Cryptocurrency lender Ledn is removing support for ether ETH and will begin offering a bitcoin-only loan model starting July 1 as it looks to simplify its product and sharpen its focus around bitcoin BTC.
The Cayman Islands-registered company may be attempting to broaden its appeal among the corners of the crypto community that say BTC is the only cryptocurrency that is needed. Such BTC advocates are often referred to as “Bitcoin Maxis.”
“With our new hyper-focus on Bitcoin-only lending, we’re going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with,” co-founder Adam Reeds said in an emailed announcement on Friday.
Ledn will also stop lending client assets to generate yield as it seeks to remove risk from its business model. Bitcoin offered to Ledn as collateral for loans will remain fully in its custody or that of its partners, Ledn said.
“Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation,” Reeds said. “Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model.”
Cryptocurrency lending was a major casualty of crypto winter in 2022, with the companies including BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius and Genesis going to the wall.
Ledn managed to survive and is now attempting to resurrect the BTC-backed lending sector, with its simplified product offering and helped by the friendlier regulatory approach to crypto in the U.S, co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo told CoinDesk in a recent interview.