Skip to content
Bitcoin-backed credit · In development

Capital without Compromise

Pogun is building Bitcoin-backed credit on fixed terms.
Non-custodial, no price-triggered liquidations, no pooled risk.
Direct agreements between lenders and borrowers.

Join the waitlist
How one loan works

One agreement. Four clear steps.

A lender sets the offer; a borrower accepts it before funds move or Bitcoin locks. The signed agreement then governs repayment or default.

From published terms to repayment or default.
  1. Lender

    Publish the terms

    Set the asset, rate, term, size, repayment, and default rules.

  2. Borrower

    Choose the offer

    Review every obligation before accepting or locking Bitcoin.

  3. Both

    Fund and lock

    The loan funds after acceptance. Price alone cannot liquidate it.

  4. Signed terms

    Follow the agreement

    Paid as agreed

    Repayment returns the same amount of Bitcoin to the borrower.

    Payment default

    The lender may claim under the signed rules.

Pogun Mirror · Coming soon

Bitcoin stays on Bitcoin.

Mirror is Pogun’s BitVM-based collateral system, designed to lock each loan’s Bitcoin in its own deposit on the Bitcoin network.

What happens to each deposit
Separate
One loan, one locked Bitcoin deposit.
Never reused
Not lent, pooled, or rehypothecated.
No price liquidation
Only signed payment terms trigger default.
Repaid
The borrower receives the same amount of Bitcoin.
Prototype test

Two paths tested on Bitcoin mainnet.

A collateral system must block a false withdrawal without trapping a valid one. This test exercised both paths.

False withdrawal
Blocked by one honest committee member.
Challenged valid withdrawal
Completed.

Prototype evidence, not a finished product. Bitcoin collateral is not live.

Inspect the public run
Estimated on-chain cost $38 vs $883.
Pogun · both tested paths
$38
BitVM2 · one published challenge
$883

Same BTC and fee assumptions; the tested workloads differ.

Test details and assumptions

BitVM2 (opens in a new tab) is a separate, published design for settling disputes on Bitcoin and is the reference here. Estimates assume $65,000/BTC and 1 sat/vB. Pogun includes both tested paths; BitVM2 includes one published challenge, so the workloads differ.

Confirmed footprint
36 transactions · 58,198 vB · 58,234 sat
Tested branches
False withdrawal blocked · challenged valid withdrawal completed
Mainnet record
4 August 2026 · blocks 960,975–961,010
Prototype setup
3 committee members · 5,000-sat deposit · test delays
Published reference
BitVM2 · one challenge · 1,358,889 vB

Inspect the Pogun run (opens in a new tab).

Founders

Meet the founders.

Omer Husain
Co-Founder & CEO

PhD in technopolitics, blockchain, and complex transformations; former ING Blockchain Center of Excellence; advised 50+ onchain startups.

Torben Poguntke
Co-Founder & CTO

A decade in functional safety and industrial control; built Pogun from inception.

Hans Lahe
Co-Founder & CPO

UCL space engineering graduate turned product leader; former IOG Bitcoin DeFi product lead and repeat founder.

Contributors

Alessandro, Andrew, Antonio, Briana, Carlos, James, Krisztian, Nick, Nikolaos, Oleksii, and Stanly—specialists across Bitcoin, BitVM, cryptography, engineering, and product.

Pogun · Waitlist

Join the waitlist.

Borrow, lend, or operate. We’ll write when we can offer access.

One email if we can offer access. No newsletter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What triggers default, and can terms change?

Only signed payment conditions trigger default. A price feed sizes collateral once at signing; no live price enters default. Active-loan changes can only favor the borrower, and closing a desk cannot change a funded loan.

Is Bitcoin collateral live, and what Bitcoin comes back?

Not yet. Mirror's dispute mechanism ran on mainnet, but Mirror remains a prototype. Repayment returns the same amount of Bitcoin; returning the original on-chain deposit currently requires operator participation from setup.

What did the mainnet test prove?

Two contested branches ran on Bitcoin mainnet: a false claim was blocked and a challenged valid claim completed. Together they used 58,198 vB, about 95.7% less than BitVM2's published 1,358,889-vB single challenge. BitVM2 is a separate design for settling disputed computation on Bitcoin. The workloads differ, and neither comparison nor test proves production readiness. Inspect the run (opens in a new tab).

What is a desk, and how does a loan start?

A desk is one lender's published template: assets, signing LTV, term interest, duration, repayment, and limits. Instant uses prefunded offers; Request needs lender approval. No borrower collateral locks before acceptance.

Can a lender exit before maturity?

Each loan mints a transferable bond token representing lender rights. Selling it changes the lender, not the borrower or terms. Trading support may arrive separately.

Who operates Mirror?

The design uses KYC-verified legal entities under agreement. One honest operator can block a fraudulent claim; a colluding set can delay a valid exit but cannot redirect it. Membership is fixed when an instance is created.