Ledn says bitcoin-backed lending market could reach $1 trillion as securitization attracts institutional capital

Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo projected that the bitcoin-backed lending market could grow to $1 trillion in the next five to 10 years, arguing investment-grade bonds can unlock institutional investment in the sector.

Ledn issued Canada's first bitcoin-backed loan in 2018, since becoming one of the sector's largest lenders. The company estimates it now accounts for roughly 30% of the global market, originating $1.4 billion in loans during 2025.

However, the crypto lending sector remains contentious after suffering significant setbacks following a tumultuous year for centralized services in 2022 — a period that saw the bankruptcy of firms like Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager Digital, and Genesis.

In an interview with The Block's Gareth Jenkinson at BTC Prague last week, Di Bartolomeo said no single balance sheet could provide the liquidity needed to support a $1 trillion market. Instead, he pointed to mortgage and auto loans, where roughly 60% to 70% of mortgages and about 25% of auto loans are securitized and sold as bonds, as a model to follow. Ledn's thesis is that packaging bitcoin-backed loans into similar products could allow lenders to tap the multi-trillion-dollar asset-backed securities market and attract institutional capital to the sector.

"In order to get a bond that's meaningful, you need size, you need at least $200 million, and you need a rating," he said, highlighting Ledn's own recently issued bond product that uses Fidelity as a custodian and Jefferies as the bookrunner. According to Di Bartolomeo, it was the first bitcoin (BTC) debt instrument rated by S&P Global, receiving an investment-grade rating.

An investment-grade rating is significant because many institutions, including pension funds and endowments, allocate capital specifically to investment-grade debt securities, potentially opening a different pool of funding than bitcoin exchange-traded funds or Strategy-style preferred-stock offerings.

"We were marketing this bond during February, which was during the correction," Di Bartolomeo continued. "The very interesting thing was during these meetings, a lot of these investors who hadn't bought a bitcoin instrument before, were worried about how the system would work in a downturn. And here they were reviewing the deal during a downturn and seeing zero loan defaults in the middle of a bitcoin drawdown. And that made them feel a lot more comfortable about our processes."

The Ledn co-founder said the bond ultimately ended up three times oversubscribed.

"If we do this right, we believe we have a big opportunity to open up that market, price it correctly, and use that benefit to basically deliver cheaper rates on our loans over time," he said.