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Ledn First-Quarter Loans Top Record $690M as Lending Market Snaps Back
The majority of loans were issued to institutional market makers following U.S. approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
May 9, 2024, 1:00 p.m.
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- Ledn processed $690 million in loans in the first quarter, 84% of which were to institutions.
- The firm has doubled its loan book since November 2022.
- The rise was attributed to spot bitcoin ETF approval in the U.S.
Crypto lending firm Ledn processed more than $690 million in loans in the first quarter, its most successful quarter since the company's inception in 2018, almost five times the value of the previous three months.
The vast majority, more than 84%, was directed to institutions, with demand ballooning after the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. in January as several hundred million dollars worth of loans was issued to ETF market makers, Ledn said in a press release. In fourth-quarter 2023, the firm issued $140.3 million of loans, 90% of which went to institutional borrowers.
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"The first quarter of 2024 has set the tone for a promising year for Ledn, as we've not only doubled our loan book since November 2022 but have also solidified our leading position in the market by adapting to the increasing demand for digital asset financial products," CEO Adam Reeds said in a statement.
The crypto lending sector imploded in 2022 alongside dwindling asset prices, spurring lenders including Celsius, BlockFi and Genesis to file for bankruptcy. Centralized lenders such as Ledn are only just starting to shake off negative sentiment left by their demise. Lending in decentralized finance (DeFi), meantime, continued to boom, with the likes of Aave accumulating $10 billion in total value locked (TVL).
Among other centralized lenders, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) said loans to institutional customers grew to $399 million in fourth-quarter 2023. That was before the ETF approvals. Ledn said it loaned $100 million to retail customers in the first quarter, $40 million of which was refinanced from the collapse of Celsius.
In December the firm rolled out a crypto-backed loan product that allows customers to receive a loan by pledging crypto as collateral, which is then custodied by BitGo.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
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- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Stablecoins moved $35 trillion last year but only 1% of it was for 'real world' payments
While stablecoins settled around $35 trillion last year, only around 1% of that represented genuine payments like remittances and payroll, a new report found.
What to know:
- Stablecoins processed more than $35 trillion in transactions last year, but only about 1% of that reflected real-world payments, a report by McKinsey and Artemis Analytics found.
- The study estimated that roughly $390 billion in genuine stablecoin payments, such as vendor payments, payrolls, remittances and capital markets settlements.
- Despite rapid growth and increasing interest from traditional payment firms like Visa and Stripe, true stablecoin payments still account for just a tiny fraction of the more than $2 quadrillion global payments market, the report said.
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