SALT Lending

SALT Lending – Overview

Before most of today’s crypto lenders existed, SALT Lending was already testing the idea that Bitcoin could stand in for a credit score. Founded in 2016 and named for Secured Automated Lending Technology, it built its whole pitch around collateral over credit history, no digging through your financial past, no penalty for a thin credit file, just an evaluation of what you’re putting up as security.

Borrowers pick their own risk level upfront. SALT offers starting LTVs of 30%, 50%, or 70%, and the lower you go, the more cushion you’ve got if the market turns. Rates are fixed for the loan term and vary by which LTV tier you choose, generally landing somewhere between roughly 7.5% and 14.5% depending on the specifics. Terms stretch fairly long too, anywhere from 12 months out to 60 months, and both individuals and businesses can borrow, so a company managing treasury reserves uses the same core product as an individual borrower.

Collateral options go a bit beyond the usual Bitcoin-and-stablecoins pairing, SALT also accepts tokenized gold alongside crypto assets, giving borrowers a wider range of what they can pledge. Custody runs through BitGo and Fireblocks, both established institutional custodians in the space.

Risk management on SALT layers through several stages rather than one abrupt cutoff. A first warning fires around 75% LTV, a formal margin call follows at roughly 83.33%, and a further alert at 88% signals things are getting serious. Notifications go out across the portal, email, and phone, giving borrowers a 48-hour window to add collateral or pay down part of the loan and bring things back under 70%. Only if the ratio keeps climbing past around 90.91% does forced liquidation kick in, and even then, SALT sells just enough to restore a safe ratio rather than closing out the whole position. There’s also a Stabilization tool that can convert collateral into a stablecoin during a sharp downturn, aiming to lock in value before things get anywhere near liquidation territory.

Fees are refreshingly minimal: no origination fee, no prepayment fee, no custody fee, no withdrawal fee. The one place SALT does charge is around Stabilization itself during volatile periods. On top of that, SALT rewards borrowers who keep their LTV on the lower end with its own native SALT token, usable for memberships and other platform perks, a small incentive to stay conservative rather than max out leverage.