Provider at a glance
- Category
- Crypto-Backed Loans
- Entity
- Not verified
- Official website
- ledn.io
Independent rankingchecked How it works
Details
Scored 75 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in September 2026.
Ledn
Bitcoin-backed loans
Crypto-Backed Loans
#2 Overall
Ranked #2 of 5 crypto-backed loans in the published ranking
75
ChainChoice Score
The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.- High evidence confidence
Is Ledn right for you?
Right for you if these matter most
- If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?5/10, the category best
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?7/10, the category best
Look elsewhere if these come first
- Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you?4/10 here; Figure scores 6
- Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend?5/10 here; Figure scores 7
Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: Global.
to test where you can use it.
The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best crypto-backed loan shows where it lands for you.
What will Ledn cost you?
Not priced on this basis
- Amount borrowed
- $10k
How safe is Ledn?
- Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read September 2026.
- LicenceMiCA (EU): no register record on file here.
Alternatives to Ledn
Compare all 4- 1Figure3 points above · stronger on margin call and forced sale (6 against 4)78
- 3SALT Lending11 points below · stronger on margin call and forced sale (6 against 4)64
- 4Nexo22 points below · weaker on collateral title and reuse (1 against 5)53
For your setup
Find out if Ledn fits you
The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where Ledn lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.
- A few questions
- No account required
- Ranking-blind: no commercial input
- Personalised in under 60 seconds
Find my best crypto-backed loanNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.
Why this rank
Why Ledn ranks #2
Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (16.6 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest. Best in this ranking on 2 of 4.
4 published criteria · Σ weight 100
CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence
345+5.444.05#1/5Loading evidence…
264+3.334.06#3/5Loading evidence…
227+4.935.07#1/5Loading evidence…
185+2.885.07#3/5Loading evidence…
Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero
Margin−3behind Figure, #1
RobustnessHoldsacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 73–77 and stays #2
Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link
What would move the rank
Each line is the ranking run again with one of Ledn’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.
If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then? 5 → 7 on its ladder · passes Figure+279#2 → #1
Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you? 4 → 6 on its ladder · passes Figure+279#2 → #1
Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply? 7 → 10 on its ladder · passes Figure+379#2 → #1
Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend? 5 → 8 on its ladder · passes Figure+379#2 → #1
Smallest climb: “If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?” 5 → 7 passes Figure, #1.
Strengths
2 from the score dataWhere it leads
Best for readers who weight
- If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then? — 5/10, the category best
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply? — 7/10, the category best
Tradeoffs
2 from the score dataWhere it trails
Not for readers who put first
- Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you? — 4/10 against a category best of 6/10
- Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend? — 5/10 against a category best of 7/10
Record watch-outs
- That you no longer own the bitcoin, and that selling it may not end the debt. The first sentence of Section 7(b) reads “full legal and beneficial ownership of the Collateral will transfer to Lender when Borrower transfers such Collateral to the Collateral Wallet”, and Section 14 concedes what that means when it matters: on a Ledn insolvency the borrower is “an unsecured creditor of Lender” holding a set-off right, not a claim on their coin. Everything a borrower saw before signing pointed the other way — “Don't sell your bitcoin.” and “Your collateral is held securely in custody with Ledn or our trusted partners – never lent out to earn interest.” on the homepage, and, on the Open Book report, a heading that reads “Legally Ring-Fenced” over the sentence “Ledn retains beneficial ownership of loan collateral assets at all times so that even in the unlikely event of a funding partner's bankruptcy, your assets are legally protected.” That sentence protects the borrower from the PLEDGEE’s failure, which is not the risk, and it sells Ledn’s ownership of the coin as the borrower’s protection. Then the recourse. These loans are marketed as the way to keep your bitcoin, and Section 13 lets Ledn “demand payment from Borrower of any deficiency which exists after the net proceeds of disposition are credited against Borrower’s Outstanding Balance”. Ledn can sell the collateral, at a price “determined by Lender in its sole discretion”, take a 0.50% trade spread (stated on the loans page and bound at 0.5% in the Rates and Withdrawal Terms), and still invoice the borrower for the gap. Third, the ninety minutes. Once Ledn gives notice of a margin call, the borrower “shall immediately transfer Additional Collateral” to reach the 50% Target LTV (the agreement now leaves the call level itself blank, “{{marginCallLTV}} %”, and the loans page names only notifications at 70% and 75%), and an inbound top-up from cold storage does not count until “9 blocks in total have been added to the applicable blockchain” and is “confirmed received by Lender and credited to Borrower’s Collateral Wallet”. A borrower doing exactly what they were told sits exposed toward the 80% liquidation for roughly an hour and a half, and no Ledn marketing surface discloses it. The auto-top-up that is supposed to solve this IS readable and does help: its terms (public.ledn.io/legal-documents/en/loan-collateral-auto-top-up-terms.md, 2026-06-03) top the loan back to a 68% LTV from your Transaction Account, an internal transfer that skips the 9-block wait — but it is opt-in and only works if you have pre-funded that account. Fourth, the counterparty they diligenced is replaceable without a word: “Lender may change the Custodian without prior notice to Borrower” and “Lender may, at any time without notice to Borrower and without Borrower’s consent, assign, transfer, or otherwise dispose of this Agreement … including … Lender’s interest in and to the Collateral, to any person, including its affiliates.” BitGo’s South Dakota trust charter is the reason many borrowers pick Ledn, and it is not a term of the deal. Fifth, the rate they were quoted may not be the rate. On 2026-09-29 the homepage calculator priced a loan under $250,000 at 10.99% while the homepage FAQ said rates “start at 11.9 APR” and the loans page table and calculator said 11.49%; on the loans page itself the $2,000,000+ rung reads 9.25% in the table and 9.99% in the calculator.
