Maybe they shy away now, but I remember reading that banks used to view them as valid collateral for loans. From a 2019 NYT article (open a new browser containe

Maybe they shy away now, but I remember reading that banks used to view them as valid collateral for loans. From a 2019 NYT article (open a new browser container): >They said some drivers were happy to use climbing medallion values as collateral to take out cash, and that those who sold their medallions at the height of the market made money. >The lenders said they believed medallion values would keep increasing, as they almost always had. No one, they said, could have predicted Uber and Lyft would emerge to undercut the business. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medallions-suicides.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medall...