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Bitcoin Loans Evolve Into Corporate Financing

MARA used 18,750 BTC as collateral for $600 million through loans from Coinbase Credit and Two Prime. That means the market for secured BTC loans is getting more established credit structures.

By Mike Hesp
• 3 min read
Bitcoin Loans Evolve Into Corporate Financing

Key Takeaways

  • Institutional demand for Bitcoin-backed loans is growing fast thanks to larger facilities, longer terms, and more customization.
  • MARA Holdings pledged 18,750 BTC to raise $600 million through two term loans from Coinbase Credit and Two Prime Lending.
  • According to Two Prime CEO Alexander Blume, the market for secured BTC loans is becoming more mature, with more detailed contracts and rising demand for borrowing.

Institutional demand for Bitcoin-backed loans is rising quickly as lenders offer larger facilities, longer terms, and more customization. For publicly traded companies, borrowing against BTC is increasingly an alternative to selling tokens to free up cash.

MARA Uses BTC as Collateral

MARA Holdings gave a clear example of that trend this month. The company pledged 18,750 BTC to raise $600 million (€519 million) through two term loans from Coinbase Credit and Two Prime Lending. At the time, that collateral represented about 53 percent of the Bitcoin on Marathon's balance sheet and was worth roughly $1.2 billion (€1 billion) when the transactions closed on August 4.

MARA said it can use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the planned acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power. According to the company, that gas plant in Ohio can support both Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure.

Loans Are Getting More Professional

According to Two Prime CEO Alexander Blume, the market for secured BTC loans is becoming a more mature product. He sees lenders offering longer terms, more bespoke conditions, and traditional warehouse lines to institutional clients. The Two Prime loan to MARA has a fixed interest rate of 7.65 percent and runs through August 2028.

Blume also said borrowing demand has increased over the past few months, especially among institutions that want to hold their Bitcoin but still need capital for investments or acquisitions. Metaplanet is exploring a similar path in Japan with bitcoin-backed credit products, showing that the market is developing outside the U.S. as well. Recent filings also show, in his view, that contracts are becoming more detailed, with agreements on margin calls, collateral custody, and liquidation.

Lenders like Ledn and Kraken have expanded the market further through asset-backed securities and warehouse facilities tied to Bitcoin collateral. That fits into a broader trend where corporate Bitcoin holdings are becoming a standard part of treasury management. In 2026, public companies collectively held more than 1.26 million BTC, equal to about 6 percent of the total Bitcoin supply.

Why This Matters

For European crypto readers, this shows that Bitcoin is not just a trading asset, but is also being used more and more as a financing tool. That could matter for how companies structure their balance sheets, liquidity, and risk management, especially as more financial setups around BTC start to look like traditional credit models.

The development could also be interesting for people watching the broader on-chain shift in financial markets. Blume pointed to tokenized equities as a possible next step, although for now that remains a broader market trend and not a direct result of these deals.

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