Bitcoin-backed loans in Europe

A loan that pays out in stablecoins solves nothing if the money is destined for a notary, a supplier or a tax bill. Ask whether the principal can be drawn as euros to a named IBAN over SEPA, and whether the account it lands in is yours rather than a pooled reference — payroll and property transactions routinely reject pooled references.

The Vision Bank pays out to the account holding your other balances, so the loan proceeds arrive as an ordinary euro balance you can send by SEPA or SWIFT, spend on a card, or hold until you need it.

European borrowers frequently pledge collateral to an entity in one jurisdiction while living in another. That is workable, but it makes the custody arrangement the thing to verify: which legal entity holds the keys, whether client assets are segregated from company assets, and whether the terms permit the collateral to be lent on.

Rehypothecation — reusing your pledged coins — is the risk that turned into losses across previous cycles. A clear contractual prohibition, backed by published reserve reporting, is worth more than a slightly better headline rate.

MiCA established a single European framework for crypto-asset service providers, covering authorisation, custody obligations, disclosure and conduct. It does not make every lending product uniform, because collateralised lending against crypto sits alongside national consumer-credit and mortgage rules that still differ by country.

In practice that means two checks: that the provider is authorised for the crypto-asset services it offers, and that the specific product is available to residents of your country. Reputable providers state both plainly rather than leaving you to infer them.

Across most of the EU, drawing a loan is not itself a disposal, which is why borrowing is often preferred to selling by long-term holders. But liquidation of collateral generally is a disposal, and interest deductibility differs sharply between member states.

Treat the tax position as country-specific and get local advice before structuring anything around it. Keep the statements: a lender that issues clear, exportable transaction and interest records makes the eventual filing straightforward.

Before you commit, get written answers on the following. If a provider is slow to answer any of them, that is itself the answer.

• Is the loan paid out in euros to a named IBAN?
• Which entity holds the collateral, and is it segregated?
• Is rehypothecation contractually prohibited?
• What are the initial, margin-call and liquidation LTV levels?
• Which price feed values the collateral?
• Is the product available to residents of my country?