APX Lending's New Model Aims to End Predatory Crypto Liquidations

TORONTO, ON – August 18, 2026 – For anyone who has borrowed against their Bitcoin, the greatest fear isn't just the market's notorious volatility; it's the catastrophic loss that can follow. A sudden price drop can trigger a liquidation event, where a lender sells off a borrower's collateral, often in its entirety and with hefty fees attached. Today, a Canadian company announced a move that could fundamentally change that painful dynamic.

APX Lending, which holds the distinction of being Canada's first regulated digital-asset credit infrastructure company, has launched its "90/85 Standard." It's a new liquidation model that does away with punitive fees and full-scale collateral sales, signaling a potential paradigm shift in the crypto lending industry from a lender-centric model to one that prioritizes the borrower.

Redefining the Liquidation Event

In the high-stakes world of crypto-backed loans, the term "liquidation" often spells disaster. Many platforms, both past and present, are structured to sell most or all of a borrower's collateral once a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio crosses a certain threshold. This is often compounded by liquidation fees, typically ranging from 1% to 5%, which lenders frame as a risk management tool but which borrowers experience as salt in a wound. The failures of now-defunct giants like Celsius and BlockFi are stark reminders of how such models can vaporize customer assets during market downturns.

APX Lending's 90/85 Standard proposes a radically different approach:

• 80% LTV: The system begins sending warnings, giving the borrower a heads-up without a mandatory margin call.
• 90% LTV: This triggers a partial liquidation—the key innovation here. Instead of selling everything, the system acts with surgical precision.
• 85% LTV: The system sells just enough collateral to bring the loan back to a healthier 85% LTV and then stops.
• 0% Fee: APX has completely eliminated liquidation fees.

"Borrowers choose to borrow against Bitcoin precisely because they don't want to sell it," said Andrei Poliakov, Founder and CEO of APX Lending, in the company's announcement. "Liquidation exists to protect the loan. It shouldn't sell more Bitcoin than necessary, and it shouldn't be a profit centre for lenders."

The numbers are telling. According to the company's own example, a borrower with a $90,000 loan against $100,000 of Bitcoin would face very different outcomes in a downturn. Under a typical model with a 5% liquidation fee, a price drop could result in over $94,000 of their Bitcoin being sold, leaving them with just over $5,000 of their original collateral. Under the 90/85 Standard, only about $33,333 of collateral would be sold. The borrower would be left with a smaller loan and nearly $67,000 of their Bitcoin intact—retaining almost 13 times more of their asset.

The Power of Regulated Innovation

While the 90/85 Standard is a compelling product feature, the story behind it lies in the company's foundation. APX Lending's claim to be a "regulated" entity isn't just marketing jargon. In April 2025, the company received groundbreaking exemptive relief from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), a first-of-its-kind approval for a crypto-backed lending company in Canada. This, combined with its registration as a Money Service Business with FINTRAC in Canada and FinCEN in the U.S., places the firm under a level of scrutiny that is still rare in the digital asset space.

This regulatory framework is not a constraint but an enabler. It forces a focus on consumer protection and operational transparency that builds trust. For instance, APX holds all collateral in segregated, insured cold storage with custody provider BitGo and does not engage in rehypothecation—the practice of lending out customer assets that has been a source of catastrophic failure at other firms. Borrowers are even given on-chain visibility to their own segregated collateral.

This commitment to a regulated framework comes from the top. CEO Andrei Poliakov previously co-founded the crypto exchange Coinberry, which was successfully acquired by WonderFi, and has a history of working constructively with Canadian regulators. This background suggests a long-term strategy built on compliance and stability, rather than the regulatory arbitrage that characterized the industry's early, wilder days.

Deconstructing the Economics of Trust

How can a lender afford to give up a lucrative revenue stream like liquidation fees? The answer reveals a deeper strategic calculation. By eliminating these fees and implementing partial liquidations, APX is making a bet that a borrower-friendly model is also a more profitable one in the long run.

First, the company's revenue is primarily derived from the interest paid on its loans, a classic lending model. Second, APX is diversifying its income through its Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform, which allows other companies to offer crypto-backed loans powered by APX's infrastructure. A recent partnership with the Canadian crypto platform Netcoins is a prime example of this B2B strategy in action. This approach shifts the business focus from profiting off borrower misfortune to profiting from borrower success and platform adoption.

This model is supported by a robust financial backbone, including a $20 million accordion credit facility. Such institutional support suggests that sophisticated capital sees the viability of a more sustainable and transparent lending practice. By making liquidation less painful, APX may actually reduce the rate of total defaults, as borrowers are not completely wiped out by a single market event and have a path to recovery. This fosters loyalty and encourages greater loan volume over time, creating a virtuous cycle where trust leads to growth.

"We built the 90/85 Standard around a simple principle: sell only what is necessary," Poliakov stated. "Every satoshi that does not need to be sold stays with the borrower."

This philosophy represents a significant maturation for the crypto-financial ecosystem. It moves away from a zero-sum game, where a lender's gain is a borrower's loss, toward a model where the lender's success is aligned with the preservation of its clients' assets. As borrowers become more sophisticated and demand safer, more transparent financial products, APX Lending's new standard may not just be a competitive advantage—it may become the new table stakes for the entire industry.