India’s first Bitcoin-backed INR lending platform is now live (pilot)

Hey r/Bitcoin,

We’re building Pledg (pledg.in). It lets Indians borrow rupees against their Bitcoin without selling it.

In India, if you need cash, your options as a Bitcoiner are bad. You can sell your sats, take a taxable event, and probably regret it in 4 years. Or you can use one of the global BTC lending platforms (Ledn, Firefish, etc.), which lend in USD or stablecoins, not INR. There has been no compliant way to get rupees in your bank account against BTC. That’s the gap we’re trying to close.

How it works

• You generate your own 12-word seed and hold one key
• A fresh 2-of-3 multisig address is created for your loan. Keys are held by you, Unocoin (custody infra powered by BitGo), and NBFC(Regulated Lender)
• Each loan gets its own segregated wallet. No pooling, no rehypothecation
• Once your BTC is confirmed on-chain, a regulated NBFC disburses INR to your bank account
• Repay the loan and your BTC is released

Risk parameters

• 50% LTV at origination
• Margin call at 70% LTV
• Liquidation at 80% LTV, and only partial: just enough BTC is sold to bring you back to 50%, not your whole stack

Why KYC?

Lending in India has to go through an RBI-regulated lender, and crypto custody has to sit with a registered entity. So yes, there’s KYC. We chose to build this compliance-first because that’s the only way it survives in India long term.

Why a pilot?

There’s no RBI guidance yet on Bitcoin as collateral. Before we push for formal regulatory recognition, we want to prove there’s real demand. So this is a limited pilot to see whether Indian Bitcoiners actually want this.

If you’re in India and holding BTC, we’d love for you to try it, break it, and tell us what’s wrong. Happy to answer questions on custody, liquidation mechanics, or the regulatory setup in the comments.

pledg.in