Jonathan Gray
Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Ledn, knows the true value of Bitcoin firsthand.
Born and raised in Venezuela, Mauricio’s family lived through the economic collapse caused by hyperinflation and authoritarian policies under Chavez’s regime.
“I saw Chavez come into power and start dismantling the whole operation,” Mauricio recalls.
“My family, my friends, all suffered from hyperinflation. They made buying dollars illegal in Venezuela so they basically forced you to get debased.”
The situation quickly deteriorated as the government tightened its grip.
“People started buying non-perishables like cans of tuna, bags of rice and started bartering with each other to sort of avoid having to hold the currency,” he explains.
“Then the government started limiting the amount of rice you could buy, the cans of tuna you could buy, and so they just kept forcing you and forcing you into poverty.”
Mauricio had left Venezuela to study in Canada, becoming “the lone kid from his family who was sent away to study abroad because when countries are falling apart. Families typically choose their most willing kid and sent them abroad.”
Meanwhile, his younger brother, a recent university graduate, was determined to stay in Venezuela despite their father’s encouragement to leave.
The turning point came when his brother discovered bitcoin mining through a friend from Houston. Venezuela’s subsidized hydroelectric power meant mining costs were minimal.
“My brother comes to my dad with an ultimatum and says either you fund this and support me or I’m gone, I’m leaving the house,” Mauricio recounts.
Initially skeptical, Mauricio’s perspective transformed completely during a Christmas visit in 2015.
His brother had not only paid back their initial investment but doubled his mining operation. It was the only growing business among their peers who were liquidating assets to flee the country.
The magical moment came when his brother demonstrated how Bitcoin could bypass Venezuela’s economic barriers:
“He sends the bitcoin to an exchange at the time, Sir Bitcoin it was called, and then the bolívars hit my bank account at the real dollar rate, not the government fake rate, at the actual real value.
“At that point, I still get goosebumps when I tell the story…my brother found freedom money.’”
The revelation spread like wildfire. “Not too long after that my cousins started mining, my uncle started mining, my friends started mining, our contractor started mining, our employees started mining,”
Mauricio remembers with enthusiasm.
Inspired by his brother’s success, Mauricio partnered with his university friend Adam to launch mining operations in Canada.
But they quickly encountered a common challenge: “We had bitcoin revenues which we wanted to keep, nobody wanted to sell it.
“But we had fiat expenses, and we didn’t want to sell our bitcoin to pay for expenses, but we also didn’t want to sell our bitcoin to buy more equipment.”
Their search for financing options where they could borrow against their bitcoin holdings was met with ridicule.
“We start getting laughed out of rooms and we’re told we are lunatics, that this is not an asset, who would ever do that,” he says.
This experience sparked the idea for Ledn. A straightforward lending service that would help bitcoin holders access liquidity without sacrificing their long-term holdings.
“Ledn came from this very simple idea which is that we want to help people in Canada, particularly miners, get the dollars they need without selling their Bitcoin,” Mauricio explains.
He highlights the contrast of their approach with the businesses that created “crazy protocols with tokenomics” and questionable regulatory practices that led to many “crypto companies” going under in 2022.
Founded in August 2018, Ledn completed “Canada’s first Bitcoin-backed loan in November 2018 to one of the biggest payment processors in Canada.”
From the beginning, Mauricio envisioned a global product.
“If we nailed the model in Canada and the collateral was bitcoin, and the loan would be able to satisfy the highest standards of consumer protection, we could then take this product to anyone, anywhere that had bitcoin.
“My bitcoin from Colombia is the same as a Canadian bitcoin, it’s the same as a Zimbabwe bitcoin.”
Today, Ledn is headquartered in the Cayman Islands, where it operates under the regulatory framework of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.
Survival Through Discipline
While many digital asset lending platforms collapsed spectacularly in recent years, Ledn has thrived. Mauricio attributes this success to one critical factor: discipline.
“The biggest challenge as a founder and as a business in this industry that’s growing so fast is being able to say no and to stay disciplined,” he emphasizes.
Unlike competitors who chased growth by supporting every new token that emerged, Ledn maintained strict standards.
“These companies that went under didn’t necessarily go under because of what they did. Collateralized lending can be done very simply.
You give me an asset, I keep it safe, I give you some dollars, you pay me back, you get the asset back. It’s not that hard. It’s been done since Babylonian times with seeds and gold and goats,” Mauricio points out.
“What screws it up is how you do it.”
