From BitGo custody and no rehypothecation to XRP-backed loans, crypto trading and live human support, Lantern Finance is trying to build the kind of crypto lending platform its founders wished existed before the failures of 2022.
The crypto lending industry learned some painful lessons in 2022.
Customers who believed they were simply depositing digital assets or borrowing against their crypto discovered that behind the scenes, some platforms were involved in complex lending relationships, rehypothecation, institutional credit exposure and aggressive risk-taking.
When the market turned, several of the biggest names in crypto lending collapsed.
Celsius failed.
BlockFi entered bankruptcy.
Voyager collapsed.
Genesis ran into serious credit problems.
Billions of dollars in customer assets became trapped in bankruptcy proceedings, and confidence in centralized crypto lending was shattered.
For Jung Won Kim and Prince Jindal, the crisis wasn’t something they simply watched from the sidelines.
They experienced it as customers.
And instead of concluding that crypto-backed lending was fundamentally broken, they came away with a different idea:
The concept worked. The structure needed to change.
That thinking ultimately became Lantern Finance.
From Crypto Lending Customers to Founders
Lantern Finance was founded in the aftermath of the 2022 crypto credit crisis by Jung Won Kim and Prince Jindal.
Both founders brought experience from traditional finance.
Kim’s background included work connected to Capital One and leveraged finance, while Jindal brought experience from Blackstone.
But their motivation for launching Lantern came from something more personal.
Both had participated in the earlier generation of crypto lending.
Kim had become interested in digital assets years earlier after being introduced to Ethereum while working in venture capital. As crypto markets matured, he saw the attraction of centralized platforms that allowed investors to hold digital assets while accessing cash.
The idea was simple and powerful.
Instead of selling Bitcoin, Ethereum or another digital asset every time liquidity was needed, an investor could pledge the asset as collateral and borrow against it.
That allowed the investor to potentially retain long-term exposure to the crypto asset while still accessing dollars.
But when several large crypto lenders failed, customers discovered that custody and counterparty risk mattered just as much as interest rates.
Kim and Jindal were among those affected by the collapse of platforms associated with the 2022 crypto credit crisis.
Their conclusion was not that borrowing against crypto should disappear.
They believed the industry needed a lending model built around stronger custody, better risk management, greater transparency and clearer alignment with borrowers.
Lantern Finance was created around that philosophy.
The Core Principle: Security First
Lantern’s approach begins with a straightforward principle:
Security first.
That principle influences how the company handles borrower collateral.
When a Lantern customer pledges cryptocurrency for a loan, Lantern says the loan collateral is held through BitGo Trust, an institutional digital-asset custodian.
BitGo provides custody infrastructure used by institutional investors, exchanges and digital-asset businesses.
Lantern says borrower collateral is held using cold-storage infrastructure and is not used to fund unrelated speculative activity.
That is a critical distinction.
When borrowers move crypto into a centralized lending arrangement, they generally give up direct control of those assets while the loan remains outstanding.
The important question therefore becomes:
Who actually controls the collateral?
A borrower should know where the crypto is stored, who controls the keys, whether the assets can be transferred, whether they can be lent to someone else and what happens if the lender itself runs into financial trouble.
Lantern has made those questions central to its platform.
No Rehypothecation
One of Lantern’s most important policies is what it says it does not do.
Lantern says it does not rehypothecate borrower collateral.
Rehypothecation occurs when collateral pledged by one customer is reused or pledged in another financial transaction.
In traditional markets, rehypothecation is not necessarily unusual.
But in crypto lending, it can create additional layers of counterparty risk.
A customer may believe that his or her Bitcoin is simply sitting somewhere securing a loan.
In reality, if those assets have been lent elsewhere, the customer’s collateral may depend on another borrower or institution returning the assets.
If that counterparty fails, the original customer’s position can become much more complicated.
The 2022 crypto lending collapse exposed exactly how dangerous interconnected credit relationships can become.
Lantern says its customers’ pledged collateral is not lent out to generate additional yield and is not used for proprietary trading.
That policy directly reflects the lessons that influenced the company’s creation.
Institutional-Grade Custody Through BitGo
Lantern describes its BitGo arrangement as institutional-grade custody.
The company also states that BitGo’s custody structure includes up to $250 million in insurance coverage.
That figure should be understood carefully.
Insurance does not mean every type of potential loss is automatically covered.
