Borrowing

Bitcoin-backed loans: the real cost, and the price at which you lose your coins

The rate is only half the deal. Enter the loan you want and see what each lender charges for a year, how much bitcoin you must hand over, and how far the price can fall before a margin call or a forced sale.

Terms as of 4 October 2026, read from each lender's own site8 lenders ranked, 3 more listed

How we make money. We intend to join provider affiliate programs; when a link pays us it will be marked affiliate. Today none do. Payment never changes a number or a ranking — results come only from each provider's published fees. Not tax, legal or investment advice. Full disclosure

Ranked by the cost of twelve months

1SALT

Cost of 12 months
$2,188 (8.75%)

Bitcoin you post
$50,000 (50% LTV)

Margin call after
40% fall

Liquidation after
45% fall

Your bitcoin: Held with institutional custodians SALT does not name; SALT says it is not lent out or rehypothecated.

Margin call at 83.33% with 48 hours to act; at 90.91% collateral is converted or sold.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit SALT (opens in a new tab)
2Figure

Cost of 12 months
$2,500 (10.00%)

Bitcoin you post
$50,000 (50% LTV)

Margin call after
37.5% fall

Liquidation after
44.4% fall

Your bitcoin: Segregated wallet you can view on-chain; Figure says it is never rehypothecated.

From a 50% start: notice at 75%, margin call at 80% with 48 hours, automatic liquidation at 90%.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Figure (opens in a new tab)
3Arch

Cost of 12 months
$2,623 (10.49%)

Bitcoin you post
$41,667 (60% LTV)

Margin call after
14.3% fall

Liquidation after
25% fall

Your bitcoin: Anchorage Digital Bank, segregated; Arch says it is never rehypothecated.

Margin call at 70% with 24 hours to act; partial liquidation at 80%.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Arch (opens in a new tab)
4Strike

Cost of 12 months
$2,625 (10.50%)

Bitcoin you post
$50,000 (50% LTV)

Margin call after
28.6% fall

Liquidation after
41.2% fall

Your bitcoin: Held by Strike or passed to its capital providers, with no further rehypothecation, Strike says.

Margin call at 70% with 72 hours to act; at 85% enough collateral is sold to return to 65%.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Strike (opens in a new tab)
5Milo“from” rate

Cost of 12 months
$2,688 (10.75%)

Bitcoin you post
$50,000 (50% LTV)

Margin call after
25.4% fall

Liquidation after
not published

Your bitcoin: Coinbase Custody or BitGo, in a segregated account; Milo says no rehypothecation.

Margin call at 67%. The liquidation level is only in the loan documents.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Milo (opens in a new tab)
6Lavaour arithmetic from published terms

Cost of 12 months
$2,762 (11.05%)

Bitcoin you post
$41,667 (60% LTV)

Margin call after
not published

Liquidation after
not published

Your bitcoin: Lava's FAQ says never rehypothecated; its terms of service describe a self-custodial wallet and a protocol the company does not operate.

No margin call or cure period — warnings only. Liquidation is in full, and Lava's FAQ says no collateral is returned.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Lava (opens in a new tab)
7Ledn

Cost of 12 months
$2,873 (11.49%)

Bitcoin you post
$50,000 (50% LTV)

Margin call after
28.6% fall

Liquidation after
37.5% fall

Your bitcoin: May be passed to a funding partner or financing vehicle; Ledn says it is ring-fenced and not lent out to earn interest.

Alerts at 70% and 75%; automatic liquidation at 80%.Rate page, checked 4 October 2026 Visit Ledn (opens in a new tab)

Not available at this size: Unchained (minimum $500,000).

How to read the results

Cost shown is the lender's published APR for a 12-month loan of that size, multiplied by the loan amount. APR already includes an origination fee where there is one. Where a lender publishes two payment plans, the monthly-interest plan is used.

Collateral is worked out at each lender's standard starting LTV. A lender that lets you start at a higher LTV needs less bitcoin — and liquidates you after a smaller price fall.

Price falls assume you add no collateral and repay nothing. Lenders differ in how long you get to respond, and whether they sell part of the collateral or all of it.

On a $25,000 loan the lowest published cost today is SALT at $2,188 for the year. But compare the last two columns as well: a cheaper loan that liquidates sooner is not automatically the better deal.

