Native BTC lending launched on Chainflip roughly 90 days ago. No wrapped assets, no custodial workarounds, simply real BTC used as collateral to borrow against. Here's what the numbers look like after a full 3 months in public access.
$2.73M borrowed, $454K active loans
Chainflip Lending has borrowed $2.73M since launch. That's the cumulative total across all markets since day one. Active loans right now sit at $454,281, with $1.46M in TVL backing the protocol. Total fees generated: $3,557.84
Stablecoin lenders are earning 3.5% APY at 90%+ utilisation
$514,623 is currently supplied across five markets: USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, and SOL. The stablecoin markets are where the action is.
USDT is paying 3.49% APY at 91% utilisation. USDC sits at 3.38% APY at 90% utilisation. Both markets are running close to capacity, which is why yields are holding up.
Average daily TVL across the full 90-day period is $858K, but the current figure is well ahead of that. Demand has accelerated significantly in the last few weeks.
Active loans have 2.3x'd in the last two months
It wasn't a straight line up. Active loans spent most of December and January finding their footing, sub-$200K through February, with the market feeling its way.
Things started to shift in mid-March. By late March, active loans crossed $300K for the first time. From there, the chart tells the story: steady stacking through April, with daily TVL pushing past $1M and staying there.
The current $454K in active loans represents roughly 2.3x where things stood two months ago.
Collateral coverage sits at 208.8%, with no positions above 80% LTV
Utilisation across the protocol sits at 88.8%. Collateral coverage on active debt is 208.8%, with $948.8K of collateral backing $454.4K of active borrowing.
Two positions currently sit in the 60-80% debt-to-collateral band, totalling $80.3K. Nothing above 80%. The liquidity runway shows $57.8K immediately available to borrow against the existing pool.
BTC makes up the bulk of collateral at $706.8K, followed by ETH at $230.5K. The remaining collateral is split between SOL and the stablecoin markets themselves.
The next chapter: deeper stablecoin liquidity and more borrower demand
The biggest constraint right now is supply, not demand. Both stablecoin markets are sitting above 89% utilisation, which means new borrowers are competing for limited liquidity, and rates are pinned near the upper end of the curve.
More USDT and USDC supply opens up two things at once: bigger loans for borrowers who currently can't get the size they want and more headroom before utilisation rates push borrowing costs higher. Suppliers earning 3.4-3.5% on stables with 200%+ collateral coverage is a competitive yield profile, and the market hasn't yet attracted the kind of size that would normalise utilisation closer to 70%.
On the borrower side, growth comes from awareness. Most BTC holders still don't know that borrowing against native Bitcoin (without wrapping and without bridging) is a thing that exists. Every loan originated so far has come from users who found the protocol on their own. There's a lot of upside in just telling more people what's possible.
Native BTC, real yield, no derivatives
Chainflip's lending market lets users borrow stablecoins against native BTC. The BTC stays native throughout, secured by validators using decentralized custody.
On the other side, suppliers earn real yield by providing USDT and USDC liquidity to borrowers. With utilisation running at 90%+, that liquidity is actually being put to work.
After 90 days, we see the market has real volume, real lenders, and real borrowers.
Where to follow the data
Live protocol data is available across three places: scan.chainflip.io/lending for the official protocol explorer; burnonomics.com for community-built analytics, including the unhealthy-position tracker; and lp.chainflip.io/lending for the supply and borrow interface.
Supply liquidity or borrow against your BTC at chainflip.io/lending .
Resources
Swap Now - Start swapping native assets
Lend BTC - Borrow against native Bitcoin
Blog - Product updates and announcements
Chainflip Scan - Track swaps and network activity
Website - Explore Chainflip
Other Chainflip Products:
Boost - Earn fees by providing single-sided liquidity with no IL risk
Stablecoin Strategies - Deposit stablecoins and earn optimized yields
Provide Liquidity - Supply assets to Chainflip's liquidity pools
Stake FLIP - Delegate FLIP and earn staking rewards
Find us:
FAQ
What does "native BTC" actually mean here?
The Bitcoin you deposit as collateral stays on the Bitcoin blockchain. It isn't wrapped into WBTC, bridged into cbBTC, or converted into any other tokenised representation. Chainflip's validator network secures the BTC directly through decentralized custody.
Who's lending the stablecoins?
Anyone supplying USDT or USDC to the protocol. The lender side is open to anyone who wants to deposit stables and earn yield. As of today, $113K USDC and $387K USDT is being supplied by passive lenders.
Where does the yield actually come from?
Borrower interest. When someone borrows stablecoins against their BTC, they pay interest. That interest gets distributed to suppliers proportional to their share of the pool. There's no token emissions inflating the yield, the 3.49% on USDT and 3.38% on USDC are real, paid by real borrowers.
Can I lose my collateral?
If your loan's debt-to-collateral ratio crosses the liquidation threshold (typically because BTC drops in price or your accrued interest grows), the protocol will liquidate your position to repay the loan. As of today, no positions are above 80% debt/collateral, and collateral coverage across the protocol sits at 208.8%.
What happens if I'm a supplier and borrowers default?
Supplier losses to date: $0. The over-collateralisation model and liquidation mechanics are designed to repay lenders first when positions become unhealthy. Loss data is published live on burnonomics.com.
How is this different from Aave or Compound?
Aave and Compound run on smart contracts and require BTC to be wrapped (WBTC, cbBTC) before it can be used as collateral. That introduces a wrapping bridge as a trust assumption. Chainflip's protocol handles native BTC directly via its validator-secured vaults, so the BTC never leaves Bitcoin.
How is this different from Maple, Ledn, or BlockFi-style products?
Those are centralised lenders. You hand your BTC to a company, they custody it, and they decide whether to lend it back to you. Chainflip's lending is a protocol, not a counterparty, and the BTC isn't held by a custodian.
Can I withdraw my supplied liquidity at any time?
You can withdraw whenever there's available liquidity in the pool. With USDT and USDC running at 89-91% utilisation, the immediately available pool is around $57.8K across both markets. If you want to withdraw more than that, you'll either need to wait for borrowers to repay or for new supply to come in.
What's the minimum to supply or borrow?
There's no protocol-level minimum, but very small positions can get eaten by transaction fees. Practical minimums depend on the chain you're transacting on.
What assets can I borrow?
Currently USDT and USDC, both on Ethereum. The five markets are USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, and SOL — but the stablecoin markets are the only ones with active borrowing demand right now.
Is the data public?
Yes. Every loan, every liquidation, every fee is on-chain and queryable. scan.chainflip.io/lending is the protocol's official explorer. burnonomics.com is a community-built dashboard with deeper risk analytics.
