Yachts and Cannes: How crypto millionaires fund their luxurious lifestyles with Bitcoin

A ultra-wealthy investor has an impressive property portfolio: a mountain house in Switzerland and a beach house in Miami, each worth around $10 million. However, what they truly want right now is a flexible credit line for a ski holiday in St. Moritz, airline tickets to the Cannes festival, and—most importantly—fresh funds to upgrade their luxury yacht. This is a real scenario faced by millions of ultra-wealthy individuals who derive most of their wealth from crypto.

According to the Henley & Partners survey in 2025, the global crypto millionaire population reached 241,700, a dramatic 40% increase from the previous year. They hold billions of dollars in digital assets but face unique challenges: traditional banks are almost unwilling to touch their crypto holdings, and selling assets to fund a luxury lifestyle means facing significant capital gains taxes. The solution? They turn to decentralized finance (DeFi).

From Bitcoin to luxury vacations: Why ultra-wealthy investors are turning to DeFi

“For people already familiar with crypto, they can easily take their ether, deposit it into lending platforms like Aave, and withdraw stablecoins,” explains Jerome de Tychey, founder of Cometh, a DeFi facilitator that recently received a Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license in France—one of the very few companies to reach this regulatory milestone.

But for those who accumulate wealth solely through buying crypto and waiting for its value to explode, the DeFi process feels like a confusing tech maze. “It’s still quite complicated for ordinary people,” says de Tychey. “That’s why we help family offices and other wealthy clients navigate these tools. They have significant amounts of crypto and want a credit line without having to sell their assets.”

Behind the scenes, Cometh helps clients convert Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins into financing instruments. Its strategy is similar to traditional Lombard loans—where assets (stocks, bonds, real estate) are used as collateral to obtain short-term, flexible credit. The difference now is that the collateral assets are crypto. Clients might add Bitcoin to Aave, USDC to Morpho, or even provide liquidity with ETH versus BTC on Uniswap.

The result? Ready funds to upgrade their yacht, travel to international festivals, or renovate properties—without needing to sell their ever-appreciating crypto investments.

Decentralized loans vs traditional banking: Which is faster?

Speed is the main advantage of DeFi over traditional banking. Loans secured by Bitcoin can be processed in as little as 30 seconds on some platforms. In contrast, traditional Lombard loans at private banks can take up to 7 days for approval.

Additionally, DeFi offers extra benefits: no need for in-depth credit checks or strict tax audits. Many DeFi protocols operate permissionless, meaning code is law and borrower identity is irrelevant. This provides a level of anonymity rarely found in traditional banking.

However, this speed comes at a price. Crypto loans depend on the volatility of the underlying assets. If Bitcoin or Ethereum prices suddenly drop, smart contracts can automatically liquidate the borrower’s collateral—relying on tight margins to protect lenders. This risk is much higher compared to traditional credit secured by real estate or blue-chip stocks.

Furthermore, there is counterparty risk: protocols can be hacked or fail, leading to loss of funds. Borrowers need to understand these risks before placing their valuable assets into complex smart contracts.

Security tokenization: Cometh introduces ‘tradfi-kasi’ DeFi for traditional assets

Cometh’s latest initiative goes beyond pure crypto. With their MiCA license in hand, the company is developing ways to apply DeFi strategies to stocks, bonds, and derivatives—through tokenization based on International Securities Identification Numbers (ISIN).

Imagine an investor wanting to access credit using their Tesla shares as collateral. Instead of a traditional process that takes weeks, their assets would be stored in a dedicated wallet and represented through ISIN-based codes. This system opens up access to credit that is as fast and flexible as DeFi loans, but for traditional assets.

“This is a kind of ‘tradfi-kasi’ DeFi,” explains de Tychey. “We take powerful DeFi strategies and apply them to traditional securities—not in the usual way, but in a reverse manner. Anyone with a certificate holder account can now access structured financing this way.”

This hybrid approach marks a new evolution in fintech: no longer DeFi versus traditional finance, but convergence of both. For crypto millionaires seeking clever ways to fund their dream yachts while maintaining a continuously growing asset portfolio, the future looks very promising.

Real-time price data: Bitcoin at Rp78.46K, Ethereum at Rp2.40K (as of February 1, 2026)