Uncategorized
Bitcoin-Backed Loans Are Going to Get Way Cheaper Around the Globe: Ledn Co-Founder

The Trump administration’s friendliness toward the crypto sector is going to deeply change the bitcoin (BTC) lending market over the next four years.
That’s according to Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn, a firm that specializes in providing digital asset loans.
“You’re going to see a Cambrian explosion of bitcoin-backed loans, because the rates are going to drop to a point that is going to make them competitive with home equity or personal lines of credit, or other types of instruments,” Di Bartolomeo told CoinDesk in an interview.
The kicker, he said, is that these rates will drop not just in the U.S. but for countries all around the globe, thanks to bitcoin’s nature as a digital asset. “Gold in a vault in Switzerland is not gold in a vault in Venezuela, but bitcoin in Colombia is bitcoin in Madrid is bitcoin anywhere in the world. As an underwriter, I have uniform collateral,” Di Bartolomeo said.
In practice, this means that investors from developing countries, who may not have the same kind of efficient financing opportunities as people in Western nations, will soon have a way to access what Di Bartolomeo called world-class financing at fair rates.
That’s because big banks are finally ready to wade into crypto lending, now that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rescinded SAB 121, a controversial accounting rule that made it prohibitive for firms to custody crypto assets.
Historically, very few players have offered crypto lending services in the U.S., which has made the space relatively uncompetitive, according to Di Bartolomeo.
“It’s a seller’s market right now. We are lending out dollars fully collateralized at north of 12.5%, with zero losses over seven years. Banks are going to look at this and say ‘Wow, this is a great rate of return.’ One bank will come in with 12% interest. Another will do 10%. Another says 9%. So this is going to compress, and compress,” he said. “It will really benefit the consumer.”
Lending bitcoin
Born and raised in Venezuela, Di Bartolomeo entered the crypto sphere in 2014. Back then, the country was reeling from hyperinflation and Nicolás Maduro’s ascent to power. While most of Di Bartolomeo’s friends were focused on emigrating, his brother was benefitting from bitcoin mining thanks to the nation’s cheap energy.
The family got in on the business, then other acquaintances, but they were confronted with the issue of financing their operations — a single mining rig can cost thousands of dollars. Bitcoin miners residing in Canada also had the same issue, Di Bartolomeo (who studied in Ontario) discovered. That’s what pushed him to launch Ledn in 2018 with co-founder Adam Reeds.
“Miners had fees and expenses, and their revenue was in bitcoin. They wanted to keep a lot of their treasury as bitcoin, because of how well it was doing. They needed a tool that helped them keep their bitcoin while giving them the fiat they needed to pay things out,” Di Bartolomeo said.
Fast forward to 2025 and Ledn’s clients now have access to products that include bitcoin loans, bitcoin yield accounts, stablecoin growth accounts, and ether (ETH) backed loans — a basic wealth management toolkit, according to Di Bartolomeo. The loans also provide a tax efficient way of obtaining liquidity. Customers include high net-worth individuals that were early to Bitcoin, businesses and funds. Ledn has issued $9 billion in loans since inception.
Though it’s based in Canada, Ledn was one of the first lending companies to offer services in Spanish, which allowed the firm to establish a market in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Spain while other lenders — BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius, Genesis — were pushing to capture the U.S. market. When these lenders were wiped out in 2022, Ledn was one of the only firms left standing, and it grew in the U.S. organically.
Now, with big banks wading in, Di Bartolomeo believes the pie is about to get much larger, and that Ledn is well positioned to get a sliver of it.
“Ledn will have a seat at the table no matter how this shakes out, if we continue to do our job, and that’s what I’m very excited about. How big the seat is — you know, the table is going to be huge, and there’s going to be tons of food. As long as we’re in the room, we’ll be happy.”
Uncategorized
Canary Capital Files for Tron ETF With Staking Capabilities

Canary Capital is looking to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Tron’s native token, TRX, according to a filing.
The hedge fund submitted a Form S-1 for the Canary Staked TRX ETF with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday. As the name suggests, the fund — if approved — would stake portions of its holdings.
This would be done through third-party providers, with BitGo acting as custodian for the assets. The fund would track TRX’s spot price using CoinDesk Indices calculations.
A proposed ticker as well as the management fee for the product have not been shared yet.
Issuers had initially filed applications for spot ethereum (ETH) ETFs with the staking feature included but removed them in an amended filing later in order to receive approval from the SEC on their proposals.
While the SEC under former Chair Gary Gensler was strictly against staking, issuers have grown more hopeful that they will be able to add the feature to their spot ether funds, among others, with the appointment of crypto-friendly Chair Paul Atkins.
A decision on a February request from Grayscale to allow staking in the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH) was postponed by the regulator just a few days ago.
Uncategorized
Feds Mistakenly Order Estonian HashFlare Fraudsters to Self-Deport Ahead of Sentencing

