At first, I thought self-custody and borrowing couldn't exist together. It felt like the moment you needed liquidity, you had to give someone else control of your Bitcoin and simply trust they'd give it back.

Native Bitcoin-backed loans challenge that assumption.

But what caught my attention wasn't the promise itself. It was everything that happens after the loan is opened.

That's where the real story begins.

Collateral still has to live somewhere that everyone can verify. So trust doesn't disappear. It just moves. Instead of relying on a centralized custodian, you're relying on rules, code, and the system that's enforcing them.

Most people see that as a technical detail.

I don't.

To me, that's the product.

People rarely come back because they saved a little on interest. They come back because the first experience felt predictable, transparent, and safe. If the process creates confidence, they'll use it again.

That's what drives retention.

So I don't think the biggest question is whether you can borrow against Bitcoin without giving up your keys.

The bigger question is whether the protocol actually replaced trust with verifiable code—or simply moved your trust to a different part of the system.
@BabylonLabs_io #baby $BABY