# How to Borrow

### **Depositing Collateral**

1. Connect your wallet
2. Click “Borrow aeUSDC” or “Deposit”
3. Enter the amount of sBTC you wish to deposit - note that you must first bridge BTC into Stacks via the [sBTC bridge](https://app.stacks.co/)
4. Confirm the transaction in your wallet

Your collateral remains securely locked in the protocol and is never lent out to other users.

### **Understanding Borrow Capacity**

Your Borrow Capacity is the maximum amount of stablecoins you can borrow based on your collateral. It is calculated based on:

* Maximum Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio set by governance
* Total value of your deposited BTC collateral
  * This is represented as “Collateral Value” in your account overview

> Example: If you deposit $10,000 worth of BTC and the maximum LTV is 75%, your maximum borrowing capacity would be $7,500 in stablecoins.

Your Available to Borrow is the amount of stablecoins you can currently borrow. It is calculated based on:

* Your Borrow Capacity
* Your current Borrowed Amount
* Protocol liquidity

> Example 1: If your Borrow Capacity is $7,500 and you have a Borrowed Amount of $2,500, your Available to Borrow would be $5,000.

> Example 2: If your Borrow Capacity is $7,500 and you have a Borrowed Amount of $2,500 and there is only $3,000 free liquidity in the protocol, your Available to Borrow would be $3,000.

### **Borrowing**

After you have deposited collateral, you can borrow stablecoins.

1. Connect your wallet
2. Click “Borrow aeUSDC”
3. Enter the amount of aeUSDC you wish to borrow - the maximum amount will be indicated in the Borrow modal
4. Confirm the transaction in your wallet
