Borrow against your crypto. Keep your upside.

Step one: pledge collateral. You deposit Bitcoin or Ethereum into your separately managed account. The collateral is valued in US dollars at current market prices. Step two: set your loan-to-value ratio. LTV is the loan amount divided by the collateral value. Loans are available up to 50% LTV. If you pledge $1,000,000 of BTC, you can draw up to $500,000. Most borrowers start lower, because a lower LTV leaves more room for the price to fall before a margin call.

Step three: draw dollars. Funds are disbursed in USD, or USDC if you prefer. Step four: carry the loan. Interest accrues while the balance is outstanding, at a variable rate derived from the underlying DeFi lending markets. Variable interest rates typically fall between 4% and 8% and are confirmed before you sign. There is no fixed maturity and no prepayment fee.

Step five: repay and reclaim. You repay principal and accrued interest whenever you choose, in full or in part. As the balance falls, your LTV falls with it. Once the loan is cleared, the collateral is released back to your control. While the loan is open, the collateral is pledged to DeFi lending markets, and BTC collateral is wrapped first, which adds wrapper, smart contract and counterparty risk.

Abra currently accepts Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as loan collateral. Additional assets may be supported over time. If you hold other digital assets in your Abra account, they can sit in custody or in a yield strategy, but they do not count toward loan collateral today.

Maximum LTV can differ by asset, because the lender's risk depends on how volatile the collateral is and how deep the market is for it. Abra's published ceiling is up to 50% LTV. Asset-specific LTV limits and the current fee schedule are set out in the loan terms, which you receive before you sign and can request from your specialist at any time.

ACM's fees are listed on the Fees page.

Loan-to-value is the single most important number in a crypto-backed loan. It is the loan balance divided by the current market value of your collateral. Borrow $400,000 against $1,000,000 of Bitcoin and your LTV is 40%. If Bitcoin falls and the collateral is worth $800,000, the same loan is now at 50% LTV. Nothing changed on your side. The market moved.

Loans are available up to 50% LTV. That ceiling is deliberately conservative. Some platforms advertise higher ratios, which means less buffer between your starting point and a forced sale. The ratio you choose is up to you. Starting at 30 or 40% instead of the maximum gives you room to absorb a sharp drawdown without adding collateral.

What drives the ceiling is collateral volatility, market liquidity, and the cost of unwinding in a stress event. Those inputs are the same across the industry. What differs is how much margin for error each lender builds in. Abra's terms document states the maximum LTV, the margin-call level, and the liquidation level in one place, so you can see all three before you borrow.

A margin call is triggered when your LTV rises above a threshold set in your loan terms, because the collateral has fallen in value. The margin-call threshold sits above your starting LTV and below the liquidation level. The exact levels are stated in the loan agreement. When you cross the first threshold you are notified and given a window to act.

You have two ways to cure a margin call. Add collateral, which lowers the LTV by raising the denominator. Or repay part of the loan, which lowers it by shrinking the numerator. Either brings you back under the threshold. If the price keeps falling and the LTV reaches the liquidation level before you act, enough collateral is sold to bring the loan back within limits. That sale is a taxable event and may happen at an unfavorable price.

The way to avoid a margin call is to start at a lower LTV than the maximum, watch your position, and keep either spare collateral or cash available. A loan drawn at 30% LTV needs a far larger price fall to reach the margin-call level than one drawn at 50%.

Generally, no. Borrowing against an asset is generally not a sale. Wrapping or exchanging collateral may have tax consequences; consult your tax adviser. The dollars you receive are loan proceeds, not income.

Compare that to selling. If you bought Bitcoin at a low basis and sell it to raise cash, the gain is taxable in the year of sale. Borrowing against the same Bitcoin gives you the cash and defers the gain, potentially for as long as you hold. That is the core reason high-net-worth holders use crypto-backed loans.

Two things can change the picture. If your collateral is liquidated to cover the loan, that liquidation is a sale and any gain is taxable, possibly at the worst possible moment. And interest paid on the loan may or may not be deductible depending on what the proceeds were used for. Abra does not provide tax advice. Consult a qualified adviser.

Before it is pledged, your BTC or ETH sits in a separately managed account titled to you, not in an omnibus wallet. Assets are held by Fireblocks Trust Company, LLC; ACM is your investment adviser. Key security uses Fireblocks multi-party computation, with private key material split across independent parties and a hardware-enforced policy engine governing every transfer.

The dollars are sourced from DeFi lending markets, and your collateral is pledged to those markets. For BTC collateral, that involves wrapping the Bitcoin so it can be posted to those markets. Wrapping and posting collateral add wrapper, smart contract and counterparty risk. The custody page explains the SMA structure and its risks in full.

This is a comparison of structure, not of headline rates. Rates change weekly and a low advertised rate can be offset by fees charged elsewhere. When comparing lenders, look at who regulates them, where the collateral sits, whether it is lent onward, and how the margin-call process works.

Abra Capital Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser, and loans are available to its advisory clients. Collateral starts in a separately managed account titled to you, with Fireblocks Trust Company, LLC as custodian, and is pledged to DeFi lending markets to source the loan. Loans are open term at up to 50% LTV with no prepayment fee. Margin-call and liquidation levels are stated in the loan terms.

Nexo and other centralized lenders publish their own terms. Many operate under money services or lending licenses rather than as registered investment advisers, hold collateral in omnibus wallets, and may lend collateral onward. Some offer higher LTVs or fixed-term products that suit particular needs better. Read each lender's disclosures directly.

Anything you would otherwise sell Bitcoin to pay for. The common cases are a property down payment, a tax bill, business working capital, and diversification into other assets without realizing the gain on the Bitcoin. In each case the appeal is the same: you get dollars now, keep the upside on your BTC, and avoid selling it.

Some clients use a loan to fund a new position while keeping the old one, effectively adding exposure. That works when prices rise and hurts twice when they fall, because both the new position and the collateral lose value at once. Abra does not restrict what you do with the proceeds, but a loan against a volatile asset is a leveraged position. Size it as one.

Open an Abra account if you do not already have one: identity verification, then the advisory agreement. Transfer your BTC or ETH into your separately managed account in kind. Then request a loan estimate. Your specialist will confirm the current rate, the fee schedule, your maximum LTV, and the margin-call and liquidation levels in writing before you sign.

Once you accept the terms, funds are disbursed in USD or USDC. Documentation is standard identity and source-of-funds material; corporate borrowers add entity documents. Timelines depend on how quickly your collateral transfer confirms on-chain.

ACM's fees are listed on the Fees page.