Insurance policies have terms, limits, exclusions and specific circumstances under which claims may or may not be paid.
But custody through an established institutional provider is still an important factor borrowers may want to consider when comparing lenders.
Lantern’s model attempts to separate the custody of loan collateral from the lender’s day-to-day business operations.
That is a very different philosophy from the model used by some earlier crypto lending platforms.
Lantern Supports More Than Bitcoin
Lantern Finance has also differentiated itself by supporting a wider range of digital assets than many crypto lenders.
As of October 2026, Lantern lists 13 cryptocurrencies that can be used as collateral for crypto-backed loans:
Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Solana (SOL)
XRP
Litecoin (LTC)
Dogecoin (DOGE)
Stellar (XLM)
Cardano (ADA)
Hedera (HBAR)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Chainlink (LINK)
Sui (SUI)
XDC Network (XDC)
That broader list matters because the crypto market has evolved far beyond Bitcoin-only portfolios.
Many investors now hold substantial positions in XRP, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink and other large-cap digital assets.
Lantern Finance gives qualifying holders of those assets another possible way to access liquidity without immediately selling.
Borrowing Against XRP
For the XRP community in particular, Lantern’s support is notable.
Lantern allows eligible borrowers to use XRP as collateral for a crypto-backed loan.
That means an XRP holder who needs liquidity may be able to pledge XRP, borrow dollars against the position and continue maintaining exposure to the asset rather than selling it outright.
The tradeoff is risk.
Every crypto-backed loan introduces the possibility of liquidation if the collateral falls significantly in value.
That is why borrowers should pay close attention to the loan-to-value ratio, commonly called LTV.
Understanding LTV
Loan-to-value is one of the most important numbers in crypto lending.
Suppose an investor pledges $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency and borrows $50,000.
The starting LTV is 50%.
If the collateral falls to $80,000 while the outstanding loan remains close to $50,000, the LTV rises.
If the crypto continues falling, the loan can eventually reach a margin-call threshold or liquidation threshold.
For that reason, borrowers should not simply ask:
What is the maximum amount I can borrow?
A better question may be:
How much should I borrow while maintaining a reasonable safety cushion?
Lantern offers different maximum LTV levels depending on the asset.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana may qualify for higher LTVs than certain other supported tokens.
That reflects differences in liquidity, volatility and market risk.
A borrower does not necessarily have to use the maximum LTV available.
Starting with a lower LTV can provide additional protection against market swings.
Lantern’s 72-Hour Margin Call Grace Period
Lantern Finance also takes a somewhat different approach to margin calls.
The company says borrowers receive a 72-hour grace period after a margin call.
That can potentially give the borrower time to respond by adding more collateral or paying down part of the loan.
Lantern also advertises zero liquidation fees.
That does not mean liquidation risk disappears.
Crypto markets can move very quickly.
A major market decline can cause collateral values to fall dramatically in a short period of time.
But a grace period can give borrowers more flexibility than systems that automatically liquidate positions immediately after a threshold is crossed.
For borrowers holding substantial crypto positions, that additional response window may be important.
A $1,000 Minimum Loan
Lantern Finance currently advertises a $1,000 minimum loan.
That puts the platform within reach of smaller retail borrowers as well as larger crypto holders.
Some crypto lending providers focus heavily on high-net-worth or institutional customers and require significantly larger loan sizes.
Lantern’s lower minimum allows investors to potentially test crypto-backed borrowing without immediately committing a six-figure amount of collateral.
As always, loan terms, rates and requirements can change, so borrowers should verify current information directly before applying.
Lantern Moves Into Crypto Trading
Lantern Finance is no longer only a lending platform.
In June 2026, the company launched Lantern Trading & Custody.
The expansion allows eligible customers to buy, sell and hold digital assets inside the Lantern ecosystem.
The company initially launched trading support for:
BTC
ETH
XRP
SOL
LTC
DOGE
LINK
XLM
Lantern later added Cardano and XDC, bringing its publicly announced trading lineup to ten assets.
That expansion represents a broader strategy.
Rather than operating only as a place where customers arrive when they need a loan, Lantern appears to be building a more complete digital-asset financial platform.
A customer could potentially purchase supported crypto, hold it through the platform and later move eligible assets into the lending side to secure a loan.