Competitive position
Where Ledn leads and where it trails
Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.
Availability#1 / 514.0 of 20 · pool best
Published criteria#2 / 512.4 of 30 · best 13.5
Friction#1 / 52.7 of 10 · constant here
Trust record#1 / 53.2 of 8 · constant here
Measured data#1 / 58.3 of 18 · constant here
Where Ledn leads
- If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?#1 / 5
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?#1 / 5
Where it trailsNo criterion in the bottom third of its pool.
Closest alternatives
The 3 nearest rows by score
Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.
Figure#1 of 5 · score 78 · 3.0 points ahead
Ledn leads on
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?7 vs 5
Figure leads on
- Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you?6 vs 4
- Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend?7 vs 5
Largest single reason Figure is ahead: published criteria (+2.9 display points).Scenario cost: Figure has no verified pricing for this scenario.
SALT Lending#3 of 5 · score 64 · 11.0 points behind
Ledn leads on
- If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?5 vs 1
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?7 vs 5
SALT Lending leads on
- Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you?6 vs 4
- Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend?7 vs 5
Largest single reason Ledn is ahead: published criteria (+5.7 display points).Scenario cost: SALT Lending has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Nexo#4 of 5 · score 53 · 22.0 points behind
Ledn leads on
- If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?5 vs 1
- Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you?4 vs 1
- Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?7 vs 3
Nexo leads onNo scored criterion
Largest single reason Ledn is ahead: published criteria (+22.1 display points).Scenario cost: Nexo has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Against the leader
78 vs 75 · gap 3.0Why Figure ranks above Ledn
The compare workspace's arithmetic applied to these two rows. Each dimension's share of the gap is its weight × the difference, on the displayed scale — it reproduces the displayed gap of 3.0 to within rounding.
DimensionThisFigureGap share
Availability · 23% weight14.014.0same
Published criteria · 35% weight12.413.5−2.9, worse
Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same
Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same
Measured data · 21% weight · constant here8.38.3same
Published criterionThisFigurePoints
Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you? · w2646−1.66, worse
Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply? · w2275+1.41, better
Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend? · w1857−1.15, worse
Net7578−3.0
Your scenario
Ledn is not priced for this scenario
Interest on what you borrow at the published rate. Variable rates move; excludes origination and liquidation penalties. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.
interest/yr · default scenario — set your own
Amount borrowed · your input$10k
Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 29 September 2026.
interest/yrCost is stated as interest/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.
Not priced on this basis
Under the default inputs · USDCategory medianNot priced0 of 5 rows priced
Cheapest pricedNone pricedDifference not stated · availability not applied — set your country to filter
5 of 5 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.
Evidence
Evidence read 29 September 2026
One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.
4 of 4 cells scored
Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts
4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL
The receipt file has not been read yet.Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness
4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.RobustnessHoldsrank #2 across every one-point re-run
Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 29 September 2026.
Reading the evidence ledger…
CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt
If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then?strength 5 · weight 34Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you?strength 4 · weight 26Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply?strength 7 · weight 22Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend?strength 5 · weight 18Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
- Oracle failure (Ledn 4/10): a wrong price or outcome liquidates or settles a position.Scored by Who sets the price that liquidates you, how long do you really get, and can they sell without telling you? · 26%
- Insolvency failure (Ledn 5/10): the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.Scored by If the lender fails, is it your bitcoin or theirs — and what may they do with it before then? · 34%
- Regulatory failure (Ledn 5/10): no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.Scored by Which entity actually becomes your creditor, and does a register say it may lend? · 18%
Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody failure, Execution failure, Exit failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Can you compute your total cost, at your tier, before you apply? (22%).
