Crypto holders increased their use of digital-asset-backed loans as market conditions weakened in 2026, with retail borrowers recording the sharpest rise, according to CryptoQuant research using CoinRabbit data. Retail users averaged 53.5 loans per borrower, up 74% from 30.8 in 2025, while high-net-worth users averaged 19.4 loans, up 18% from 16.5. The share of users taking multiple loans rose from 61.9% to 65.1%, and retail borrowers waited an average of 21 days between loans, compared with 11 days previously. Collateral preferences shifted among high-net-worth users: Bitcoin’s share fell from 57.8% to 30.5%, while Zcash reached 24.2% after being absent from the previous top 10. Separately, BlackRock reduced the minimum Bitcoin amount eligible for in-kind conversion into shares of its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, or IBIT, to $1 million in July from $25 million. IBIT has processed more than $5 billion in such conversions and holds about 3.645% of Bitcoin’s total supply, with net assets of $60.65 billion. Bitwise also reduced its minimum from $100 million to $3 million.