Verified against firefish.io and docs.firefish.io on 30 July 2026. Marketplace rates change with lender competition; confirm your exact quote before borrowing.
How Firefish's Bitcoin loan works
Firefish is a peer-to-peer marketplace, not a balance-sheet lender. You request a loan; investors — individuals and institutions — fund it, and the rate is set by competition among them. Your bitcoin goes into a dedicated multisig escrow contract on Bitcoin mainnet, created fresh for each loan and verifiable on-chain. The protocol is open source, and Firefish claims over $650M in loans processed, ~6,000 BTC collateralized, and 26,000+ loans across 30,000+ users.
Loans run 3–24 months with bullet repayment: no monthly instalments — you repay principal plus interest at the end of the term. Payouts arrive by bank wire (EUR, CHF and others) or stablecoin (USDC, USDT). Minimum loan is about $800, one of the lowest anywhere.
Rates & fees
Because rates are market-set, Firefish advertises "from 5%" rather than a fixed schedule. Your quote depends on loan size, term, and currency — EUR loans often price differently from stablecoin loans. Firefish's public materials don't publish a full fee schedule; confirm the platform/service fee inside the app before accepting a quote, and treat the effective cost as the market rate plus any such fee.
LTV & liquidation
Loans open at up to 50% LTV. As bitcoin falls, Firefish sends escalating email alerts when your LTV crosses 73%, 79%, and 86%, and liquidation triggers at 95% LTV — one of the latest thresholds of any lender we track. That's generous breathing room, but it also means a liquidation, if it happens, consumes nearly all your collateral buffer. You can top up collateral or repay early at any time; model your exact prices with the liquidation calculator.
Custody & safety — why we rate Firefish Lower relative risk
There is no custodian to fail: each loan's collateral sits in its own multisig escrow on Bitcoin mainnet, so rehypothecation is structurally impossible, and the escrow is designed to resolve even if Firefish itself disappeared. The protocol is open source, and Firefish Europe s.r.o. is MiCA-authorised as a crypto-asset service provider for operating the escrow environment and liquidation exchange. The residual risks are market risk (liquidation in a crash) and operational risk around the escrow's key arrangements. See how we score lenders on the methodology page.
What a $25,000 Firefish loan costs
Rates are set by lender competition and vary with market conditions — your quote may be higher or lower. Figures are illustrative.
Pros & cons
Strengths
- Non-custodial: per-loan multisig escrow on Bitcoin mainnet
- Rehypothecation structurally impossible
- Entry rates from ~5% — among the lowest for native BTC
- Low $800 minimum; terms from 3 to 24 months
- Open-source protocol; MiCA-authorised EU entity
- No monthly payments — single bullet repayment
Trade-offs
- Rates are market-set — "from 5%" is a floor, not your quote
- 95% liquidation threshold leaves little collateral buffer if hit
- Fee schedule not published — confirm in-app
- Payout rails skew European; US borrowers should check availability
- P2P funding means large loans depend on lender appetite
Who Firefish is best for
Firefish suits borrowers — especially in Europe — who put self-sovereignty first and want native-BTC collateral that no company can touch, at marketplace rates. If you want a US-native line of credit, compare Lava; for larger institutional-style loans with the same no-custody philosophy, see Debifi; for a regulated custodial lender with a low minimum, see Ledn.
FAQ
What is Firefish's Bitcoin loan interest rate?
Market-set by competing lenders, starting around 5% APR. Your quote depends on loan size, term, and payout currency.
Who holds my Bitcoin at Firefish?
No single party. Each loan's collateral is locked in a dedicated multisig escrow contract on Bitcoin mainnet — non-custodial, with no rehypothecation possible.
When does Firefish liquidate collateral?
Margin-call alerts go out at 73%, 79%, and 86% LTV; liquidation triggers at 95% if you don't top up or repay.
Is Firefish regulated?
Firefish Europe s.r.o. is MiCA-authorised as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) for the escrow and liquidation services behind the platform.
See Firefish next to every other lender
Live rates, LTV, liquidation thresholds, custody, and minimums for every lender we track in one verified table.
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