Trading and Lending Use Different Custody Structures
There is an important distinction between Lantern’s loan product and its trading platform.
Crypto pledged as collateral for a Lantern loan is held through the company’s BitGo custody arrangement.
Lantern’s Trading & Custody product launched through an arrangement involving Coinme and Fireblocks infrastructure.
Those are different systems.
That distinction illustrates something every crypto investor should remember:
Do not assume every asset held within the same company’s ecosystem has the exact same custody structure.
Always ask:
Who legally holds the asset?
Which custodian is involved?
Which agreement governs the account?
And what protections apply?
Crypto custody can be just as important as the investment itself.
Lantern Finance Trading Fees
Lantern currently publishes a 1% fee on crypto purchases and sales.
The company has also published limits covering daily and monthly purchases and daily sales.
Investors should compare Lantern’s trading fees separately from its lending products.
A company may offer one of the better lending structures for a particular borrower while another exchange may offer lower trading costs.
Crypto investors should evaluate each part of the platform independently rather than assuming one provider must handle everything.
Live Human Customer Support
One of Lantern’s more distinctive features has nothing to do with blockchain technology.
It is customer service.
Lantern Finance emphasizes that borrowers can communicate with real people.
The company promotes U.S.-based support through phone, email, text and even one-on-one video communication.
Lantern also stresses that its support model is not built entirely around automated phone trees or AI chatbots.
That may seem like a small feature—until the crypto market drops sharply and a borrower receives a margin call.
Imagine having $200,000 or $500,000 in digital assets pledged against a loan while crypto markets are falling rapidly.
That is not necessarily the moment you want to submit a support ticket and wait indefinitely for a response.
You may want to speak directly with someone who understands your account.
In crypto lending, customer support can become part of risk management.
What Lantern Learned From 2022
The most interesting part of the Lantern Finance story may not be its interest rates or even its supported assets.
It is the reason the company exists.
Lantern was created by founders who saw both sides of crypto lending.
They understood why borrowers loved the product.
Borrowing against crypto can allow an investor to access liquidity without immediately selling a long-term position.
But they also experienced the weaknesses of the first major crypto lending cycle.
The failures of 2022 demonstrated that borrowers cannot evaluate a lender by interest rate alone.
They need to know:
Where the collateral is held.
Who controls it.
Whether it can be rehypothecated.
How margin calls work.
When liquidation occurs.
Whether there are liquidation fees.
What protections exist around custody.
And whether someone will actually answer the phone when markets become volatile.
Lantern Finance has attempted to build its business around answering those questions.
The Crypto Pulse Perspective
Lantern Finance represents an interesting evolution of centralized crypto lending.
It is not simply trying to recreate the lending platforms that existed before 2022.
Its founders appear to have started with the failures of that era and worked backward.
What caused customers to lose confidence?
Custody.
Counterparty risk.
Rehypothecation.
Poor transparency.
Aggressive lending practices.
And often, an inability to get clear answers when something went wrong.
Lantern’s response has been to emphasize third-party custody, no rehypothecation, broader collateral options, more deliberate liquidation procedures and human customer support.
The company is still young, and borrowers should independently evaluate Lantern just as they should evaluate any lender.
Crypto-backed borrowing carries real risks.
Collateral prices can fall.
LTVs can rise.
Margin calls can happen quickly.
Liquidation is possible.
And custody risk never disappears entirely simply because an institutional provider is involved.
But Lantern’s origin story is significant.
Jung Won Kim and Prince Jindal were customers of the previous generation of crypto lenders. They experienced the shortcomings of that system and decided to build the platform they believed should have existed all along.
For investors who believe digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or XRP may appreciate over the long term, crypto-backed loans can offer another option besides selling.
And Lantern Finance is betting that the next generation of borrowers will demand much more than access to cash.
They will demand transparency.
They will demand better custody.
They will demand clearer risk controls.
And when the market gets rough, they may demand something surprisingly traditional:
A real person who answers the phone.
Crypto Pulse | Crypto Loan Advisor
Crypto Loan Advisor is an independent educational and crypto-lender comparison platform. We are not a lender and do not provide financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Crypto-backed loans involve risks including collateral volatility, margin calls and liquidation. Rates, LTVs, supported assets, custody arrangements and availability can change. Borrowers should verify all current terms directly with the lender before pledging digital assets.
Retail Sells. Wealth Borrows.
