differences appear. Australians borrow more proactively as part of financial planning. They compare platforms more aggressively. The U.S. market shows greater caution, consistent with its larger, more mature financial services environment. Yet the core message holds across borders. Interest exists. Confidence does not always follow.
“Bitcoin is now held by tens of millions of people, managed by regulated institutions, and covered by major ratings agencies — yet collateralised borrowing against it is still in very early innings compared to any traditional asset class of this size,” said Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn. “The demand side of the equation is solved. What’s still catching up is the trust infrastructure that gives borrowers the confidence to act.” The quote appears in both the Yahoo Finance article and Ledn’s own post on the research.
Ledn itself has originated more than $10 billion in Bitcoin-backed loans since 2018. The firm offers custody, savings products, a borrow-to-buy option called B2X and a trading desk. It maintains SOC 2 Type 2 certification, publishes proof-of-reserves and open-book reports, and holds registrations in the Cayman Islands and Spain. Last year it issued what it described as the first S&P-rated Bitcoin-backed asset-backed security, rated BBB. These steps aim squarely at the trust issues the survey highlights.
But the industry picture remains mixed. Recent projections show the crypto lending platform market expanding from roughly $10.7 billion in revenue in 2025 to $12.7 billion in 2026, according to The Business Research Company. Longer term, some forecasts point to continued double-digit growth through 2030. Institutional participation grows. Banks explore accepting Bitcoin as collateral, initially via ETFs. JPMorgan has signaled plans in that direction. (SVB).
DeFi protocols push boundaries too. Undercollateralized lending experiments seek better capital efficiency, though they carry distinct risks. Liquidations can cascade. Bad debt accumulates when parameters loosen too far. The 2022 collapses of Celsius and BlockFi offered harsh lessons on unsecured or poorly vetted lending. Those failures still color perceptions. Galaxy Research has tracked rising open borrows in both CeFi and DeFi, with total crypto-collateralized lending surpassing $50 billion in mid-2025. Volatility persists. So does the memory of prior cycles. (Chainlink; Galaxy Research, April 2025).
Providers respond with clearer liquidation mechanics, better custody proof, standardized reporting and regulatory engagement. Some issue rated securities. Others emphasize real-time collateral monitoring. The survey suggests these efforts target the right obstacles. Demand generation alone won’t close the gap. Education on terms, transparent risk communication and visible operational strength will.
So the collateral gap reflects more than hesitation. It signals an industry at an inflection point. Bitcoin holders want options that respect their conviction. They understand the concept. Many see borrowing as smart financial planning. Yet they demand infrastructure that earns their confidence before they pledge hard-won coins. Platforms that deliver visible risk controls, straightforward explanations and regulatory alignment stand to convert that latent interest.
Recent coverage reinforces the theme. Crypto Briefing highlighted the same Ledn findings, stressing that trust, not rates, forms the real bottleneck. TheStreet and AOL picked up the story within days of release. No major new surveys have appeared in the past week. But discussions on X show traders and analysts debating whether improved ratings and bank entry will finally narrow the divide. One post noted the potential for the market to approach $1 trillion if adoption catches up to intent. Speculative, perhaps. Yet the 88% figure lingers.
Bitcoin’s role as collateral continues to mature. From retail HODLers to institutions, the preference against selling holds firm. The question now centers on execution. Can lenders build the trust infrastructure fast enough to match the asset’s growth? The data says demand sits ready. The gap shows what remains to be done. And the sophisticated borrowers already in the market demonstrate what success looks like. They keep their Bitcoin. They put it to work. The rest of the holder base watches. Waiting for the system to prove itself.
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