Crypto-backed loans
Borrow against Ethereum without selling your ether
To borrow against Ethereum is to pledge ether as collateral for a loan in US dollars or stablecoins and keep the position. Fewer lenders accept ether than bitcoin, and the ones that publish a per-asset limit set the same loan-to-value (LTV) ceiling on both. Spot ether ETF shares are a different product: borrowing against them at a broker is securities-based lending.
Key takeaways
- Acceptance is the constraint, not the LTV. Arch, Figure, Milo, Nexo, SALT and Galaxy's line of credit published ether as eligible collateral in September 2026; Ledn, Unchained and Xapo Bank published bitcoin-only terms.
- Where a lender publishes a per-asset ceiling, ether matches bitcoin. Nexo lists a maximum LTV of 50% for bitcoin and for ether, against 90% for USDT and USDC.
- A lender that takes ether still limits where it lends. Galaxy's GalaxyOne line of credit, announced 25 August 2026, takes bitcoin, ether and SOL at a 50% origination LTV, in 40 US states.
- Staked ether is not the same collateral. No lender we read publishes terms for staked or liquid-staked ether, and a validator exit takes a variable time depending on how many others are leaving.
- ETF shares sit under broker rules. FINRA sets a 25% minimum maintenance level, says firms may set 30% or 40%, and that they need not call before selling.
Which lenders publish ether as collateral
The first question on an ether loan is whether the lender takes the asset at all: three of the nine lenders whose pages we read on 19 September 2026 publish bitcoin-only terms. The table describes what each firm publishes. It is not a ranking, and naming a lender implies no relationship with Crypto Loans HQ (see how we are paid).
| Lender | Ether accepted | Collateral published | Starting LTV published | Anything published about ether specifically |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arch | Yes | BTC, ETH, SOL | Up to 60% | No separate table: one set of thresholds for all collateral it takes |
| Figure | Yes | BTC, ETH, SOL | 50%, or up to 75% | No separate table; USDC to borrowers outside the US |
| Galaxy (GalaxyOne line of credit) | Yes | BTC, ETH, SOL, including staked SOL | 50% at origination | One revolving line across the three; staked SOL named, staked ether not |
| Milo | Yes | BTC or ETH | Pledge twice the loan (≈50%) | No separate table; margin call published at 67% LTV |
| Nexo | Yes | BTC, ETH and, it says, 100+ assets | BTC 50%, ETH 50% | The only per-asset ceiling we found: ether equals bitcoin |
| SALT | Yes | BTC and ETH | 30%, 50% or 70% options | No separate table; terms of 1, 3 and 5 years published |
| Ledn | No | Bitcoin only | 50% typical | States that bitcoin collateral is required |
| Unchained | No | Bitcoin only, business borrowers | 200% collateral-to-principal (≈50%) | States that it accepts only bitcoin |
| Xapo Bank | No | Bitcoin only | 20%, 30% or 40% | Publishes a 0.1 BTC minimum holding |
| Listed by acceptance, then alphabetically. Sources: each firm's own pages, accessed September 2026. ≈ figures are our arithmetic. Ranges lenders published as of September 2026; terms depend on the lender, the collateral and the borrower, and are set only by the lender. | ||||
Residence narrows the list again. Arch publishes US states where it does not lend, Galaxy describes its line of credit as open to eligible clients in 40 US states, and SALT says minimums and maximums vary by jurisdiction. An ether loan can fail on geography before anyone looks at the collateral.
Does ether get a lower LTV than bitcoin?
It is widely assumed that lenders advance less against ether. On the pages we read, that is not what they publish. Only Nexo sets out a maximum LTV per asset, and it lists 50% for bitcoin and 50% for ether; the number moves only for stablecoins, at 90%. Every other lender in the table publishes one LTV and one set of thresholds for all the crypto it takes.
That does not mean the two assets are treated identically. It means the difference sits somewhere other than the headline ratio:
- Acceptance. The plainest form of a haircut is refusing the asset. Ledn, Unchained and Xapo Bank take bitcoin and nothing else.
- Blended collateral. Where one line is secured on several assets, as Galaxy describes for its line of credit, the LTV moves on the combined value, so a fall in one asset can pull the whole line toward a call while the rest is flat.
- Discretion the lender keeps. A published table describes a product, not an offer. Size, eligibility and any extra collateral requirement are settled case by case, which is where a lender's view of an asset lands.
