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1. What is a bitcoin-backed mortgage?
Toronto-based APX Lending said on Wednesday, October 28, that it plans to offer bitcoin-backed mortgages in Canada in early 2027, opening a waitlist the same day. A bitcoin-backed mortgage lets a homebuyer pledge bitcoin (BTC) as collateral instead of selling it, and the borrowed money can fund a down payment or, in some structures, the entire purchase price. The company has not announced rates or terms.
The idea responds to a familiar dilemma for long-term holders of digital assets. Selling bitcoin to raise cash for a house can trigger taxes and means giving up any future price gains, while keeping the coins leaves the buyer short of funds. Using the coins as security for a loan offers a way to hold the asset and still obtain money for a property.
APX expects to begin offering the product in the first quarter of 2027. It already provides crypto-backed loans and says it would become the first regulated bitcoin-backed mortgage provider in Canada.
Mortgages secured by crypto sit at the meeting point of two very different financial worlds. Home lending is one of the most regulated and conservative parts of banking, built on predictable collateral, long repayment periods and stable valuations. Bitcoin is an asset whose price can move sharply within days. Any lender that combines the two has to decide how to value the digital collateral, how often to check it and how much of a buffer to demand, and those choices determine whether the product is workable for ordinary households.
2. Where does APX's mortgage plan fit in its business?
Last month the company launched five-year credit lines secured by bitcoin and ether (ETH). The mortgage plan extends that lending into residential real estate, a far larger market. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, known as CMHC, put outstanding Canadian mortgage debt at 1.75 trillion dollars in June.
APX founder and Chief Executive Andrei Poliakov estimates that the Canadian market for bitcoin-backed real estate financing is worth between 44 million and 73 million dollars. That is a small slice of the national mortgage book, and it suggests the company sees the product as a niche aimed at a specific kind of customer: someone who holds a substantial amount of bitcoin and wants to buy property without liquidating it.
Poliakov also said 15.8% of the loan volume APX has already written against crypto is tied to real estate. In other words, a meaningful share of existing borrowers are already using digital-asset loans for property-related purposes, which the company treats as evidence of demand for a dedicated mortgage.
The relatively small market estimate also reflects who is likely to apply. A borrower would need to own enough bitcoin to cover a large share of the loan, hold it in a form that can be transferred to a custodian, and be comfortable with the risk of pledging it. That is a narrow group compared with the millions of Canadians who take out conventional mortgages each year, which is why the company describes the opportunity in tens of millions rather than billions.
3. How does the US market compare?
Canada would not be the first market to try the concept. Miami-based Milo said in February that it had originated more than 100 million dollars of crypto-backed mortgages, including a single loan of 12 million dollars. Milo offers mortgages secured by bitcoin or ether with terms of up to 30 years.
The comparison shows both the opportunity and the limits of the model. Loans of that size demonstrate that wealthy crypto holders will use the product, but they also show that volumes remain tiny next to conventional home lending. APX's plan to position itself as a regulated provider is meant to distinguish it in a Canadian market where lenders and borrowers are used to established banks and clear rules.
Terms of up to 30 years in the US product also highlight a difference in time horizon. Credit lines of five years, such as those APX launched last month, are far shorter than the multi-decade repayment schedules common in home lending. How long APX's mortgages would run is one more detail that has not been disclosed, and it will affect both the monthly cost and the length of time a borrower's coins stay pledged.
4. How much bitcoin would a buyer have to pledge?
A worked example based on a home priced at roughly 475,000 dollars shows how large the collateral requirement can be. A buyer who needs a 20% down payment, or 95,000 dollars, could borrow that sum by pledging about 190,000 dollars of bitcoin. Pledging twice the amount borrowed leaves a cushion if the price of bitcoin falls.
Financing the entire purchase would require far more. To borrow the full 475,000 dollars, a buyer would need to pledge about 475,000 dollars of bitcoin, with the home itself also serving as collateral. That is a large concentration of wealth in one volatile asset, committed to one loan.
