Bitcoin crash forced Riot to pledge 1,825 BTC, but this huge rally may now free up 1,500 BTC

Riot Platforms entered 2026 with 3,977 BTC pledged against a $200 million Coinbase loan. Bitcoin then fell far enough that the agreement required another 1,825 BTC, taking the collateral balance to 5,802 in February.Those coins still belonged to Riot and sat in a segregated custody account under Coinbase's lien. Riot couldn't deploy them elsewhere while they protected the loan, so the selloff restricted more of its treasury at the same time its core asset was weak.Now that mechanism is reversing. Bitcoin's three-day rally carried it close to $78,000, its highest price in three months. If Riot's latest disclosed balance of 5,821 pledged BTC hasn't moved, the collateral is worth about $454 million, and the loan-to-value ratio has fallen to roughly 44.1%.That level is below the release line in two of the three schedules written into Riot's loan. CryptoSlate calculates that the rally could place between 1,159 BTC and 1,547 BTC above the amount needed to reset the facility, depending on which schedule applies. The strictest schedule allows no release near $78,000.Riot hasn't disclosed a current release request, and its filings don't establish which schedule Coinbase is using. The calcul...