Lever CEO Jullian Duran joins the Clear Crypto Podcast to explore how using Bitcoin as collateral, rather than cashing out, can create a new path to financial independence.
What if you could use your Bitcoin (BTC) to buy a house, fund a child’s education or invest in a new business, without ever selling it?
In the latest episode of the Clear Crypto Podcast, the CEO of Lever, Jullian Duran, makes the case for a new kind of financial firepower; using Bitcoin not to cash out, but to unlock opportunity.
The power of Bitcoin
Duran, who previously worked at Bridgewater and Marathon Digital, said his mission is rooted in personal experience and in the unrealized potential of Bitcoin-rich users who find themselves asset-rich but liquidity-poor.
“The whole idea with Lever is, how can you use your Bitcoin to have a footprint in something that’s unrelated to crypto, not to undermine crypto, but simply to earn dollars from another source.”
The idea behind Lever, according to Duran, is that Bitcoin is turned into “pristine collateral” that opens doors in the real world, especially in industries and communities that have been historically underinvested.
“That way you’re building equity, you’re earning cash flow, you’re not selling your Bitcoin, and you’re doing all of these things through different parts of the broader financial ecosystem.”
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“The idea is to have your foot in a lot of different places at once,” Duran said. “There’s a run on Bitcoin? You’re protected. There’s a run on real-world industries? You’re protected.”
Real-world use cases
Unlike speculative DeFi protocols or meme tokens, Lever is designed to generate returns from what Duran calls “boring industries,” otherwise known as sectors like utilities, housing and infrastructure. These sectors, he argues, offer dollar-based yields that are uncorrelated with crypto markets.
And for many Bitcoin OGs, that flexibility is more than financial. It’s personal.
“I was at a Bitcoin billionaires party in Puerto Rico… an OG looked at this mansion and said, ‘I could afford this, but I’d have to sell Bitcoin,’” Duran recalled. “That scene replays in my head. You have here somebody who is a multi-millionaire, but who really can’t use that to just live life ambitiously.”
According to Duran, that’s what he’s seeking to solve. “Firepower, it’s an exercise of freedom,” he said.
“To the extent that you can use your Bitcoin to acquire fiat without selling it, it allows you to buy better houses, send your kids to better schools, travel… be free, in the way that the currency was intended to enable freedom.”
To hear the complete conversation on the Clear Crypto Podcast, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!
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