Aaim / How it works

Borrow against it. Keep it.

Pledged-asset lending is an old, conservative idea. The wealthy have borrowed against their portfolios for a century. Aaim simply makes it work for the assets ordinary people actually hold today. You pledge an asset as security, your own institution lends against it, and the asset stays exactly where it is. No selling. No surprises.

Pledge/plej/ · verb
To offer an asset as security for a loan while keeping ownership of it. Your institution gets the assurance it needs to lend; you keep the asset, its upside, and its place at your custodian. When the loan is repaid, the pledge simply lifts. Nothing is ever taken from you.
§ 1
The idea

Selling is the expensive way to get cash.

When you sell an asset to raise money, you give up its future, you may trigger taxes, and you have to buy back in later, usually higher. Pledging avoids all three. You borrow against the asset instead of selling it, so your money keeps working in two places at once: still invested, and now liquid. It’s the quiet move that wealth managers have used forever. Aaim brings it to the assets you actually own (equity, crypto, private shares, funds) through the institution you already use.

§ 2
The steps

Five steps. You stay put for every one.

1
You connect your accounts.Introduce Aaim to wherever your wealth lives: your brokerage, your crypto custodian, your equity platform. Read-only. Nothing moves, and Aaim can’t trade or withdraw.
you
2
Aaim values what you can pledge.Each holding is verified and priced against a conservative schedule, producing a capacity: the amount your assets could responsibly support.
aaim
3
You pledge what you choose.You pick which assets to offer as security and approve it. A simple three-way agreement (you, your custodian, your institution) records the pledge. The asset never leaves your name.
you
4
Your institution opens the line.Your own institution advances a line of credit against the pledged assets and sets the rate and terms. Aaim never lends and never touches the money.
your institution
5
You draw, repay, and release.Draw what you need, when you need it. Repay on your schedule. When the balance clears, the pledge lifts automatically and your assets are entirely unencumbered again.
you
§ 3
A worked example

What it looks like with real numbers.

Suppose you hold $400,000 of vested company stock you don’t want to sell. Here’s how pledging turns it into spending power without touching the shares.

Illustrative · vested equity pledgeindicative only
Vested company stock you already holdheld at your broker$400,000
Conservative advance rate65% loan-to-value× 65%
Line your institution could open$260,000
Shares sold to get thereno taxable event$0
Upside you keepstill invested100%
Figures are illustrative. Your actual capacity, rate, and terms are set by your lender based on its underwriting and current market values. Borrowing against assets carries risk, including a possible required repayment or sale of collateral if values fall.
§ 4
Plain answers

The questions everyone actually asks.

No. Your assets stay at your own custodian, registered in your name, the entire time. Pledging records that they’re backing a loan. It doesn’t move them, sell them, or hand them to anyone. When you repay, the pledge simply lifts.

It’s related but more conservative. A pledged-asset line uses your assets as security with an institution that you choose, at advance rates set deliberately low. There’s no day-trading engine pushing you to the edge, just a line of credit backed by what you already own, monitored carefully.

Aaim is the infrastructure in the middle. We verify and value your holdings, record the pledge correctly, and monitor it, so your institution can say yes. Aaim never lends, never funds, never holds your money, and never takes custody of your assets. Your institution is the lender; we’re the rails.

The plain answer: if the pledged assets fall a lot in value, your lender may ask you to repay some of the line or add collateral, and in a severe case some assets could be sold to cover it. That’s why advance rates start conservative and the line is monitored daily. You should borrow well inside your capacity, not at its edge.

Vested equity and RSUs, public stocks and funds, cryptocurrency at major custodians, private company shares, REIT interests, and fund/LP positions. The Reference Model figures out exactly how each one can be valued and secured.


Put a number
on it.

Connect one account, read-only, and see the capacity your assets could support in about five minutes, with nothing pledged and nothing moved.

Indicative figures, not an offer of credit. Your lender sets the terms, makes the credit decision, and underwrites the line.