Bitcoin-backed mortgage platform Ledn has offered about $188 million of bonds tied to Bitcoin‑collateralized client loans into the mainstream asset‑backed securities (ABS) market, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing folks conversant in the matter.
In a first-of-its-kind deal, one of many two tranches — the funding‑grade portion —reportedly priced at an expansion of roughly 335 foundation factors over a benchmark price, implying that traders are demanding 3.35 proportion factors in further yield to carry crypto‑linked credit score danger somewhat than standard client ABS.
The deal is structured by way of Ledn Issuer Belief 2026‑1, which securitizes a pool of 5,441 quick‑time period, fastened‑price balloon loans prolonged to 2,914 US debtors, backed by 4,078.87 Bitcoin (BTC) held as collateral, based on S&P World Scores’ preliminary documentation on Feb. 9.
How the construction and rankings stack up
Balloon loans are structured with comparatively small periodic funds and a big lump‑sum “balloon” cost at maturity, which retains close to‑time period funds low however leaves a sizeable principal steadiness due on the finish.
S&P assigned preliminary BBB‑ (sf) and B‑ (sf) rankings to the $160 million senior Class A notes and $28 million subordinated Class B notes, respectively.
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A BBB- ranking is the bottom tier of investment-grade debt, reflecting an enough capability to fulfill monetary commitments however greater vulnerability to hostile situations than greater‑rated bonds, whereas B‑ sits in deep non‑funding‑grade “junk” territory, the place default danger is materially greater.
Jefferies Monetary Group acted as the only real structuring agent and bookrunner, as a serious Wall Avenue seller intermediated between institutional fastened‑earnings traders and this new type of crypto‑linked publicity.
BTC more and more seen as legit collateral
Bitwise head of analysis Europe, Andre Dragosch, informed Cointelegraph that the truth that Ledn was capable of package deal these loans into a conventional ABS implied that BTC is “more and more seen as secure and legit collateral by conventional monetary establishments.”
He highlighted main banks like JPMorgan providing BTC-backed loans to prospects as an extra indication of this. “Bitcoin is more and more being built-in into conventional finance as the brand new pristine collateral,” he stated.
Jinsol Bok, analysis lead at 4 Pillars international crypto analysis agency, informed Cointelegraph that this implies liquidity not wants to stay locked up and “can as an alternative be expanded into new lending,” which means that the scale of the BTC collateralized lending market might “develop far past its present stage sooner or later.”
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He added that, in contrast to actual property mortgages, BTC collateralized loans could possibly be transparently tracked onchain and liquidated in a programmable method.
“Because of this, I imagine that the dangers related to ABS on this context don’t must be excessively overstated.”
What traders are shopping for
Asset‑backed securities are bonds funded by swimming pools of loans, so traders in Ledn’s notes don’t personal Bitcoin (BTC) straight.
As a substitute, they tackle credit score and structural danger to a pool of BTC‑secured loans whose efficiency is determined by borrower repayments and the lender’s skill to liquidate collateral throughout market stress.
“These loans usually have a low default price as a result of they have a tendency to have low LTV [loan-to-value] ratios and are properly capitalized with BTC,” Dragosch stated.
Based in 2018, Ledn says it has funded over $9.5 billion in loans thus far in over 100 international locations. The corporate obtained a strategic funding from Tether, the issuer of the USDt (USDT) stablecoin, in November 2025.
Cointelegraph reached out to Ledn for remark however had not obtained a response by publication time.
Huge questions: Do you have to promote your Bitcoin for nickels for a 43% revenue?