The terms behind the results

Published terms, 4 October 2026
Lender	Rate	Fees	Margin call and liquidation	Your bitcoin	Good to know	Source
SALT	8.75% APR at 50% LTV, 1-year term (7.49% at 30% LTV; 10.50% at 70%)	No origination fee. 5% liquidation fee, or 3% to convert collateral to a stablecoin instead.	Margin call at 83.33% with 48 hours to act; at 90.91% collateral is converted or sold.	Held with institutional custodians SALT does not name; SALT says it is not lent out or rehypothecated.	1, 3 or 5-year terms. $5,000 minimum. Available in “most US states” — no list is published.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Figure	9.999% APR at 50% LTV (8.91% interest + 1% origination); up to 12.62% APR at 75% LTV	1% origination fee, added to the loan. 2% processing fee on collateral sold in a liquidation.	From a 50% start: notice at 75%, margin call at 80% with 48 hours, automatic liquidation at 90%.	Segregated wallet you can view on-chain; Figure says it is never rehypothecated.	12 months. $5,000 minimum. Not available in DC, ID, IL, KY, MD, MS, SD, TX, VT or VA. Figure says its rates change often.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Arch	10.49% APR under $250,000 (9.00% interest + 1.49% origination), falling to 7.25% at $10 million and up	Origination 1.49% under $750,000, taken from the money you receive. Liquidation fee typically 2%.	Margin call at 70% with 24 hours to act; partial liquidation at 80%.	Anchorage Digital Bank, segregated; Arch says it is never rehypothecated.	Up to 60% LTV on bitcoin, so you post less collateral — and sit closer to a margin call. 1 to 12 months. $5,000 minimum. Arch's own pages disagree on which states are excluded; check before applying.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Strike	10.50% APR under $250,000 paying interest monthly (11.25% if everything is paid at the end), falling to 7.49% at $5 million	No origination, prepayment, late or liquidation fees.	Margin call at 70% with 72 hours to act; at 85% enough collateral is sold to return to 65%.	Held by Strike or passed to its capital providers, with no further rehypothecation, Strike says.	12-month term loan. $10,000 minimum in most states. Not available in DE, HI or MD. A separate line of credit is variable, 13.25% APR today.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Milo	From 10.75% APR (interest from 8.75% + 2% origination)	2% origination fee. No prepayment fee.	Margin call at 67%. The liquidation level is only in the loan documents.	Coinbase Custody or BitGo, in a segregated account; Milo says no rehypothecation.	1 year plus extensions. $5,000 minimum. Not available in every state — Milo publishes no list. “From” rates are the lowest Milo advertises.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Lava	8.50% interest under $250,000, compounded daily, plus a 2% yearly “capital charge” on your highest balance — about 11.05% over a year by our arithmetic	No origination fee. The 2% capital charge is on top of the interest rate.	No margin call or cure period — warnings only. Liquidation is in full, and Lava's FAQ says no collateral is returned.	Lava's FAQ says never rehypothecated; its terms of service describe a self-custodial wallet and a protocol the company does not operate.	An open-ended line of credit, up to 60% LTV. The liquidation level is not published as a percentage — the app shows a liquidation price. Read the liquidation terms closely: a full liquidation with nothing returned is harsher than the partial liquidations others use.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Ledn	11.49% APR under $250,000, falling to 9.25% at $2 million and up	No administration fee for US clients. 0.50% spread on a liquidation. No prepayment penalty.	Alerts at 70% and 75%; automatic liquidation at 80%.	May be passed to a funding partner or financing vehicle; Ledn says it is ring-fenced and not lent out to earn interest.	12 months, no monthly payments. $500 minimum. Not available in CA, CT, HI, NV, ND, SD, TN, WA or DC (Ledn calls the list non-exhaustive).	Rate page checked 4 October 2026
Unchained	14.18% APR (12% interest + 2% origination)	2% origination fee, added to the loan. 2% selling fee on a forced liquidation.	Collateral call below 150% collateral-to-loan (about 66.7% LTV) with 24 hours; foreclosure at 120% (about 83.3% LTV).	Three-key vault: you hold one key, Unchained one, a bank one. No single party can move the bitcoin.	Commercial-purpose loans only. $500,000 minimum for individuals and trusts ($150,000 for businesses). The highest rate here, and the only lender here that gives you one of the keys to the collateral.	Rate page checked 4 October 2026

Listed, but not ranked

These lenders do not publish the rate you would actually pay, so they cannot be ranked on cost.

