The following is a guest post from Christina Comben.
If you’ve been following the crypto space for any length of time, you may be familiar with the name Ledn, pretty much the only centralized Bitcoin lending platform that didn’t crash and burn in the aftermath of Terra/LUNA, FTX, et al in 2022. Ledn’s more conservative approach to spending, scaling, and risk management enabled it to weather one of crypto’s largest sh*tstorms with notable aplomb.
That didn’t stop the industry from tarring the company with the same brush as its shady counterparts.
“Every crypto business was on fire in 2021,” recalls Ledn co-founder and CEO Adam Reeds, “then we went through this very tough period and had to work really, really hard to tell clients what we were doing differently and how things were working.”
One of the main contributors to Ledn’s staying power is a deep commitment to transparency with users. Ledn was the first digital asset lending company to complete a Proof-of-Reserves attestation, a process repeated every six months. This diligence has not only seen the company recover from the depths of the grueling bear but substantially grow its business.
“We became profitable at the beginning of 2024,” Adam smiles. “It’s been great to see. We have a better and bigger business today than we did in 2021.”
A Bitcoin-First Ethos
“Ledn is focused on ensuring that there are financial products for Bitcoin first,” Adam explains.
However, the company does support stablecoins Tether and USDC and recently conceded to broader demand for loans collateralized by alternative digital assets by adding Ethereum.
“Our premier product is Bitcoin and the core offer is our Bitcoin-backed loan. We allow clients to deposit Bitcoin with us and offer them liquidity so they don’t have to sell it.”
Are there additional benefits of using Ledn beyond maintaining your diamond hands?
“There are tax planning advantages to loans in most jurisdictions,” Adam says, “but the most important thing is not selling an asset that you think is going to go up in value and you want to maintain for a long time.”
Adam prides himself on Ledn’s simple business model.
“We’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We’re trying to keep our core lending products and bring them to more people.” Ledn is a big proponent of quality over quantity. “One of the favorite sayings in the company is the best restaurants have the smallest menu. You don’t have to do too many things, you just do a few things right. I think that’s the best client experience.”
What excites Adam most about working in Bitcoin every day?
“I love traveling, meeting people, and learning about new cultures,” he enthuses. “To me, the way people use money is not for money, right? It’s like, how do they think about their future? What excites them? What are their goals? You get to learn about what people are working toward when you talk about financial services, and I get to have those conversations.”
He tells the story of a client in Latin America, where his co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo is from and much of the Ledn team is based. The client was operating a tourism business and Ledn’s products helped him survive the COVID-19 pandemic as he could borrow against his Bitcoin when no bank would offer him a loan. “Now he’s expanding,” Adam says. “It’s really a sense of joy to learn about how people are successful in their financial journeys.”
The ‘Ultimate Equalizer’
Ledn originated in the co-founders’ Canadian home of Toronto and recently relocated to the Cayman Islands and expanded across North America to South America and Europe. Meeting Adam in the heaving conference hall at Bitcoin MENA in Abu Dhabi, I wonder if they’re looking to set up a foothold in the Middle East as well.
“We’re open to other regions, and we’re here because we’re looking to expand into the Middle East and Asia,” he affirms.
Adam says there are different use cases of Bitcoin geographically and it’s important to learn the nuances of every region. “In the US, tax is a big deal, because there’s capital gains tax on Bitcoin, but a lot of jurisdictions in Asia don’t have capital gains tax.” In these parts of the world, HODLers are more likely to flock to Ledn to avoid reducing their stash.
While Ledn’s main product is loans, the platform also offers limited trading pairs and a yield-bearing product for Bitcoiners without PTSD who want to earn interest on their coins. Do they plan to add other cryptocurrencies to their range? “Nothing [beyond Ethereum] in the long term and no immediate plans but we’re always considering it,” he replies.
Adam is speaking on a panel about the future of collateral and why Bitcoin is a pristine asset.
“Property rights are a big deal,” he says. “Even gold, because it’s physical, is very important where it’s held. If I want to finance gold, is it in the Bank of England or the Bank of Venezuela? It’s a very different risk profile and because Bitcoin is virtual, you don’t have the same challenges with how it’s stored.”
“For us, Bitcoin is the ultimate equalizer. It’s the ultimate financial fairness, and I love that because we can build the same financial products for everyone globally. It doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from, or what you do. It’s just Bitcoin.”
Riding the Bull Market Wave
Since the onset of the bull market, Ledn has seen a 2.5x increase in daily lending and reported $1.67 billion in loans from Q1 to Q3 last year.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Adam says. “The individuals always got it but I think what’s nice about this market is this time it’s the businesses, the institutions are getting it because they really see a for-profit model in it.”
He says the reputational risk of being in an institution four years ago during the last bull cycle was far higher than today. With the stigma of holding Bitcoin removed, institutions are pouring in—and bringing their institutional capital with them.
“The space is still incredibly short dollars,” Adam says. “If you think about Bitcoin as a $2 trillion market cap today, the amount of retail loans on Bitcoin is probably around $1 to $2 billion, so it’s still so small. We need more dollars in the space to allow more people to take mortgages on Bitcoin, and we need that by institutions being able to lend those dollars to companies like Ledn to offer loans to retail.”
‘Institutional FOMO’ for Bitcoin
Ledn moved its official headquarters from Canada to the Cayman Islands for its forward-thinking legislation and friendlier regulatory pastures, after “pushing a round peg into a square hole” with policy in their home country and the US. But what about the step change on the horizon with the incoming Trump 2.0?
“I mean, it’s great, right?” he lights up. “Bitcoin became so polarized and it was brilliant of the Trump administration to really grab that voter base and move on. I think now a lot of businesses that wanted to be in the space but couldn’t risk taking it on until they had legal clarity are going to be able to come in.”
What does that mean for Bitcoin in the months and years ahead?
“I think we’re going to see institutional FOMO where several big banks are going to adopt it and everyone else will have to follow.”
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