These figures illustrate how the product might work and are not a published offer. APX has not disclosed mortgage interest rates, repayment periods, loan-to-value limits, or the conditions under which a margin call or liquidation would occur.
The arithmetic also shows why the collateral requirement matters for the buyer's overall finances. Pledging bitcoin worth twice the loan means that a large portion of the borrower's holdings is locked up for the life of the loan and cannot be sold, traded or moved without repaying. In exchange, the borrower avoids selling the coins and keeps the potential for gains, while accepting the possibility of losses on a much larger amount than the sum actually borrowed.
5. What would the loan cost?
Pricing is the central unknown. APX's existing crypto-backed loans carry annual interest rates of 9.99% to 11.49%, based on a loan-to-value ratio of 60%. Those rates may not carry over to mortgages. Poliakov said that adding a property as collateral could lower the cost compared with a loan secured by bitcoin alone, but he did not give a mortgage rate.
Loan-to-value, often shortened to LTV, compares the amount borrowed with the value of the collateral. A lower ratio means a bigger cushion for the lender and generally a lower rate for the borrower. Because the mortgage terms have not been published, prospective borrowers cannot yet compare the product with a traditional mortgage or even with APX's own credit lines.
The company has not set a date for publishing the terms but says it will disclose them before the product launches.
Interest costs of around 10% a year, if they were applied to a home loan, would be well above what conventional mortgages typically charge, so the final pricing will determine whether the product appeals to anyone beyond buyers who are strongly motivated to keep their bitcoin. The company's suggestion that property collateral could lower costs is therefore a point to watch once the terms appear.
6. What happens if the price of bitcoin falls?
The main risk is volatility. A sharp decline in bitcoin could require a borrower to post additional collateral or lead to a forced sale of the pledged coins, depending on the final loan terms. Anyone who borrows against an asset that can move by double-digit percentages in weeks needs to understand how quickly that cushion can disappear.
Poliakov offered a stress scenario for a standalone loan. If bitcoin fell 40% after a loan began at a 50% loan-to-value ratio, the ratio would climb to roughly 83%. A loan secured by both bitcoin and a home would be assessed differently, he said, but the company has not yet explained how.
Under APX's current system, the lender partially sells the borrower's bitcoin when the ratio reaches 90%, reducing it to 85%. The company uses BitGo for custody and says it does not lend out the collateral it holds. For the mortgage product, APX says collateral and default rules will be separate, including notice periods and chances for borrowers to cure a shortfall.
The 40% decline scenario shows how quickly the numbers can change. A loan that starts at a 50% ratio is comfortable by lending standards, yet after a fall of that size it sits at roughly 83%, close to the 90% level at which APX's current system begins selling collateral. That is why the notice periods and opportunities to cure a shortfall mentioned by the company will matter as much as the headline interest rate.
7. Could a falling bitcoin price put the home at risk?
This is the question borrowers will care about most, and the answer depends on documents that have not been released. Poliakov said that selling bitcoin collateral and enforcing a mortgage against a home are distinct actions. A shortfall in the crypto collateral would not automatically translate into a claim on the house, but whether it could threaten the property depends on the wording of the loan agreement.
That distinction is the basis of the company's pitch. Poliakov said Canadians should not have to choose between owning bitcoin and owning a home. Whether borrowers will agree will depend on the interest rate, the loan-to-value limits and the notice and cure periods that APX eventually discloses.
For now, the waitlist is open and the product is a plan rather than an offer. Borrowers considering it will need to see the full terms before they can judge how much risk they are taking on.
Borrowers weighing the product should also consider what each outcome would mean in practice. A partial sale of bitcoin reduces the pledged amount and may crystallize a loss and a tax event, while an enforcement action against a house would carry far heavier consequences. The separation APX describes between the two types of collateral is meant to keep one problem from becoming the other, but the protection exists only to the extent that it is written into the contract.