The mechanics themselves are asset-blind. LTV is the loan balance divided by the market value of the collateral, so at a 50% start it takes a 23.1% fall to reach 65%, a 28.6% fall to reach 70% and a 37.5% fall to reach 80%, whether the collateral is ether or bitcoin. Whether ether covers that distance more often is a question about price history, and no lender we read publishes the volatility assumption behind its thresholds.
Worked example
US$1,000,000 of ether at a 50% starting LTV supports a US$500,000 loan. Take Arch's published levels: a margin call at 70%, cured back to 60% within 24 hours. A 28.6% fall leaves collateral of US$714,286 and an LTV of 70%. To cure it you post about US$119,000 more ether at the new price, or repay about US$71,400. A slide to 80%, 37.5% below the starting price, reaches Arch's partial liquidation level.
How a call is issued and enforced is the same for both assets: bitcoin loan margin calls works through one from trigger to sale, and bitcoin-backed loans sets out the published thresholds side by side.
Staked and liquid-staked ether
Holders with size usually hold ether that is doing something, and that is where ether collateral stops resembling bitcoin collateral. No lender whose pages we read publishes terms for staked ether, or for a liquid staking token, as loan collateral. The nearest published example points the other way: Galaxy names staked SOL in its line of credit, and does not name staked ether.
The mechanical reason matters more than the list. Collateral must be movable on the lender's timetable, and published cure windows are 24 or 48 hours. Ethereum's own documentation says a validator exiting staking “takes variable amounts of time, depending on how many others are exiting at the same time”, because exits are rate-limited by a network-wide queue; a separate limit caps automatic withdrawals at 16 per block, about 115,200 a day. Neither is a dependable answer to a margin call that expires tomorrow.
A liquid staking token is a different asset again: a claim on staked ether rather than ether itself, with an issuer or a smart contract behind it. Ledn puts the general test well on its own comparison page, asking whether collateral stays the asset you hold or becomes something that “introduces an issuer, bridge, or smart-contract dependency”. That question is covered in bitcoin loan rehypothecation and custody.
Spot ether ETF shares are a different product
The SEC approved the listing of spot bitcoin exchange-traded product shares on 10 January 2024 and of ether-based products on 23 May 2024. Shares in those products are securities held in a brokerage account, so lending against them is securities-based lending, governed by broker rules rather than a crypto lender's LTV table. Questions about borrowing against ETF shares, listed shares or funds belong with a securities-based lender: securitiesbackedlending.com covers that side.
The differences are not cosmetic. Under Regulation T a broker may initially lend up to 50% of an eligible stock's purchase price, FINRA sets a minimum maintenance requirement of 25%, and a firm “might set the maintenance margin at 30 or even 40 percent”. FINRA also states that firms “don't have to issue a margin call before selling securities”, and that a securities-backed line of credit is a demand loan callable at any time.
| Feature | Ether pledged to a crypto lender | Spot ether ETF shares at a broker |
|---|---|---|
| What is pledged | The asset itself, moved to the lender or a custodian | Securities already in the brokerage account |
| Who sets the maintenance level | The lender, in its published table and the loan documents | Regulation T and FINRA set the floor; the firm sets a house requirement it may raise at any time |
| Notice before a sale | Cure windows of 24 or 48 hours where published; none at some liquidation levels | FINRA: firms need not issue a margin call before selling |
| Use of the proceeds | Set by the lender; some publish commercial-purpose conditions | Non-purpose: proceeds cannot buy or trade securities |
| Can the lender call the loan | At maturity, or on an event of default | A securities-backed line of credit is a demand loan, callable at any time |
| Sources: the FINRA investor pages on margin calls (4 June 2026) and securities-backed lines of credit (3 January 2024), and the lender pages below. General information, not advice. | ||
Banks have been reported as moving toward both sides of this line. Bloomberg reported on 4 June 2025 that JPMorgan would let clients pledge certain crypto ETFs, starting with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, and on 24 October 2025 that it planned to accept bitcoin and ether from institutional clients. We found no JPMorgan announcement of either: read them as reporting.
Risk
Risks to weigh before pledging ether
- Margin calls and forced liquidation. The LTV moves with the price around the clock. Published cure windows are a day or two where they exist at all, and at some liquidation levels there is none. If you cannot post collateral or repay in time, the lender sells, after the fall.
- Collateral you cannot move in time. Ether committed to staking, or held as a liquid staking token, may not convert into the asset the lender accepts inside a cure window. Settle eligibility before you pledge, not during a call.