He describes how other platforms rushed to support speculative tokens to artificially inflate their assets under management:
“Back then there was this big rush to balloon your assets on the platform because VCs were valuing companies based on how many assets they had on the platform.
“They didn’t care about profits, they didn’t care about revenues, they didn’t care about products.”
In contrast, Ledn has always focused on established assets with deep liquidity, “The biggest thing for us is we need to be able to get out of the position. Getting in is easy, it’s getting out, right?”
Transparency has also been fundamental to Ledn’s approach. “We are the only lender today and the first lender to ever do it, and I think we’re still the only ones today to do proof of reserves on an ongoing basis,” Mauricio says.
“Every six months, Ledn has a certified public accountant that gets a dump of all of our client data, anonymized, and all of our asset positions, and they check that we have enough assets to meet our client liabilities.”
This commitment to verifiable reserves extends to their clients: “Importantly, it’s a proof of reserves report that also includes liabilities.
“You as a client can see that I reported your balance to the penny—and to the Satoshi—to the accountant correctly, and if it’s not right, you can ring all of the alarms.”
Stablecoins and Global Financial Inclusion
Ledn’s early embrace of stablecoins further demonstrates their responsiveness to real-world client needs, especially in volatile regions.
When Venezuelan clients requested loan disbursements in bitcoin rather than through traditional banking channels, Mauricio was initially puzzled.
“Please send me the disbursements of my loan or my proceeds in bitcoin,” they would request. “I was like, ‘Why would you want it in Bitcoin?’
“And it’s like, ‘No, it’s because I trade my bitcoin in the P2P markets and I get my cash. I do not trust my banks. I do not want to go through the banks.’”
This skepticism toward traditional banking is deeply rooted in regional experience.
“In Latin America, banks are like the World Cup, every four years there’s a banking crisis and everyone in one particular country loses all of its money,” Mauricio jokes. “So we as Latinos are very jaded with our banking system.”
The adoption of stablecoins became essential for serving these markets.
“Would you want to use those banks when they are controlled by the people who are coming after you and your wealth? Probably not,” he explains.
“They would then say, ‘Okay, I will make the stablecoin work. I will use stablecoins because I trust them way more than I trust my bank.’”
The Future of Bitcoin-Backed Lending
Mauricio sees Bitcoin-backed lending as the foundation for a more equitable global financial system.
“From a collateralized lending perspective, 80% of the debt in the world is collateralized,” he notes.
Traditional collateral like real estate or gold varies in value depending on its location, creating inherent inequalities.
“The way I underwrite a house in Colombia is very different than the way I underwrite a house in the U.S., very different than the way I underwrite a house in India.
“In fact, even if you have gold in a Venezuelan vault, I can’t underwrite you the same as if you have gold in a Swiss vault.”
Bitcoin changes this equation completely.
“With Bitcoin, Ledn today can lend to people in Medellín at the same rates as people in Madrid and the same rates as people in Miami, and that to me is financial inclusion today not some abstract BS thing that’s coming.”
The company’s recent performance validates this vision.
“This was our best quarter in the history of the business. We did over $300 million worth of bitcoin-backed loans to people not wanting to sell their bitcoin in the first quarter,” Mauricio reveals, noting this represents multiple times their previous year’s volume.
As bitcoin gains acceptance as a reserve asset for governments and corporations worldwide, Mauricio predicts Bitcoin-backed lending will fundamentally reshape global finance.
“I see a future where borrowing against your bitcoin will be cheaper, faster, and more efficient than borrowing against any other asset, and this is purely math.”
The implications for global economic opportunity are profound.
“It’s very different if you’re a capable, highly ambitious American kid and daddy has access to a HELOC at 3% and so he can bankroll my business.
“But if daddy has no access and I’m the same guy, just happened to be living in Medellín, the world’s not better off.”
Bitcoin-backed lending addresses this disparity: “Now everyone will have access to competitive, fair funding, having the same asset, and I as a lender won’t have to worry about taking on more risk.
“I think it’s going to unlock a wave of builders that had been restrained for lack of access to loan and financing.”
As Bitcoin continues its march toward mainstream adoption, Mauricio Di Bartolomeo and Ledn stand at the forefront of the financial revolution it enables.
They’ve created a bridge between traditional finance and the borderless potential of digital assets.
Sometimes the most revolutionary approach is building on timeless financial principles, just with a more democratic, global foundation.
What began as a solution to a personal problem in Venezuela has evolved into a vision for financial inclusion that transcends borders.
Proving that Bitcoin isn’t just changing who has access to capital, but fundamentally rewriting the rules of who gets to participate in the global economy.