Facts
facts, not scoresWhat the record publishes
- Pricing
- Rate card, verbatim from https://
ledn .io /bitcoin-backed-loans (HTTP 200, 186,289 bytes, server-rendered HTML, fetched 29 September 2026; the page script later overwrites these figures from a Ledn rates API that returned HTTP 403 to us). Tier table headed "Current APR*": "Standard Under $ 250,000 11.49%", "Tier 1 $ 250,00 - $ 500,000 10.99%" (the missing zero is Ledn's), "Tier 2 $ 500,000 - $ 1,000,000 10.49%", "Tier 3 $ 1,000,000 - $ 2,000,000 9.99%", "Tier 4 $ 2,000,000 + 9.25%". The loan calculator on the same page, headed "Rate (APR)", now agrees with the table on the first four rungs and not on the last: "9.99% 1 million+ USD 9.99% 2 million+ USD" (9.99% against the table's 9.25% for $2M+). The FAQ on the same page: "Published APR currently ranges from 11.4 below $ 250,000 to 9.2 at $ 2,000,000 +." and "A 2% administration fee is included where applicable; Ledn's Help Center says it does not apply to clients in Canada and the United States." The APR column's asterisk still resolves to "*Interest rates are shown on an annual percentage yield basis, are subject to change, and their availability may vary based on jurisdiction." Also on the page: "The minimum loan amount is $500 USD", "12 mo." standard term, "0" early repayment penalty, and on a fall in price "Ledn sends notifications at 70% and 75%" and "At or above 80%, liquidation is automatic and irreversible: Ledn sells collateral to cover the outstanding balance, applies a 0.50% trade spread, and returns any remainder." The same spread is binding in the Rates and Withdrawal Terms (https:// public .ledn .io /legal-documents /en /rates-terms .md, effective 1 January 2026): "Bitcoin-backed Loan Collateral Liquidation | 0.5%". The August nominal "Annual interest rate" band is no longer on the page. The binding USD Loan Agreement (https:// public .ledn .io /legal-documents /en /usd-loan-agreement .md, fetched 29 September 2026) still prints every money field as a template placeholder, and now prints the margin-call and liquidation thresholds as placeholders too; only "Target LTV | 50%" is a literal.Ledn — official page at ledn.io ↗ · 29 September 2026 - Prices published in
- USDLedn — official page at ledn.io ↗ · 29 September 2026
- Licences held
- Not published
- Compliance level
- partial
- Regulatory note
- BAND 5-6 (the deliberate honest-but-bad band), placed at the FLOOR. Read end to end from the master loan agreement, 49,077 bytes, HTTP 200, document date 1 July 2025, loaded 19 August 2026.
- Supported chains
- Not published
- Markets served
- global
- Primary markets
- Not published
- Restricted markets
- Not published
- Operating limits
- Not published
- Availability note
- Not published
No confirmed legal entity is on file for this record. Nothing is inferred from the brand name.
If something goes wrong with Ledn: where to complain, and where to report a scam
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How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.
How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money
History
What the record carries
Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.
8 methodology entries
- 29 September 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 75, #2 of 5. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.8When nothing serves your country, the list shown for reference is the published ranking · platform-wide- fixed The reference list shown when nothing serves your country is the published order with the published scores, and a build check now fails any such list out of that order or with a score the ranking does not publish.
- fixed The explorer prints an overall rank only for a row the published ranking holds; a country entrant such as Coinbase Commerce for US merchants shows no overall rank.
- changed Published orders do not move. Country results change only where nothing serves the country: in India bill pay keeps Bitcoin Well first and now shows Strike second, as published; 35 such runs across all categories and countries now match the published list exactly.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.6A criterion you require re-scores the rows that meet it · platform-wide- changed The explorer sends each criterion you require, at any band, as fit_required with your other answers; region, licence, chain and fact filters stay filters. On /best, a required criterion joins For you as a marked preference does, which needs your country; Overall stays the published ranking, filtered.
- added Every published criterion has a golden case as the explorer sends it (require:<criterion>), so the order a requirement gives is replayed and gated as the published order is, and a change to it needs an entry here.
- 16 September 2026
2026.09.15Dimension scores carry tenths, and eleven more categories are re-read from primary sources · platform-wide- changed Dimension scores resolve to tenths of a point (O-04b), and weightedTotal is rounded to six decimal places before the order is read. 518 published scores move across 107 categories that were not re-read; none of them moves by more than 4 points, and most move by 1.
- fixed 66 published scores change in the eleven re-read categories, against a verbatim source each. The largest moves are Reflexer RAI (−16), Beefy and Unrekt (−11), Aztec (−10) and Golem (+9) — all of them rows whose sources had moved since their last read.
- changed Published order moves in 38 of 119 categories and three #1s change: smart_contract_audits (Zellic → Certora) and travel_rule_compliance (Sumsub Travel Rule → CodeVASP) on the finer resolution, kyc_compliance (Veriff → Sumsub) on the re-read.
- added availabilitySource (O-04g): for a reader who states a country, a row whose availability in that country rests on a region tag its record gives no source for sorts below every sourced row. It is inert in every order published here, which states no country.
Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt crypto_backed_loans:ledn:2026.10.18:f177a3b32ad7
Are you Ledn? Reply to this verdict, or send evidence, ask for a correction or claim the listing. Every message gets a public ticket number; none of it changes a rank unless a public page or a signed statement supports it.