Unchained

Unchained runs a different structure from most lenders in this category, and the structure is the whole argument. Borrowed bitcoin sits inside a collaborative multisignature vault rather than on a company balance sheet. The borrower controls one of three keys and can verify the balance on the public ledger at any moment. The terms of service commit the firm to holding less than a quorum of the private keys tied to a vault address, meaning it cannot move anything unilaterally. The marketing calls this zero rehypothecation by design, and for once the phrase describes a mechanism rather than a policy that could be reversed.

The catch is who this is built for. Commercial lending starts at 150,000 US dollars. The rate quoted is 12 per cent, an origination charge adds 2 per cent, and a worked example of twelve thirty-day payments produces an annual percentage rate of 14.18 per cent. Origination charges are described as non-refundable, non-cancellable and non-creditable. A forced sale of pledged bitcoin costs a further 2 per cent, a late payment adds ten dollars and a returned bank debit adds fifteen. No credit check is run and early settlement is free.

What is absent matters as much as what is stated. No loan-to-value figure, warning level, margin-call point or forced-sale threshold appears anywhere in the pages read on 8 August 2026. For a product whose central danger is a falling price, that is a gap a borrower would need to close on a call before committing. A second wrinkle sits in the loan documents: in some jurisdictions the pledged bitcoin may capitalise a specified unit of beneficial interest, and outside key agents may hold private keys while acting at the direction of the firm or its servicer.

Everything else is priced as a subscription rather than a spread. A vault costs 250 dollars a year. A bitcoin retirement account also costs 250 dollars a year, is offered inside the United States alone, needs 2,000 dollars per transfer and charges 1.5 per cent per trade. The dealing desk takes a flat 1 per cent to buy straight into cold storage. A Signature membership opens at 6,000 dollars for the first twelve months then renews at 4,500, with a business tier at 7,500 a year or 2,000 a quarter. Guided setup packages run from 1,650 to 3,400 dollars.

On legal footing the firm is blunt in both directions. Unchained Capital Inc states that it is not a bank and lists four registry numbers: 1900773, 2273761, 2656661 and 2423070. A trading subsidiary holds money transmitter permission numbered FT230000395 and routes complaints to individual state banking departments. Its own consumer notice says products carry no cover from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, none from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation and none from private theft insurance, adding that clients have no basis for recovery from the firm if coins are lost or stolen. Founded in Austin, Texas in 2016, it reports passing one billion dollars originated.