- Counterparty and custody risk. If the terms let the lender re-use the collateral and the lender fails, you may hold a creditor's claim rather than your ether. On 9 November 2023 the Celsius bankruptcy court held that collateral posted by retail borrowers who objected to the plan was property of the estate; BlockFi and Genesis also filed for Chapter 11 in 2022 and 2023.
- Tax on a liquidation. A forced sale is a sale of your ether at a time you did not pick, and a sale is generally a taxable event. Terms that pass ownership of the collateral to the lender can be a disposal from the start.
See also bitcoin loan margin calls and are crypto loans taxable.
General information, not advice. This page describes loans secured on ether from what lenders published, as read in September 2026. It is not an offer to lend or to arrange a loan on particular terms, and it is not investment, legal or tax advice. Lenders are named only to describe what they publish; naming one is not a recommendation and implies no relationship with Crypto Loans HQ. Terms are set only by the lender. Take advice from a qualified tax adviser before borrowing against, or selling, a crypto asset. How we are paid.
What to settle before you pledge ether
Six questions decide whether an ether loan is workable, and the answers sit in the loan documents, not on a product page.
- Does the lender take ether at all, in your state or country, and at your size?
- One LTV table for all collateral, or a sub-limit for ether? Does a mixed line net the assets together?
- Which price feed values the ether, and how often does it update?
- Are staked positions or liquid staking tokens eligible, at what value, and with what exit requirement?
- Who holds the collateral, may it be re-used or re-posted, and is the account segregated?
- What is the cure window, what level must the LTV return to, and what does the lender sell if it does not?
The wider market is on crypto-backed loans, the mechanics from enquiry to funding on how do crypto loans work, corporate and miner facilities on bitcoin treasury financing, and the stages of an introduction on how it works.
Primary sources
- Lenders that publish ether, accessed September 2026: Arch and its margin-call article (30 March 2026); Figure and its FAQ; Milo; Nexo; SALT
- Galaxy: crypto portfolio line of credit on GalaxyOne (25 August 2026)
- Bitcoin-only pages, accessed September 2026: Ledn, Unchained, Xapo Bank
- SEC: statement approving spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (10 January 2024) and Release No. 34-100224 on ether-based exchange-traded products (23 May 2024)
- FINRA: margin calls (4 June 2026) and securities-backed lines of credit (3 January 2024)
- ethereum.org: staking withdrawals (updated 17 August 2026)
- Reported, citing Bloomberg: JPMorgan and crypto ETF collateral (4 June 2025); JPMorgan and pledged bitcoin and ether (24 October 2025)
- In re Celsius Network LLC: corrected memorandum opinion (9 November 2023)
Borrowing against ether: frequently asked questions
Which lenders accept ether as loan collateral?
On the pages read in September 2026, Arch, Figure, Milo, Nexo and SALT published ether alongside bitcoin, and Galaxy listed ether in its GalaxyOne line of credit announced on 25 August 2026. Ledn, Unchained and Xapo Bank published bitcoin-only terms. Availability also depends on where you live, and terms are set only by the lender.
Is the loan-to-value ratio lower on ether than on bitcoin?
Not in what lenders publish. Only Nexo sets out a maximum loan-to-value per asset, and it lists 50% for bitcoin and 50% for ether, against 90% for USDT and USDC. The other lenders publish one LTV table for all the collateral they take. The real difference is that fewer lenders accept ether at all.
Can I borrow against staked or liquid-staked ether?
No lender whose pages we read publishes terms for staked ether or a liquid staking token as collateral. Galaxy names staked SOL in its line of credit and does not name staked ether. Exiting a validator also takes a variable time that depends on how many others are exiting, so unstaking is not a dependable way to meet a 24-hour margin call.
Can I borrow against spot ether ETF shares?
ETF shares are securities held in a brokerage account, so borrowing against them is securities-based lending, not a crypto-backed loan. Broker margin rules apply instead: FINRA says firms do not have to issue a margin call before selling securities, and securities-backed lines of credit are demand loans that the lender may call at any time. That is a different market, covered at securitiesbackedlending.com.
Ether loan enquiries
Holding ether you would rather not sell?
Tell us how much ether you would pledge, whether any of it is staked, and how much you want to borrow. We check the enquiry against the criteria lenders publish and, where one fits, arrange an introduction. The lender sets the LTV and the terms.