Ledn

Ledn is a custodial lender. You send bitcoin, it sends dollars, and it keeps the coins until the loan closes. Advertised pricing runs from 9.25 to 11.49 per cent APR and drops in tiers as the amount grows: 10.99 per cent under 250,000 US dollars, 10.49 above that, 9.99 above 500,000, 9.75 above one million and 9.25 above two million. The floor is a 500 dollar loan and at least 1,000 dollars of bitcoin posted. Terms last twelve months and renew while the position stays healthy. There is no credit check and no charge for paying early. One wrinkle: the banner quotes a ceiling of 11.49 per cent APR while the question-and-answer block a few screens below says pricing starts at 11.9.

The question that matters more than pricing is what happens to the coins meanwhile. Ledn answers it directly. Its own explanation says the posted bitcoin may be re-posted to a trusted institutional funding partner, naming banks, credit funds and corporate lenders as examples. It says that bitcoin then sits in segregated on-chain addresses, legally ring-fenced from the partner assets, and that neither Ledn nor the partner may lend it onward to generate a yield. That is a narrower promise than the coins never leaving, and the difference is worth reading twice before signing anything.

Liquidation mechanics are printed openly. Borrowing starts at a loan-to-value ratio of 50 per cent, a margin call lands at 70 per cent, and a forced sale follows at 80 per cent, although the calculator misprints the second figure as LTC rather than LTV. Automatic top-ups and buffer thresholds are offered to keep a position clear of that boundary. Any forced sale is executed at the same 0.50 per cent trading spread brought in on 6 October 2025, with no separate penalty bolted on top.

The earning side is a separate animal and should be judged separately. Growth accounts advertise up to 6 per cent annual yield, and the menu lists that option against USDC and USDT holdings rather than bitcoin. Those balances are not the ring-fenced collateral described above. The security page says Ledn places assets with vetted institutional counterparties, that all counterparty lending is matched on both maturity and assets, and that the firm has chosen to keep client assets out of decentralised yield farming. Anyone who watched 2022 unfold should treat an earning balance and a pledged balance as two different exposures.

Disclosure is unusually thorough for the sector. A monthly Open Book Report prepared by The Network Firm LLP carried a 1 August 2026 attestation date showing all bitcoin collateral in custody, 731 million dollars of loans outstanding, an average ratio of 58 per cent and 11.5 billion dollars funded since 2018. Proof of reserves runs every six months and the firm holds a SOC 2 Type 2 certification. Ledn Cayman SEZC Inc appears as a registered virtual asset service provider with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority under number 1976951, and a Spanish arm is described as still applying for a MiCA licence from the CNMV, according to its website, checked on 8 August 2026.