Institutional activity boosts onchain lending with $1.65B increase

Onchain lending is experiencing significant growth in 2024, driven by institutional demand for decentralised finance (DeFi) services.

Lending platforms like Ledn have reported a substantial increase in loans processed, with the company registering $1.65 billion more in loans this year compared to the same period in 2023.

In the third quarter of 2024, Ledn processed over $437 million in digital asset loans to institutions, marking a 14% rise from the previous quarter.

According to John Glover, chief investment officer at Ledn, “We saw a very healthy jump in institutional demand in July, which has remained steady since then.” 

Glover added that the borrowing demand has been consistent with the increased demand for Bitcoin ETFs, particularly following a surge in July.

Ledn’s growth reflects a broader trend in the market, where institutions are increasingly exploring digital asset-backed loans.

Since its 2018 launch, the company has facilitated over $6.5 billion in loans across retail and institutional markets.

The total value locked (TVL) in lending protocols also reached $31.9 billion as of October 16, based on data from DefiLlama.

Other notable developments in the crypto lending space include Tether’s (CRYPTO:USDT) exploration of lending to commodity traders and Grayscale’s consideration of adding 35 altcoins, including Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE) and Worldcoin (CRYPTO:WLD), to its portfolio of potential crypto products.

Additionally, Ripple (CRYPTO:XRP) is set to launch its RLUSD (CRYPTO:RLUSD) stablecoin with the support of several crypto exchanges, and Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank has introduced stablecoin remittance services to facilitate faster, lower-cost cross-border transactions.