We founded Ledn in 2018 with the mission of making financial services accessible for people around the world, namely those who might otherwise be overlooked or bypassed by the traditional financial system. The events of the last few months have strengthened our commitment to this purpose more than ever before.

In 2022, the digital asset industry experienced two of its most significant crises with the bankruptcy of Three Arrows Capital and the fraud perpetrated at FTX. These events forced a stress test upon every player in the industry, and many failed. Although Ledn had exposure to FTX and Alameda, we fully absorbed the impact of such exposure with no effect on our clients’ assets. We continue to operate normally, and instead of halting withdrawals like some of our competitors, we processed them in record time during the turmoil. Our ability to navigate through these difficult times can be attributed to our sound risk management program being executed as designed, and our relentless prioritization of the safety and security of our clients’ assets. 

With every scandal that rocks an industry, there comes a catalyst for change. We must learn from these experiences and ensure that they never happen again. As many digital asset lenders have faltered, we at Ledn feel a great responsibility to lead this industry and set a meaningful example for others moving forward. With that in mind, we want to share some of Ledn’s priorities heading into 2023: 

• At its core, Ledn is a retail lender that provides clients with an alternative way to access liquidity without selling their bitcoin.  We started this business with Canada’s first ever bitcoin-backed loan and will continue to focus on lending dollars to individuals with enhancements to our core, bitcoin-backed loan products. Our emphasis is on individuals that continue to be excluded or overlooked by much of the traditional financial world, and rely on bitcoin to secure and grow wealth. Ledn is and will continue to be the safest and most convenient way to get a bitcoin-backed loan.
  
  
• Ledn also lent bitcoin to market making institutions to allow clients to earn yield on their bitcoin, while providing additional trading capacity to these institutions.  While we overcame counterparty fraud, as we move forward, we need to ensure that bitcoin yield doesn’t pose a risk to our retail bitcoin-backed loan business, which means some changes need to be made. Across the industry, some of these changes will be mandated by regulators, while others will be done as a part of ongoing de-risking and self-regulation. Regardless, bitcoin yield will look different in the future. Any bitcoin yield products we offer will be more transparent and offer our clients more autonomy. When our revised bitcoin yield products are ready, clients will be informed and will be able to opt in to different types of yield through acknowledging various risk disclosures, similar to that of traditional finance products.
  
  
• We take pride in how our risk management policies have performed. However, having just experienced our first-ever loan loss as a result of the FTX/Alameda fraud, we will continue to re-examine and strengthen our risk management practices. 
  
  
• As a pioneer of Proof of Reserves in the industry, we are thinking about how to raise the bar even further by incorporating even greater transparency and client control into our product innovation.  

The digital asset industry still needs financing, and clients are looking for partners that will help them manage their assets prudently and responsibly. At Ledn, we are in a privileged position to lead and reshape the digital asset lending industry moving forward.

We’ll be opening up more channels to communicate with our valued clients beyond our Bitcoin Economic Calendar newsletter, social channels and support@ledn.io. Look out for AMAs and client webinars in the near future. Our goal is to share more about our vision and answer any questions you may have. 

As always, thank you for your continued trust in Ledn.

Adam Reeds & Mauricio Di Bartolomeo

Co-founders