Frequently Asked Questions

Buy Borrow Die is a three-step approach: (1) Buy Bitcoin and hold it long-term, (2) Borrow cash against it as collateral instead of selling, (3) Pass it to heirs at death. Because borrowing is not a taxable event, you access liquidity without triggering capital gains tax. The loan is eventually settled from the estate — your heirs inherit the Bitcoin and repay the debt.

You pledge your Bitcoin as collateral with a lender and receive cash — euros, dollars, or stablecoins — in return. You keep ownership of your Bitcoin; the lender holds it as security. Once you repay principal plus interest, your Bitcoin is returned. The amount you can borrow depends on the Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio the lender allows.

LTV is your outstanding loan divided by the current value of your Bitcoin collateral. At 50% LTV, a $100,000 Bitcoin stack backs a $50,000 loan. LTV rises automatically if the Bitcoin price falls, since the same debt is now secured by less collateral. Most lenders trigger a margin call around 70% LTV and liquidate around 80–85%. Keeping LTV low is the primary way to protect against forced liquidation.

In most jurisdictions, no. A loan is not a sale — you have not disposed of your Bitcoin, so no capital gain is realised. The cash you receive is debt, not income, and is therefore not taxable. However, if your collateral is ever liquidated by the lender, that forced sale is treated as a disposal and does trigger a taxable event. Always consult a local tax adviser, as rules differ by country.

Liquidation is when the lender automatically sells a portion of your Bitcoin collateral to bring your LTV back within safe limits. It is triggered when Bitcoin's price falls enough to push your LTV to a critical threshold — typically around 80–85%. The sale happens without your consent and is a taxable disposal. This is the main risk of the strategy: a sudden price crash can force a sale at the worst possible moment.

A margin call is a warning from the lender that your LTV has risen to a danger level — usually around 70%. You have a limited window (often 24–48 hours) to either deposit more Bitcoin as collateral or repay part of the loan to lower your LTV. If you do not act, the lender proceeds to liquidation. Keeping a buffer of liquid assets specifically for margin calls is an important risk management tool.

At a Bitcoin price of $79,995, a 1 BTC stack generates a sustainable annual draw of roughly $13,731 — indefinitely, without ever selling. Use the calculator to enter your own stack size, LTV, and interest rate.

Sustainability depends on Bitcoin's price growth outpacing your interest rate. If Bitcoin appreciates at 15% per year and your loan costs 7%, the collateral base grows faster than the debt, so LTV falls over time and you can continue borrowing indefinitely. If growth is slower than the interest rate, debt eventually overtakes the collateral value and the strategy breaks down.

A term loan has a fixed maturity — say, 12 months — after which you must repay principal and interest in full (usually by taking a new loan). A perpetual or revolving loan has no fixed end date; interest accrues and you draw or repay on your own schedule. The calculator models the term-loan rollover strategy using a 25% LTV cap, because during the refinancing window you briefly hold two overlapping loans, so keeping each one at 25% keeps your combined exposure below the typical 50% liquidation threshold.

Selling Bitcoin is a taxable disposal — you pay capital gains tax on the appreciation, permanently exit your position, and lose all future upside. Borrowing avoids the tax event, keeps your Bitcoin exposure intact, and lets you reclaim your full stack once you repay. The trade-off is the interest cost. Borrowing wins economically whenever Bitcoin's expected appreciation exceeds the loan's interest rate.

For example: to generate $36,000/year from 1 BTC sustainably, Bitcoin needs to reach $209,729. At a Bitcoin price of $79,995 that is 162% away. The calculator lets you set your own income target, stack size, and LTV to find your personal freedom price.

The key risks are: (1) Liquidation from a sudden Bitcoin price drop, (2) Platform risk — lender insolvency or operational failure, (3) Rising interest rates making the strategy uneconomical, (4) Regulatory changes affecting crypto lending or the tax treatment of loans. Mitigate by using conservative LTV ratios (25–50%), diversifying across lenders, keeping a cash buffer for margin calls, and monitoring your LTV regularly.