Lava’s Bitcoin Line of Credit (BLOC) empowers Bitcoin holders to unlock dollar liquidity for major purchases like US real estate—without selling their BTC or triggering taxable events. With BLOC, you can borrow up to 50% of your Bitcoin’s value at fixed rates starting around 5% APR, pay a simple 2% annual capital charge based only on your highest balance, and enjoy open-ended terms with no monthly payments. The process is fast, globally available, and designed for maximum flexibility: you can use your Lava Card to spend directly from your line and even earn rewards. Lava’s transparent, user-first approach means you keep your Bitcoin upside, stay agile in a competitive real estate market, and don’t get rugged by hidden fees or forced timelines. This article is authored by the Lava team, reflecting their commitment to Bitcoin-native financial freedom and practical, actionable guidance for the Bitcoin community.
What is a Bitcoin-backed loan for real estate? * It’s a loan that lets you use your Bitcoin as collateral to access dollars for property purchases, so you don’t have to sell your BTC (source: Lava Blog).
How does Lava’s BLOC differ from a traditional mortgage? * BLOC is a flexible credit line against your BTC with no monthly payments or fixed term—you control when and how much to repay.
What happens if Bitcoin’s price drops while I have a BLOC? * Your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio rises; you may need to add more BTC as collateral or repay part of your balance. Severe price drops can trigger liquidation (FAQ: Lava FAQ).
Are Bitcoin-backed loans taxable? * Borrowing against BTC is generally not taxable, but using BTC to pay interest/principal or if your BTC is liquidated to repay the loan, those are taxable events. Always consult a tax professional.
Can I close on a home using a Lava BLOC? * Yes, BLOC provides documented dollar liquidity for down payments or cash offers, and can be coordinated with your lender or title company.
Lava’s BLOC is ideal for Bitcoiners who want to preserve their long-term thesis, move fast in real estate markets, and avoid capital gains taxes from selling BTC. “A bitcoin-backed line of credit allows you to unlock dollars against your BTC so you can fund a home purchase while retaining your bitcoin exposure” (source). For more details, see the full article or reach out to the Lava team.
Ready to unlock your Bitcoin’s purchasing power? Sign up for Lava BLOC in minutes and join the Bitcoin-native financial revolution.
Building Better Financial Infrastructure for Dollars
Lava
The Problem with Current Dollar Movement
The US dollar remains the world's reserve currency, but the infrastructure that moves it is decades old. Banks close at 5 PM. Wire transfers take days. International payments require multiple intermediaries, each taking a cut.
We live in a digital age, yet dollar movement still relies on analog financial rails. The world's most important currency moves slower and costs more than it should.
Stablecoins—digital tokens pegged 1:1 to the USD—solve this problem. They're not speculative assets or dollar replacements. They're 24/7/365, near-instant infrastructure that makes dollar movement faster, cheaper, and globally borderless.
How Stablecoins Work
Stablecoins like USDC and USDT are blockchain-based representations of the USD. Each token is backed by reserves (typically cash and short-term US Treasury securities) held by the issuer, maintaining the 1:1 peg to the dollar.
The scale of adoption is telling. Stablecoins settled approximately $6.3 trillion in payments in the 12 months to February 2025—rivaling Visa's annual transaction volume. This is no longer experimentation. It's essential financial infrastructure.
Why Traditional Dollar Movement Fails
Prior to the creation of stablecoins, most dollar movements happened via ACH or wire rails.
ACH (Automated Clearing House) processes transactions in batches, typically overnight. Submit on Friday afternoon and settlement might not happen until Tuesday.
Wire transfers are faster but still constrained by banking hours. Domestic wires settle same-day if initiated before cut-off (usually 3–5 PM). International wires through SWIFT take 1–3 business days as they route through correspondent banks across time zones and jurisdictions.
Money moves on a schedule designed for the 1970s.
The Cost Problem
A typical international wire transfer costs $40–$50+ in explicit fees. The hidden costs are worse.
Cross-border transfers require correspondent banking networks. Your bank routes payments through intermediary banks, each taking a fee. The foreign exchange markup adds another 2–4%, often hidden in the exchange rate.
For a $10,000 international transfer, you might pay $50 in wire fees plus $200–$400 in FX markups. That's 2.5–4.5% of the total—a tax on global commerce that hurts small businesses and individuals most.
The Accessibility Problem
Banking hours and business days are artificial constraints in a digital world. If you need to move money on Saturday, you're out of luck. You're forced to wait until Monday, when the bank opens again.
For many, the problem goes beyond that. Approximately 1.4 billion adults worldwide are unbanked. They lack access to financial services, making it effectively impossible to hold or transact in dollars. They're forced to rely on cash and local currencies that may be unstable or subject to capital controls.
Stablecoins: The Technical Solution
Stablecoins operate on public blockchains, providing a fundamental architectural upgrade to dollar-denominated transactions.
24/7/365 Availability
Public blockchains operate 24/7. There are no holidays, weekends, or cut-off times. You can send $100,000 in USDC at 3 AM on Christmas Day, and it will settle in minutes.
