Unchained

Unchained – Overview

Most CeFi lenders ask you to trust that they won’t touch your Bitcoin while it’s sitting as collateral. Unchained takes trust out of the equation entirely with something called collaborative custody. Your Bitcoin sits in a 2-of-3 multisig vault: you hold one key, Unchained holds another, and an independent third-party key agent holds the last. Moving that Bitcoin requires two of the three signatures, which means Unchained physically cannot rehypothecate your collateral, not because of a policy promise, but because it’s mathematically impossible with only one key in hand.

You don’t have to take that on faith either. Since you hold your own key, you can independently verify your collateral sitting in the vault at any time using open-source tools like Caravan, Sparrow, or Electrum, checking the chain yourself rather than relying on a dashboard number.

One important shift worth knowing upfront: since January 2024, Unchained lending has been limited to business entities only. Individuals and sole proprietors can no longer apply, a change that pushed the platform firmly into institutional and treasury-focused territory. Loans start at a $150,000 minimum, denominated in USD, with terms stretching anywhere from 3 months out to 60 months.

Rates land on the higher end of the market, running roughly 14% to 16.21% APR, plus a 2% origination fee on top. That premium reflects both the operational cost of running collaborative custody and the compliance overhead of a licensed US lender (Unchained Capital, along with its affiliated entities, holds NMLS licensing). Maximum LTV caps out around 40-50%, and Unchained recommends staying well under that using its CTP ratio, the inverse of LTV, since a lower CTP means more room before trouble starts.

If Bitcoin’s price drops and your position approaches risk territory, margin call warnings go out by email, and borrowers get a 24-hour window to respond, add collateral, or otherwise bring things back in line, before liquidation triggers around 83% LTV.

Beyond lending, Unchained runs a broader Bitcoin financial services business built on the same multisig infrastructure, including standalone collaborative custody vaults, Bitcoin IRA accounts, and inheritance planning, making it as much a long-term Bitcoin custody relationship as a one-off loan product. The company has originated over $500 million in Bitcoin-backed loans since starting in 2016.