Surge lets Bitcoin holders open a stablecoin credit line against their BTC without transferring custody. Collateral is locked in a Taproot vault the user controls - Surge never holds the keys and BTC is never rehypothecated or moved into a warm wallet. Users can draw, repay, and top up their credit line on demand from the Surge Borrow App on iOS or Android. The construct is built on Schnorr threshold signatures and a Decentralized Collateral Network (DCN) of independent signer nodes, so liquidations are enforced trustlessly at the protocol level rather than by a centralized custodian. Liquidations use a Dutch auction mechanism to find fair market clearing prices and protect both borrowers and LPs. For the borrower, this means a real alternative to the custodial Bitcoin-backed lending products that have historically been the only option and that have lost user funds repeatedly over past cycles. For the ecosystem, it means a credible, non-custodial path for Bitcoin holders to access dollar liquidity in stablecoins, onchain, without ever leaving the Bitcoin trust model.
- DeFi Apps
- Borrowing and Lending
- Base
- No
- Android
- iOS
- Web
- APAC
- Europe
- LATAM
- Middle East and Africa
- North America
- United States
The first Bitcoin-native, non-custodial credit protocol enabling Bitcoiners to borrow stablecoins against their BTC without giving up custody and stablecoin holders to lend into the largest collateral pool in crypto.
Surge is a Bitcoin-native credit protocol that lets users borrow stablecoins against their Bitcoin without surrendering custody. BTC stays in user-controlled Taproot vaults the entire time - no rehypothecation, no warm wallets, no IOUs. Historically dominated by custodial CeFi platforms managing tens of billions in user BTC, Surge represents a structural break from how Bitcoin-backed lending has worked for the last decade.
The protocol operates across two layers. The application layer includes the Surge Borrow App (iOS and Android) for retail users and the Surge Earn Dashboard for liquidity providers. The infrastructure layer is an open protocol that any wallet, exchange, or fintech can integrate to offer Bitcoin-backed credit to their users. The Surge Foundation stewards the open-source protocol; the company builds and operates the apps and infrastructure on top.
Stablecoins sit at the center of the credit side: since Bitcoiners want stable, dollar-denominated credit - not exposure to other volatile assets - all lending markets are stablecoin-only by design. LPs deposit stablecoins into variable and fixed-rate markets and earn yield from origination fees and utilization-based interest, drawing on the largest, deepest asset in crypto.
Backed by critical Bitcoin security partners, Surge is non-custodial by construction, stablecoin-native by design, and built to be the credit primitive for Bitcoin at institutional scale.
Use Cases
Surge gives stablecoin holders a way to earn yield by providing liquidity to Bitcoin-backed credit markets. LPs deposit stablecoins into variable-rate or fixed-rate pools through the Surge Earn Dashboard and earn from utilization-based interest. Loans are over-collateralized by Bitcoin held in user-controlled Taproot vaults, with onchain liquidation enforced by the DCN signer network. The collateral side is the largest and most liquid asset in crypto, which materially changes the risk profile compared to lending against altcoin or LST collateral. There is no rehypothecation, no off-chain custodian risk, and no opaque counterparty stack. LPs can see live utilization, collateralization ratios, and pool composition directly from the dashboard. For institutional and treasury allocators looking for productive stablecoin strategies with clear collateral backing, Surge offers a credit market that is purpose-built around the highest-quality collateral in the asset class and structurally aligned with the stablecoin ecosystem.
Surge is an open protocol, not a closed app. Wallets, exchanges, neobanks, and fintechs serving Bitcoin holders can integrate Surge to offer their users non-custodial, stablecoin-denominated credit lines against BTC without building the Taproot vault, signer network, liquidation engine, or risk infrastructure themselves. For the integrating partner, this means launching a Bitcoin-backed credit product in weeks instead of years with no custodial liability, no rehypothecation exposure, and no balance sheet risk. End users keep their BTC in Taproot vaults they control. The integrating partner owns the customer relationship, the UX, and the distribution; Surge provides the credit primitive underneath. This is the same construct Surge uses in its own Borrow App, exposed as protocol-level rails for ecosystem members. The Surge Foundation stewards the open-source spec; the operating company supports integrations, liquidity routing, and white-label deployments. For members in the ecosystem, Surge is a credible path to offering Bitcoin-backed dollar credit to their users - built on Bitcoin's trust model and denominated in stablecoins end to end.
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