by Today in crypto, Bitcoin-backed loan platform Ledn reportedly sold about $188 million of bonds tied to Bitcoin‑collateralized consumer loans, US Senator Bernie Moreno is confident the US CLARITY Act will pass soon, and activist investor Starboard Value is pushing Riot Platforms to move faster in developing its AI/HPC business.
Ledn raises $188 million in first Bitcoin-backed loan securitization
Bitcoin-backed loan platform Ledn sold about $188 million of bonds tied to Bitcoin‑collateralized consumer loans into the mainstream asset‑backed securities (ABS) market, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
In a first-of-its-kind deal, one of the two tranches — the investment‑grade portion — was reportedly priced at a spread of about 335 basis points over a benchmark rate, implying that investors are demanding 3.35 percentage points in extra yield to hold crypto‑linked credit risk rather than conventional consumer ABS.
The deal is structured through Ledn Issuer Trust 2026‑1, which securitizes a pool of 5,441 short‑term, fixed‑rate balloon loans extended to 2,914 US borrowers, backed by 4,078.87 Bitcoin (BTC) held as collateral, according to S&P Global Ratings’ preliminary documentation on Feb. 9.
Balloon loans are structured with relatively small periodic payments and a large lump‑sum “balloon” payment at maturity, which keeps near‑term payments low but leaves a sizeable principal balance due at the end.
Founded in 2018, Ledn says it has funded over $9.5 billion in loans so far in over 100 countries. The company received a strategic investment from Tether, the issuer of the USDt (USDT) stablecoin, in November 2025.
Senator Moreno: US CLARITY Act to pass “hopefully by April”
The US CLARITY Act, a highly anticipated bill aimed at providing greater clarity for the US crypto industry, could make it through Congress in just over a month, according to US Senator Bernie Moreno.
“Hopefully by April,” Moreno told CNBC during an interview at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida on Wednesday.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong joined Moreno for the interview, explaining that they were with representatives from the crypto, banking and US Congress at the World Liberty Financial (WLF) crypto forum to reach a solution on market structure.
“One of the big issues that did come up in the past was this idea of stablecoins on rewards,” Armstrong said.
The banking industry previously raised concerns that offering stablecoin yields could undermine traditional banking and shift deposits and interest away from banks.
Riot Platforms urged to ramp up AI push
An activist shareholder of Riot Platform is pressing the crypto-mining company to accelerate its pivot to high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence.
In a Wednesday letter to executives, Starboard Value, which holds about 12.7 million shares of Riot, said that the company could generate between $9 billion and $21 billion in equity value contribution from AI/HPC data centers in Texas. The shareholder said that “time is of the essence,” stressing the urgency of completing “more material deals” as it moves deeper into AI and HPC.
“With 1.4 [gigawatts] of gross capacity remaining to be monetized, Riot is in an enviable position – but it must execute with excellence and urgency,” said Starboard. “We believe Riot should be able to attract high-quality tenants for tier-3 data centers with terms similar to or better than the peer transactions announced towards the end of 2025.”
“The recently announced transaction with Advanced Micro Devices […] is a positive signal and confirms our views regarding the intrinsic value of Riot’s key sites, but it is a small proof of concept deal, and we, like you, expect significantly more,” said Starboard, referring to a data center lease and services agreement announced in January.
