Aven Launches Bitcoin (BTC) Visa Card With 7.99% APR

Silicon Valley fintech Aven has launched a credit card backed entirely by bitcoin collateral, giving long-term holders a way to access liquidity without selling their holdings. The Aven Bitcoin Visa Card, announced on 27 April at the Bitcoin Conference 2026 in Las Vegas, offers credit lines ranging from $1,000 to $1 million and annual percentage rates starting at 7.99%. For context, the average US credit card rate currently sits at 21.52%, according to the Federal Reserve.

The product is aimed squarely at bitcoin holders who want to put their assets to work without triggering the capital gains tax that a sale would create. Instead of liquidating, customers deposit their bitcoin as collateral and receive a revolving Visa credit line they can spend against in the normal way. Aven, which already has more than 100,000 customers through its home equity credit card product, is treating bitcoin as the next logical collateral class after real estate.

Rates Tied to How Much Collateral You Lock Up

The interest rate a cardholder pays depends directly on the proportion of their collateral they want to borrow against. Pledging bitcoin and drawing only up to 30% of its value earns the lowest rate of 7.99% APR. Borrowing up to 50% of the collateral's value carries a 9.99% rate, while taking the maximum credit limit of 70% costs 11.99%. Aven says all three rates are currently available regardless of credit score, though the company notes that could change.

Beyond the headline APR, the card carries no annual fee and no origination fee, and earns unlimited 2% cash back on purchases. Cardholders also have access to fixed-rate, fixed-term cash-out and balance transfer plans lasting up to 10 years, which Aven describes as a first for bitcoin lending. Most competing products, including those from Ledn and other bitcoin-backed lenders, top out at 12-month terms and typically charge APRs of 10% or more, according to Aven's own April 2026 analysis of the market.

BitGo Holds the Collateral in Per-Borrower Wallets

Custody sits at the centre of how the product works. Customers transfer their bitcoin to BitGo Inc. and BitGo Bank and Trust, National Association, an OCC-regulated digital asset trust bank and a subsidiary of publicly listed BitGo Holdings. Each borrower's collateral is held in a dedicated wallet rather than pooled, a structure designed to keep assets clearly segregated. The card itself is issued by Coastal Community Bank, a Washington state-chartered FDIC member, though bitcoin pledged as collateral falls outside FDIC coverage.

"Bitcoin is becoming a bigger part of people's lives and net worth, but using bitcoin productively remains challenging," said Sisun Lee, Aven's chief of crypto, who announced the card at the conference. Lee, who has previously worked on major product launches at Meta, Uber and Tesla, has been leading Aven's push into digital asset lending.

Liquidation Kicks In at 85% Loan-to-Value

Because bitcoin is volatile, the product includes a tiered risk management system. If a cardholder's outstanding balance reaches 70% of their collateral's current value, the card is locked and new purchases are blocked. At 80%, they have 72 hours to either add more collateral or pay down the balance. If the ratio climbs to 85%, Aven immediately liquidates the position, closes the credit line, and charges a 2% liquidation fee before returning any remaining balance to the customer. The structure is similar in principle to a margin call, and borrowers who take the maximum 70% loan-to-value limit are operating with a thin buffer against a sharp price drop.

For holders who have ridden bitcoin's long-term appreciation and want to fund spending or investment without exiting the position, the card offers a mechanism that large equity investors have long used with stock portfolios. The key question for any borrower is whether the cost of interest and the liquidation risk outweigh simply selling, particularly given that bitcoin's price can move sharply over the kind of 10-year horizon Aven is now making available.

Aven Has Funded $3 Billion and Raised $400 Million in Equity

Aven was founded in 2019 and initially built its business around credit cards secured by home equity lines of credit. The company reports funding more than $3 billion to customers to date, saving users more than $215 million in cumulative interest payments, and raising more than $400 million in equity. Its advisory board includes former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and former congressman Patrick McHenry. The bitcoin card, currently available only in the United States, represents a significant expansion of that asset-backed credit model into digital assets, and Aven says it is exploring international availability. More details and applications are available on Aven's website.

The launch also reflects a broader shift in how regulated financial institutions are treating bitcoin. Rather than approaching it purely as a speculative instrument, products like Aven's card position it as a productive balance sheet asset, something to be borrowed against rather than traded. Whether that framing takes hold among mainstream borrowers will depend in large part on how bitcoin's price behaves and whether the regulatory environment around collateralised digital asset lending continues to develop in the same direction.