This changes liquidity management for businesses and individuals alike. Users can respond to opportunities or obligations in real-time instead of planning around banking hours and settlement delays.
Near-Instant Settlement
A stablecoin transaction settles in minutes, sometimes seconds. Compare that to the days-long process of a wire transfer.
When settlement happens nearly instantaneously, the cost of capital decreases. Money doesn't get stuck in transit, counterparty risk drops, and the velocity of money increases.
Eliminating Intermediaries
Stablecoin transactions are peer-to-peer interactions on a blockchain. There's no corresponding banking chain, no FX desk taking a spread, and no wire department charging processing fees.
Users are typically required to pay a blockchain network fees, but these are typically less than $1 and often as low as $0.01. For international transfers, this represents a potential 99% reduction in costs compared to typical banking fees.
A stablecoin transaction from New York to Lagos looks identical to one from New York to Los Angeles. The blockchain doesn't distinguish between domestic and international transfers-- it's all just addresses on a network. Money movement becomes fast, cheap, and borderless.
Speed and Cost Comparison
System
Settlement Time
Cost
Availability
ACH
1-3 business days
Free to $1
Business hours only
Wire (SWIFT)
1-3 business days
$40-50 (+ FX markup)
Business hours only
Stablecoins
Minutes (sometimes seconds)
<$1
24/7/365
The difference is clear. Stablecoins are faster by orders of magnitude, cheaper by 95%+, and available when traditional systems are closed.
Global Adoption and Impact
The global stablecoin market capitalization exceeds $300 billion. That's working capital being used for payments, treasury management, and cross-border commerce.
Institutions report a 35% decrease in settlement delays when using stablecoins for liquidity management compared to conventional correspondent banking. This means better operational efficiency, higher margins, and reduced costs.
Stablecoin volume continues to grow year over year. $6.3 trillion in annual settlement volume means that stablecoins are currently processing more than $500 billion per month. More and more, businesses and individuals are choosing to transact via stablecoin rails.
Financial Inclusion
The impact extends beyond speed and cost. Stablecoins are changing who can access the dollar.
More than 1.4 billion people lack access to traditional banking, but many of them have smartphones and internet access. Stablecoins only require a digital wallet, and are thus available to anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection. Access doesn't require a credit check, a minimum balance, or a physical branch visit.
For people in countries with hyper-inflationary or volatile local currencies, stablecoins provide access to a stable store of value. A merchant in Argentina or Turkey can receive payment in USDC and hold dollars without needing to have a US bank account or navigate capital controls.
This broadens financial access worldwide. When people have permissionless access to a stable currency on global rails, they can more easily plan, save, and participate in the global economy.
Geopolitical Significance
The rise of dollar-pegged stablecoins reinforces the US dollar's global dominance by creating an efficient digital distribution mechanism. Every USDC or USDT in circulation is backed by dollar-denominated reserves, increasing demand for US Treasury securities and dollar liquidity.
Stablecoins make the dollar more useful globally, which makes it more dominant. Countries that might have considered alternatives now have a digital dollar infrastructure that's superior to any competing currency's payment rails.
The dollar's reserve currency status depends on its utility for global commerce. Stablecoins increase that utility significantly.
Lava: Stablecoin-Native Fintech
Lava uses stablecoin infrastructure to deliver what traditional lending can't: instant access to dollar liquidity against bitcoin collateral.
You deposit bitcoin as collateral, and Lava immediately disburses the loan in digital dollars (stablecoins). The stablecoin settlement time means you have access to liquidity in minutes, not days.
When you take out a loan on Lava, you keep your bitcoin. You don't have to give up your bitcoin exposure, and you avoid taxable events. You access dollar liquidity in seconds while keeping your long-term savings intact.
Lava's stablecoin-native fintech experience means that you get immediate access to all of the benefits that stablecoins have to offer– instant settlement, global money movement, and the lowest fees. Plus the fastest access to loan capital against your bitcoin.
Competitive Advantages
Lowest fixed rates at 5% fixed APR. Compare that to Milo at 12.95% APR or Unchained Capital at 15.20% effective APR. On a $100,000 loan, that's $7,950 to $10,200 in annual interest savings.
Widest accessibility with loan amounts from $100 to $1 billion. This range serves both retail users who need a few hundred dollars and institutions requiring eight-figure liquidity. Most competitors have high minimums—Unchained requires $150,000, effectively excluding smaller borrowers.
Frictionless experience combines instant access with no documentation requirements. Traditional lenders require income verification, credit checks, and paperwork. Even crypto-native competitors often have lengthy onboarding. Lava's process is fast because the collateral (Bitcoin) is verifiable on-chain and the disbursement (stablecoins) settles instantly.
The Future of Money Movement
Stablecoins are an essential upgrade to the global financial system. They provide faster settlement, increased access, and lower costs across the board. The global stablecoin market cap continues to increase, and settlement volume continues to trend upwards. With solutions like Lava, you get immediate access to all of the benefits of stablecoins for your financial life.
