Total CeFi loan books declined 6% QoQ to $23.3 billion in Q1 2026, marking the first industry-wide contraction since Q3 2024 as crypto market weakness drove borrower deleveraging.

Tether remained the dominant lender with a $15.8 billion loan book and 68% market share, followed by Maple Finance (9%) and Nexo (8%).

Market share shifted toward Maple, Nexo, and Coinbase, which gained 1.0, 0.5, and 0.7 percentage points respectively during the quarter.

Coinbase and Maple expanded their loan books by roughly 6% QoQ, while Nexo recorded modest growth of nearly 1%, making them the only major lenders to grow during Q1.

Loan books contracted across the rest of the sector, led by Galaxy Digital (-21%) and Ledn (-19%), while Tether's loan book declined 7%.

Written by CQ Research