Crypto Lending Soars as BlackRock Lowers Bitcoin Investment Barrier

Crypto-backed lending has seen a significant surge in retail borrowing activity, with average loan numbers rising by 74% from 2025 to 2026. According to data from CryptoQuant using CoinRabbit data, retail borrowers averaged 53.5 loans per user last year, up from 30.8 in the previous period.

This increase was accompanied by a shift towards repeat borrowing, with 65.1% of users taking multiple loans, compared to 61.9% in 2025. High-net-worth borrowers also increased their loan use, although at a slower rate of 18%. The average number of days between loans for retail borrowers rose from 11 to 21.

Collateral composition changed alongside borrowing behavior, with Bitcoin's share among high-net-worth users falling from 57.8% to 30.5%, while Zcash advanced strongly to a 24.2% share. Other assets such as Monero, Chainlink, and Cardano also gained traction.

In related news, BlackRock reduced the minimum in-kind Bitcoin conversion threshold for its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) from $25 million to $1 million, making it more accessible to family offices and wealthy individual holders. This move has processed over $5 billion through these conversions, representing 3.645% of total BTC supply.