Crypto holders relied extra on loans backed by digital property as market circumstances weakened in 2026, in keeping with analysis from CryptoQuant.
The report analyzed information from crypto lender CoinRabbit. It discovered greater borrowing exercise amongst each retail and high-net-worth customers.
Borrowing Exercise Rises
Crypto-backed loans permit holders to entry money with out instantly promoting their digital property. Debtors often pledge extra collateral than they obtain, however falling costs can set off liquidation or require extra collateral.
In response to the report, retail customers recorded the largest change in borrowing exercise in the course of the interval. Their common variety of loans rose 74%, from 30.8 per person in 2025 to 53.5 in 2026, whereas high-net-worth customers rose 18%, from 16.5 to 19.4.
Repeat borrowing additionally grew to become extra widespread throughout the platform. The share of customers taking a number of loans elevated from 61.9% to 65.1%. Retail debtors waited a median of 21 days between loans, in contrast with 11 days beforehand.
Past borrowing exercise, collateral preferences additionally shifted, notably amongst wealthier customers. Bitcoin’s share of pledged property amongst high-net-worth customers fell from 57.8% to 30.5%, whereas Zcash reached 24.2% after not showing among the many earlier prime 10.
CryptoQuant linked a part of Zcash’s rise in collateral use to its sharp value rally. Zcash climbed from about $50 in late 2025 towards $800, whereas Monero, Chainlink and Cardano additionally gained bigger shares amongst high-net-worth collateral.
Shifting Asset Preferences
Retail customers continued to rely closely on XRP as collateral in the course of the interval. Nonetheless, its share fell from 41.7% to 35.2%, whereas Bitcoin remained shut behind. TRON, Stellar, BNB, Kaspa, and Velo additionally entered the combo.
In the meantime, the property customers traded most continuously modified in the course of the interval as market circumstances shifted. Tether and Bitcoin remained the 2 largest property by quantity, whereas USD Coin moved into third place. Flare, Ether, and Ondo additionally entered the highest 10.
Solana, Stellar, and Shiba Inu dropped out of the highest 10 by buying and selling quantity. Collectively, these adjustments present that customers adjusted each their borrowing and asset preferences in the course of the weaker market interval.
