Sarah Suleiman
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Ledn to drop ETH support in favor of fully custodied bitcoin-only model amid rising BTC-backed lending competition
Centralized crypto lender Ledn is discontinuing bitcoin yield generation and Ethereum
ETH -2.61%
support to double down on bitcoin-collateralized lending.
From July 1, Ledn will stop lending client assets to earn interest, ensuring they are never exposed to third-party credit risk. Going forward, it will only offer its "Custodied Bitcoin
BTC -1.44%
" loan structure, where client collateral stays fully held in custody by Ledn or its trusted funding partners, the firm said in a statement shared with The Block.
Ledn only expanded its crypto lending platform to support loans collateralized by ether in February 2024 — a move partly designed to assist victims of Celsius' 2022 bankruptcy with outstanding ether loans to refinance with "more digital assets proving their worth and resilience." However, just over a year later, support for ETH will be retired at the same time, reflecting Ledn's shift to focus exclusively on a BTC-only model.
"With our new hyper-focus on bitcoin-only lending, we're going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with," Ledn co-founder and CEO Adam Reeds said. "Bitcoin was created as a direct response to the risks of fractional reserve banking and unchecked use of client assets to generate interest. Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation. Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model. That's why we've moved away from this approach entirely. With our Custodied loan structure, client assets stay where they belong and are held in a transparent manner."
The move means Ledn is also retiring its BTC and ETH "Growth Accounts" — crypto savings products that offered annualized yields of up to 4% APY — to focus 100% on loans, the company confirmed.
$BTC
$ETH
$SOL
Centralized crypto lender Ledn is discontinuing bitcoin yield generation and Ethereum
ETH -2.61%
support to double down on bitcoin-collateralized lending.
From July 1, Ledn will stop lending client assets to earn interest, ensuring they are never exposed to third-party credit risk. Going forward, it will only offer its "Custodied Bitcoin
BTC -1.44%
" loan structure, where client collateral stays fully held in custody by Ledn or its trusted funding partners, the firm said in a statement shared with The Block.
Ledn only expanded its crypto lending platform to support loans collateralized by ether in February 2024 — a move partly designed to assist victims of Celsius' 2022 bankruptcy with outstanding ether loans to refinance with "more digital assets proving their worth and resilience." However, just over a year later, support for ETH will be retired at the same time, reflecting Ledn's shift to focus exclusively on a BTC-only model.
"With our new hyper-focus on bitcoin-only lending, we're going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with," Ledn co-founder and CEO Adam Reeds said. "Bitcoin was created as a direct response to the risks of fractional reserve banking and unchecked use of client assets to generate interest. Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation. Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model. That's why we've moved away from this approach entirely. With our Custodied loan structure, client assets stay where they belong and are held in a transparent manner."
The move means Ledn is also retiring its BTC and ETH "Growth Accounts" — crypto savings products that offered annualized yields of up to 4% APY — to focus 100% on loans, the company confirmed.
$BTC
$ETH
$SOL
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