Crypto holders relied more on loans backed by digital assets as market conditions weakened in 2026, according to a study by CryptoQuant.
The report analyzed data from crypto lender CoinRabbit. He found higher loan activity among individual users and high net worth users.
Borrowing activity increases
Cryptocurrency-backed loans allow their holders to access liquidity without immediately selling their digital assets. Borrowers typically pledge more collateral than they receive, but falling prices can trigger liquidation or require more collateral.
According to the report, retail users recorded the biggest change in borrowing activity during the period. Their average number of loans increased by 74%, from 30.8 per user in 2025 to 53.5 in 2026, while wealthy users increased by 18%, from 16.5 to 19.4.
Repeat borrowing has also become more common on the platform. The share of users who took out multiple loans increased from 61.9% to 65.1%. Retail borrowers waited an average of 21 days between loans, up from 11 days.
Beyond borrowing activity, collateral preferences have also changed, particularly among wealthier users. Bitcoin’s share of pledged assets among wealthy users fell from 57.8% to 30.5%, while Zcash reached 24.2% after not making the previous top 10.
CryptoQuant linked part of the increase in Zcash’s use of collateral to the sharp price rise. Zcash has risen from around $50 at the end of 2025 to $800, while Monero, Chainlink and Cardano have also gained larger shares among high-net-worth collateral.
Changing Asset Preferences
Retail users continued to rely heavily on XRP as collateral during the period. However, its share fell from 41.7% to 35.2%, while Bitcoin remained close behind. TRON, Stellar, BNB, Kaspa and Velo have also entered the mix.
At the same time, the assets that users traded most frequently changed over the period as market conditions evolved. Tether and Bitcoin remained the two largest assets by volume, while USD Coin fell to third place. Flare, Ether and Ondo also entered the top 10.
Solana, Stellar and Shiba Inu fell out of the top 10 in terms of trading volume. Together, these changes show that users adjusted both their borrowing and asset preferences during the weaker market period.
The article Crypto Holders Turn to Lending as Markets Cool in 2026: CQ appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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