{"id":50580,"date":"2026-02-18T16:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/?p=50580"},"modified":"2026-02-18T16:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:50:29","slug":"ledn-sells-188m-bitcoin-backed-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/ledn-sells-188m-bitcoin-backed-bonds","title":{"rendered":"Ledn Sells $188M Bitcoin-Backed Bonds in First-of-Its-Kind Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crypto lender Ledn Inc. has sold $188 million in securitized bonds backed by Bitcoin-linked loans, marking a first-of-its-kind deal in the asset-backed debt market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The transaction includes two bond tranches, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-18\/crypto-firm-ledn-sells-bitcoin-backed-bonds-in-abs-market-first\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according<\/a> to <em>Bloomberg,<\/em> one of which received an investment-grade rating and priced at a spread of 335 basis points over the benchmark rate, according to people familiar with the matter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. served as the sole structuring agent and bookrunner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bonds are secured by a pool of more than 5,400 consumer loans issued by Ledn, where borrowers used their Bitcoin holdings as collateral, <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/bitcoin-backed-bonds-facing-stress-test\">according to an S&amp;P Global Ratings report<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The loans carry a weighted average interest rate of 11.8%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bitcoin\u2019s price volatility remains a central risk. Loans tied to the cryptocurrency can fall underwater if prices decline sharply.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">JUST IN: Crypto lending firm Ledn sold $188 million of securitized bonds backed by Bitcoin, making it the first ever BTC deal in the market for asset-backed debt \u2014 Bloomberg \ud83d\ude80<\/p>&mdash; Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BitcoinMagazine\/status\/2024233503529857156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">February 18, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">S&amp;P\u2019s Ledn bitcoin bond ratings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">S&amp;P said investors may be partly protected because Ledn uses algorithmic liquidation to sell Bitcoin collateral when a default trigger is reached, applying the proceeds to repay outstanding loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report noted that bitcoin\u2019s sharp decline in early February forced Ledn to liquidate a \u201csignificant share\u201d of loans slated for the deal. S&amp;P said all liquidations were executed below an 81.4% LTV threshold, shifting the portfolio mix toward fewer loans and more cash in the funding account, while keeping the total collateral package at $200 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">S&amp;P\u2019s analysis focused on borrower default behavior, recovery rates during liquidation, and concentration risk.&nbsp; The agency said margin-driven defaults represent the most acute stress scenario because liquidations occur when bitcoin prices are falling, potentially into thin or volatile markets where execution slippage matters most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because Ledn underwrites loans primarily based on bitcoin collateral rather than borrower credit profiles, S&amp;P said traditional consumer loan performance metrics are limited.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the \u2018A\u2019 stress level, the agency applied a conservative 100% default assumption, with modeled stresses for the rated notes including a 79% default rate and 68% recovery for the BBB- class A tranche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">S&amp;P highlighted structural mitigants including overcollateralization, early amortization triggers, a liquidity reserve funded at 5% of note balance, and Ledn\u2019s automated liquidation engine, which it said has successfully liquidated 7,493 loans over seven years without principal losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ledn plans to require cash interest payments for renewals starting in 2027, which S&amp;P said reduces liquidity stress over time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bitcoin has since recovered modestly but remains about 46% below its October high, trading near $66,000 today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crypto lender Ledn Inc. has officially sold $188 million in securitized bonds backed by Bitcoin-linked loans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3817,"featured_media":50582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4378],"tags":[76,5451,364,1778],"class_list":["post-50580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin-backed-loans","tag-ledn","tag-loans"],"author_data":{"id":3817,"name":"Micah Zimmerman","nicename":"micahzimmerman","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Micah_Zimmerman_Author_Image.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Ledn-Sells-188M-Bitcoin-Backed-Bonds-in-First-of-Its-Kind-Deal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}