Ledn Co-Founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo on Why Bitcoin Is "The King of Collateral"
Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo joined Simply Bitcoin to walk through how Bitcoin-backed lending actually works, why his firm just issued the industry's first investment-grade bond, and what a Federal Reserve rate hike means for borrowers.
WHAT LEDN DOES
Ledn lets Bitcoin holders borrow dollars against their coins without selling them. Di Bartolomeo said the idea came from his own experience running a mining operation, where recurring bills sometimes forced a sale at a price he did not want to sell at. A Bitcoin-backed loan lets a borrower cover a need now, whether that is a medical bill, a mortgage down payment, or a business expense, while keeping exposure to any upside once the loan is repaid.
WHY BITCOIN BEATS REAL ESTATE AS COLLATERAL
Di Bartolomeo said roughly 80 percent of all U.S. loans are asset-backed, meaning a lender is protected by something it can seize and sell if a borrower defaults. Property has long been considered strong collateral, but foreclosing on a house takes lawyers, appraisals and months. Bitcoin, he said, can be transferred and liquidated in minutes anywhere in the world, at any hour, which lets a lender close out risk almost immediately instead of waiting out a foreclosure process. That speed is the basis for his argument that Bitcoin is "the king of collateral."
THE FIRST INVESTMENT-GRADE BITCOIN BOND
Ledn closed a Bitcoin-backed asset-backed securities deal earlier this year that became the first digital-asset lending instrument to receive an investment-grade rating. On Feb. 20, Ledn announced that S&P assigned an investment grade rating of BBB- to the senior notes in the offering, the first time a major global credit rating agency had issued an investment-grade rating tied to a digital asset lending portfolio. Di Bartolomeo said the bond drew capital from clients in 30 different countries into a single structure, meaning institutional bond investors are exposed to the same collateral and the same risk engine regardless of where a borrower lives. He argued that uniformity is what lets Ledn offer the same rate to a borrower in Madrid as one in Michigan, something he said few other lenders can claim.
STABLECOIN REPAYMENTS AND THE FED HIKE
Ledn recently added the option to repay loans in USDT, which Di Bartolomeo said matters most for borrowers in countries with weak banking access, describing it as a way for people in Latin America and other emerging markets to use dollars they can actually get their hands on. He said Venezuelans in particular have effectively stopped distinguishing between "dollars" and Tether in daily life, since USDT became the working substitute for physical dollars there.
Asked about the Federal Reserve's decision that morning, Di Bartolomeo explained that every lending rate is built from a risk-free rate, set by what the Fed pays on overnight deposits, plus a risk premium on top. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent, its first increase since 2023, with the FOMC approving the move unanimously. Di Bartolomeo said a hike like this tends to push variable borrowing costs up across the board, but that Ledn's own funding is partly insulated because its ABS facility carries a fixed coupon over a three-year term rather than resetting with the Fed.
This story comes from the Simply Bitcoin Live show. Watch the full episode.
