Borrowing against Bitcoin makes sense on paper. You keep your position, avoid a taxable sale, and get liquidity when you need it. The problem has always been the middle part: handing your Bitcoin to a platform and trusting they'll give it back.
A lot of platforms have taken that collateral and done things with it you didn't sign up for. Most of them meant well, right up until they didn't. That's why we're building the Bitwala Loan differently.
Still early
The crypto-backed lending market hit $73.6 billion in Q3 2025, an all-time high. A recent Ledn study found that 88% of crypto holders would consider borrowing against their Bitcoin, but only 14% currently do. That 74-point gap between interest and action comes down to trust, not understanding.
The top barriers are liquidation anxiety, price volatility concerns, and distrust of the platforms that hold the collateral. That's exactly the gap we're building into.
The custody problem with most Bitcoin loans
When you borrow against Bitcoin on a centralised platform, your collateral goes somewhere. Into their custody, their vaults, their balance sheet. You get a promise that it'll be there when you repay.
For a while, that promise holds. Then something happens, and it doesn't.
The Bitwala Loan works differently. Your Bitcoin is held by a smart contract, not by us. When you deposit collateral, it goes on-chain into a contract that holds it until you repay.
Bitwala doesn't touch it. The smart contract and your wallet operate independently of the platform.
Instant liquidity, zero bureaucracy
Deposit Bitcoin as collateral. Borrow up to 50% of its value. Receive USDC to your self-custody wallet.
No credit checks. No bank approvals. No waiting for someone in a suit to decide whether you deserve access to your own collateral.
Interest is 7% flat. Centralised competitors charge 12 to 20%, plus whatever they've folded into the structure that doesn't show up in the headline rate.
Who this is for
You've held Bitcoin through a few cycles, and you're not looking to exit; you're looking for breathing room. Maybe a tax bill landed at the wrong moment, or there's an opportunity you don't want to miss because your capital is tied up in an asset you'd rather keep.
Selling feels wrong when you believe in the long-term trajectory, and borrowing lets you act without closing the position.
One thing worth saying plainly: if Bitcoin's price drops significantly while you have an open loan, liquidation is possible.
The smart contract holds your collateral and will act on it if the LTV threshold is crossed, so you should only borrow what you're comfortable managing through a drawdown.
Why we built this after Nuri
We collapsed in 2022. You probably know that. What came after was a choice about what kind of company to rebuild. The easy version would have been to launch another custodial lending product and compete on rates.
Instead, we spent more time on the infrastructure so that the product's integrity doesn't depend on our continued existence. That's a harder build. It's also the only version we were willing to ship.
We're still building. Join the waitlist, and when it opens, you'll finally be able to borrow against Bitcoin without handing it to anyone.