Spark allocates $210M for institutional loans backed by BTC with Anchorage Digital

Spark, the lending arm of the Sky ecosystem (the protocol formerly known as MakerDAO), has carved out a $210 million allocation for institutional loans collateralized by Bitcoin and custodied through Anchorage Digital. The partnership pairs DeFi’s capital efficiency with the kind of regulated infrastructure that makes institutional compliance teams sleep at night. Three institutional counterparties have already put the channel to work, borrowing $150 million in USDC against $222 million worth of BTC. That works out to a collateralization rate of roughly 148%, meaning borrowers are posting nearly $1.50 in Bitcoin for every dollar they take out. How the plumbing works The setup relies on Anchorage’s Atlas platform, which serves as the collateral agent in what amounts to a tri-party lending arrangement. It monitors loan-to-value ratios, processes payments, and handles margin calls and liquidations when collateral values dip too far. The key innovation is that borrowers don’t need to move their Bitcoin fully on-chain to access Spark’s liquidity pools. Instead, BTC sits in Anchorage’s regulated custody while Spark provides the stablecoin lending power. To sharpen the risk management lay...