Measuring Crypto Leverage Across Lending, Treasury Debt, and Futures
Summary
The report broadens a review of crypto lending into a wider estimate of leverage across crypto-collateralized borrowing, debt issued by public Bitcoin treasury companies, and futures open interest. It compares centralized lenders, decentralized lending applications, and the crypto-backed portion of collateralized stablecoin systems, then tracks changes in those channels during the first quarter of 2025. The summary also reports movements in onchain borrowing rates and futures positioning across major crypto assets and venues.
The data show lending balances contracting overall during the quarter, with DeFi application borrowing declining while CeFi lending and crypto-backed stablecoin issuance increased. The report also highlights growth in Bitcoin treasury debt and futures open interest, including a sharp rise at Hyperliquid. These measures offer a broader view of potential leverage sources, but they are not interchangeable measures of risk. The analysis warns that CeFi disclosures are inconsistent and that some CeFi loans may rely on DeFi borrowing or CDP issuance, creating possible double-counting. Figures are dated snapshots, and the supplied text is truncated before the full discussion concludes.
Key ideas
- The report measures leverage across crypto-collateralized lending, Bitcoin treasury debt, and futures markets.
- DeFi borrowing declined in Q1 2025 while CeFi borrowing and crypto-backed stablecoin issuance rose.
- Futures open interest changed unevenly across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other crypto assets.
- CeFi lending data are harder to verify because disclosures vary in availability and accounting.
- Overlaps between CeFi loan books, DeFi borrowing, and CDP stablecoin issuance may cause double-counting.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.