Bitcoin lenders could have to change into extra like conventional finance companies, not much less, if they need institutional capital to maintain flowing into the sector.
At Consensus 2026 in Miami, Alexander Blume, founder and CEO of institutional bitcoin lender Two Prime, argued that the following stage of crypto credit score development will rely much less on decentralized finance experimentation and extra on standardization, transparency, and threat administration.
“The second you begin attempting to clarify how any of these things works, they’re similar to, No… We’ll pay extra. Do not lose my cash,” Blume mentioned, referring to institutional debtors evaluating crypto lending merchandise that change into troublesome to defend during times of market stress.
The feedback mirrored a broader post-2022 shift in crypto lending following the collapses of Celsius, Voyager, and BlockFi, when opaque leverage, aggressive rehypothecation, and weak threat controls triggered a wider credit score disaster throughout the trade. Within the years since, many institutional debtors have moved away from advanced DeFi constructions in favor of merchandise centered on clear custody, standardized contracts, and clearly identifiable counterparties.
Throughout the panel, audio system repeatedly prompt that institutional finance and crypto-native finance stay essentially misaligned of their approaches to threat. Whereas DeFi advanced round permissionless entry, composability, and capital effectivity, establishments proceed to prioritize predictability, authorized accountability, and operational simplicity.
That pressure was particularly seen within the dialogue round rehypothecation, the follow of reusing buyer collateral to generate further yield, which turned one of many defining dangers uncovered through the 2022 lending collapse.
“Crucial factor to ask… is the place is your Bitcoin saved,” mentioned Adam Reeds, co-founder and CEO of Ledn.
Jay Patel, co-founder and CEO of Lygos Finance, mentioned debtors more and more have to “underwrite the lender” themselves earlier than taking loans in opposition to their bitcoin holdings.
“The most important level in my thoughts is certainly the rehypothecation piece,” Patel mentioned.
Blume mentioned institutional debtors typically reject crypto-native lending constructions not as a result of they oppose bitcoin, however as a result of the operational complexity surrounding many DeFi programs stays troublesome to justify to boards, shareholders, and threat committees.
At one level, Blume distilled the divide between crypto-native finance and institutional finance right into a single remark.
“Our complete monetary system is about as much as have another person guilty,” he mentioned, arguing that institutional debtors nonetheless choose identifiable intermediaries, standardized processes, and authorized accountability over absolutely autonomous monetary programs.
For a lot of lenders on stage, the way forward for crypto credit score now not seems tied to creating finance extra decentralized. As an alternative, it could rely on convincing institutional debtors that bitcoin-backed lending can behave predictably sufficient to resemble the normal system they already belief.