Ledn, the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, today released new research conducted by strategic research and consumer insights firm Protocol Theory, alongside its forecast that the consumer Bitcoin-backed loan market will grow from approximately $3 billion today to between $900 billion and $1 trillion within the next five to ten years; a 300x expansion of the category. For context, Galaxy Research’s most recent measurement put the entire crypto lending market, across DeFi, CeFi, institutional, and all flavours combined, at a $73.6 billion all-time high in Q3 2025. Ledn is forecasting that the consumer Bitcoin slice alone will reach roughly 13 times the size of the entire current crypto lending market within a decade.
The mechanism behind the projection is conversion. The new survey of 1,244 cryptocurrency holders across the United States and Australia found that 88% of crypto holders would consider borrowing against their digital assets, while only 14% currently do, a 6-to-1 consideration-to-adoption gap that Ledn believes will narrow as institutional infrastructure standardizes. Closing even a fraction of that 74-percentage-point conversion runway, applied to a multi-trillion-dollar asset class, would generate growth on the scale Ledn is projecting.
What has been holding the conversion back is not comprehension or eligibility. The most commonly cited barriers among non-borrowers were all confidence-related: (1) concerns about managing crypto price volatility, (2) concerns about managing liquidation risk, and (3) regulatory uncertainty around crypto-backed loans. When asked how they choose a lending platform, respondents pointed to risk management practices, platform reputation, ease of use, clarity of terms, and track record as the factors that matter most, ahead of rates or features.
“Bitcoin is now held by tens of millions of people, nearly 200 publicly listed companies, and more than a dozen governments. It is managed by regulated institutions and covered by major ratings agencies. And yet collateralised borrowing against it is still in the very early innings compared to any traditional asset class of this size,” said Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, Co-Founder of Ledn. “The demand side of the equation is solved. What’s still catching up is the trust infrastructure that gives borrowers the confidence to act.”
The trust infrastructure is starting to mature. In February 2026, Ledn closed the first-ever investment-grade Bitcoin-collateralised asset-backed security: a $200 million issuance with the senior tranche rated BBB- by S&P Global, described by Galaxy Research as crypto credit moving “away from a niche product toward broader institutional acceptance”. The bonds are now trading roughly 5% tighter on interest in the secondary market than at issuance, the first signal that the institutional capital channel is not only open, but pricing the underlying credit favourably.
Behaviour among the 14% who already borrow against their crypto follows a long-standing wealth-management pattern: using collateralised loans to access liquidity without selling a long-term holding. The research found that 72% of crypto holders agree crypto-backed loans provide convenient access to funds without needing to sell their crypto, the same wealth-management logic that anchors mortgage borrowing and securities-backed lending in traditional markets.
The research also found notable regional variation. Australian cryptocurrency holders were significantly more likely to borrow proactively as part of financial planning than their American counterparts, and more likely to compare lenders across platforms, reflecting a more structurally fragmented Australian market in which no single platform dominates.