Coinbase (via Morpho). Variable rate set by an on-chain lending market — advertised “as low as 5%”, with the live rate shown only in the app. A processing fee of 2% on the first $250,000 is added each time you borrow. You receive USDC, not dollars. No margin call: automatic liquidation at 86% LTV with a 4.38% penalty. Your bitcoin is converted to a wrapped token and locked in a smart contract. Not available in New York. Coinbase (via Morpho) website (opens in a new tab)
Nexo. Advertises rates “from 0.9%” for US customers, but the rate depends on a loyalty tier and LTV and no US rate table is public. We found no statement on whether collateral is rehypothecated. Nexo website (opens in a new tab)
APX Lending. Advertises rates from 9.99% with no origination fee, at 20% to 60% LTV, but not which rate goes with which LTV. US loans are paid in USDC with a 25,000 USDC minimum. APX Lending website (opens in a new tab)

Three things that matter more than the rate

1. How far the price can fall

Bitcoin has fallen by more than half several times. A loan at 50% loan-to-value with liquidation at 80% is sold out after a 37.5% fall; a loan at 60% with the same trigger after 25%. Borrowing less than the maximum is the only protection that does not depend on the lender.

2. What happens to your coins while you borrow

Some lenders keep collateral in a segregated account and say they never lend it on. Others pass it to funding partners. One uses a three-key vault where you hold a key. The “Your bitcoin” column records what each lender states; if a lender fails, those words are what you are relying on.

3. Tax when things go wrong

A forced sale of collateral is a sale. If your bitcoin is liquidated above the price you paid for it, you owe capital gains tax on the gain — on top of losing the coins. Our tax calculator shows the 2026 rates.

Questions

How does a bitcoin-backed loan work?

You hand bitcoin to a lender as collateral and borrow dollars against it, usually up to half its value. You pay interest, and get the bitcoin back when you repay. If the price falls far enough, the lender asks for more collateral or sells yours.

What is loan-to-value, and why does it matter?

Loan-to-value (LTV) is the loan divided by the value of your collateral. Borrowing $25,000 against $50,000 of bitcoin is 50% LTV. As the price falls, LTV rises. A loan that starts at 50% and is liquidated at 80% survives a 37.5% fall in price; one that starts at 60% and is liquidated at 80% survives 25%.

What happens in a liquidation?

The lender sells some or all of your bitcoin to repay the loan. Most lenders here sell only enough to bring the loan back to a safe level, some charge a fee on what they sell, and one says it returns no collateral at all. A liquidation is also a sale of your bitcoin for tax purposes.

Is borrowing against bitcoin taxable?

Taking a loan is generally understood not to be a sale, so borrowing does not by itself trigger capital gains tax — but the IRS has published nothing specific on crypto-collateral loans. If your collateral is liquidated, that is a sale: you owe tax on any gain over what you paid. Ask a tax professional before relying on either point.

What does rehypothecation mean?

It means the lender re-uses your collateral — lending it on or pledging it to someone else. If that party fails, your bitcoin may not come back. The table records what each lender says about it on its own site; we have not audited any of them.

Sources

SALT: SALT rates and fees, SALT bitcoin loans — checked 4 October 2026.
Figure: Figure crypto-backed loan, Figure FAQ: crypto-backed loans — checked 4 October 2026.
Arch: Arch loan rates, Arch LTV and liquidation — checked 4 October 2026.
Strike: Strike: fees and terms for loans and lines of credit, Strike: loan-to-value ratio, Strike: where loans are available — checked 4 October 2026.
Milo: Milo crypto loan — checked 4 October 2026.
Lava: Lava: interest rates, Lava: capital charge, Lava: how liquidations work — checked 4 October 2026.
Ledn: Ledn bitcoin-backed loans, Ledn help: custodied loans — checked 4 October 2026.
Unchained: Unchained loans, Unchained help: margin call process — checked 4 October 2026.
Coinbase (via Morpho): coinbase.com/borrow — checked 4 October 2026.
Nexo: nexo.com/en-us/borrow — checked 4 October 2026.
APX Lending: apxlending.com — checked 4 October 2026.

Lenders change rates often, and several restrict which states they serve. Confirm every term on the lender's own site before you apply. Not financial, tax or legal advice.

One short email before each date that costs money to miss: the 31 December harvest cut-off, the week 1099-DA forms arrive, and filing day.

Unsubscribe with one click. We never sell or share your address. Privacy