Just four months ahead of their criminal sentencing for operating a $577 million cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme, the two Estonian founders of HashFlare were seemingly mistakenly ordered to self-deport by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — an instruction that directly contradicted a court order for the men to remain in Washington state until they are sentenced in August.
In a joint letter to the court last week, lawyers for Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin told District Judge Robert Lasnik of the Western District of Washington that both men had received “disturbing communications” from DHS ordering them to leave the country immediately.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” an email to Potapenko and Turogin dated April 11 read. “DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”
The email, included with the letter filed last week, threatened both men with “criminal prosecution, civil fines, and penalties and any other lawful options available to the federal government” if they stayed in the country. It resembles emails that undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens alike have received over the past few days.
Ironically, Potapenko and Turogin are not in the U.S. of their own volition — they were extradited from their native Estonia at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 on an 18-count indictment tied to their HashFlare scheme. Though they initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, in February they both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and agreed to forfeit over $400 million in assets. They have both been in the Seattle area on bond since last July.
“Although there is nothing Ivan and Sergei would want more than to immediately go home, they understood that they are also under Court order to remain in King County,” wrote Mark Bini, a partner at Reed Smith LLP and lead counsel for Potenko, wrote in the pair’s joint letter to the court. Bini did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
In his letter, Bini said DHS’s emails had caused both Potapenko and Turogin «significant anxiety.”
“We and our clients have all seen recent news. Immigration authorities make mistakes, and individuals who should not be in custody end up in custody, sometimes even deported to places where they should not be deported,” Bini wrote.
Six days after Bini’s letter to the judge, the DOJ filed its own letter with the court saying that prosecutors had coordinated with DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division and secured a year-long deferral to the self-deportation order.
“This should provide ample time for the sentencing to take place,” the prosecution’s letter said.
DHS did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
Potapenko and Turogin are slated to be sentenced on August 14 in Seattle. Their lawyers have said that they will request to be sentenced to time served, meaning no additional time in prison, and to be sent home to Estonia “immediately.”
Uncategorized
CoinDesk Weekly Recap: EigenLayer, Kraken, Coinbase, AWS

Following last week’s tariff-caused drama, this was a relatively quiet week in crypto. Bitcoin remained stable around $84k. The CoinDesk 20, which tracks about 80% of the market, was up about 4% in the last seven days — i.e. nothing historic.
Still, plenty happened. On Tuesday, much of crypto went offline because of a tech issue at AWS, showing how the decentralized economy isn’t always that decentralized. Shaurya Malwa reported the news early. Bitcoin and other major cryptos slipped on bad news for Nvidia, Omkar Godbole reported.
Mantra, a project focused on real world assets, lost 90% of its value. Explanations varied (the company said it was due to “force liquidations” exchanges).
Meanwhile, EigenLayer, a restaking leader, rolled out a “slashing” feature meant to address security concerns (Sam Kessler reported). OKX, a major exchange, announced plans to set up in California following a $500 million settlement with the SEC over claims it operated previously in the U.S. without a money transmitter license. Cheyenne Ligon had that story.
In less good news, Kraken laid off “hundreds” of staff ahead of an expected IPO. And Coinbase became embroiled in a “front running controversy” linked to a curiously named token on its Base L2. Privacy advocates reacted with alarm to rumors that Binance was about to delist Zcash following a long decline in the value of privacy coins.
In D.C. news, Jesse Hamilton reported on a new wave of crypto lobbyists flooding the capital. Some asked if there are now too many trade groups and whether they really all could be effective.
Friends With Benefits, a buzzy social club for creative technologists, launched a new program to build Web3 products for music, film, publishing and other fun activities. (I wrote that one.)
Of course, there was plenty happening in the economy and markets (Trump’s disgust for Fed chair Powell fed into the unease). But, in crypto, it was pretty much business as usual. Fortunes won, fortunes lost, fortunes deferred.
-
Fashion6 месяцев ago
These \’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
The final 6 \’Game of Thrones\’ episodes might feel like a full season
-
Fashion6 месяцев ago
According to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
The old and New Edition cast comes together to perform
-
Sports6 месяцев ago
Phillies\’ Aaron Altherr makes mind-boggling barehanded play
-
Business6 месяцев ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
Disney\’s live-action Aladdin finally finds its stars
-
Sports6 месяцев ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors