Picture this: a crypto millionaire wants a quick line of credit to upgrade a yacht, spend a week in St. Moritz and make it to the Cannes film festival — without selling their bitcoin or ether. In traditional finance that would be straightforward: pledge real-world assets to a private bank for a short-term Lombard loan. But for those whose wealth is parked in crypto, banks are often reluctant to help. The result: a fast-growing class of ultra-wealthy crypto holders is turning to decentralized finance (DeFi) and specialist firms to fund their lifestyles. Crypto wealth is booming. A 2025 Henley & Partners survey found 241,700 crypto millionaires globally — a 40% jump from the year before — meaning more people want liquid, low-friction access to cash without crystallizing taxable gains or giving up assets. Enter DeFi-enabled lending and boutique operators like Cometh. Jerome de Tychey, Cometh’s founder (and also the founder of the Ethereum Community Conference), says his firm helps family offices and other high-net-worth clients convert crypto holdings into credit lines. Cometh recently became one of the few French companies to secure a Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license, a regulatory milestone that lets it bridge DeFi and regulated markets. How it works in practice: a crypto-native borrower might lock ether or bitcoin into a lending protocol such as Aave, or supply USDC or liquidity on platforms like Morpho and Uniswap, then borrow stablecoins or fiat against that collateral. The appeal is speed and simplicity — loans backed by crypto can be executed in seconds or minutes on some platforms — and fewer of the paperwork hurdles that accompany private bank lending (credit checks, tax returns, days of processing). That said, DeFi borrowing has trade-offs. Traditional Lombard loans let borrowers tap value from stocks, bonds or portfolios while avoiding capital gains tax and keeping dividends. DeFi loans can be permissionless and anonymous on some platforms, but they carry volatility and counterparty risks: if a collateral token plunges, automated smart contracts can trigger rapid liquidation. For the ultra-rich cautious about complexity, firms like Cometh provide the operational know-how to structure lines of credit safely. Cometh is also experimenting with the reverse idea — bringing tradable securities into DeFi frameworks. Using ISIN-based tokenization, the firm is exploring how shares, bonds and derivatives could be wrapped into dedicated private-debt products so investors with conventional securities accounts can access tokenized credit solutions. “It’s really a kind of ‘tradfi-cation’ of DeFi,” de Tychey explained, describing efforts to let clients use Tesla shares or other ISIN-coded assets in structured, regulated funds that interface with blockchain lending strategies. Bottom line: as crypto wealth grows, so does demand for safer, regulated plumbing that turns illiquid digital holdings into convenient borrowing power. Whether it’s a yacht refit, Cannes red carpet or a ski-week cash buffer, DeFi — tempered by regulatory backing and specialist firms — is becoming a mainstream option for funding the high-life without forcing asset sales. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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