Crypto lending platforms allow us to take out a loan usually in fiat money or stablecoins and back it up with cryptocurrency. The borrower of the loan has to put up an amount of cryptocurrency higher than the loan as collateral. Some of the platforms connect lenders with borrowers directly, while others act as lenders themselves. Crypto lending is an attractive investment opportunity to get your crypto assets working for you. Investing in a crypto loan platform can produce continuous passive income from your assets. Conversely, in the case that you need liquid funds, but do not want to part with your crypto assets, you can use them as collateral to get a loan in fiat money or stablecoins for additional investments in cryptocurrency while keeping your initial investment. Currently, there is a large market of multiple crypto lending platforms and in this article, we present some of the main ones to help you get acquainted with the possible choices.
CoinLoan
CoinLoan is an Estonian platform that is compliant with EU regulation. It is based on a P2P system and works with both fiat money, several cryptocurrencies, and stablecoins. Borrowers choose the loan amount, repayment term up to two years, and loan-to-value ratio or LTV (the ratio of the loan amount to collateral) up to 70%, depositing the preferable currency as collateral. The interest rate is dependent on the chosen LTV, with an LTV of 20% corresponding to an interest rate of 4.5%. The investing period is unlimited and investors who hold 2500 CLT can earn as much as 10.3% interest when depositing stablecoins or fiat money (EUR). If you do not hold the necessary amount of CLT the rate is 2% lower. The minimum investment is 100 EUR. Interest rates for lenders:ETH 6.4% TUSD 10.3% BTC 6.4%
BlockFi
BlockFi is a company based in New York. It offers to take up loans in USD by putting up collateral in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or PAXG. On BlockFi the interest rates are relative to LTV, with the lowest LTV 20% corresponding to a rate of 4.5%. This platform does not connect users directly, so investors do not need to worry about their funds not being put to use immediately.
For lenders, BlockFi offers to open an interest account with rates going up to 8.6% relative to the investment period. Furthermore, you can get your funds back at any moment as you are not bound by a contract. Interest rates for investors:
YouHodler
YouHodler is a fintech company working with fiat money, crypto, and stablecoins. Borrowers can use any of the top 20 coins as collateral. The company works with its own fiat-funds and guarantees that borrowers receive instant cash. YouHodler offers high LTV ratios going up to 90%, with LTV depending on the loan period – 90% for 30 days, 70% for 60 days, and 50% for 180 days. Additionally, you only need to repay your loan in full to get back your collateral. Otherwise, YouHodler will use part of your collateral for repayment and deposit the rest to your account. Investors can earn passive income by depositing their funds to YouHodler multicurrency wallet, so you can invest in more than one cryptocurrency. Interest rates for investors: ETH 4.5% LINK 6.2% TUSD 12%
Celsius
Celsius is a UK-based platform that offers loans in USD with several cryptocurrencies used as collateral. At the moment the annual percentage rate for a loan starts at a meager 1% when paid in cash or 0.7% when paid in Celsius tokens (CEL), with the highest percentage being 7.95%. The annual percentage is dependent on the LTV ratio at 25%, 33%, and 50%. The loan repayment period is fairly flexible from 3 to 36 months. For investors Celsius offers attractive rates for some of the biggest cryptocurrencies:ETH 7.06% or 9.65% in CEL TUSD 11.55% or 15.89% in CEL USDT 11.55% or 15.89% in CEL
Squilla Loans
Squilla Loans is another Estonian P2P platform. It is suitable for both lending and taking out loans in USDT with ETH and BTC used as collateral. The peculiar thing about Squilla Loans is the extent of flexibility, such as setting your own interest rates. The lowest possible rate that you can set is 6%, LTV is extremely adjustable, though going up only to 65%, and there is no minimum loan amount. The procedure of connecting lenders with borrowers is quite straightforward: the borrower creates a request with their own conditions stated and the lender has the choice to accept the request. Another advantage of Squilla Loans is low fees for both sides. At Squilla Loans regular security conditions are in place: invested funds are kept safe by overcollaterization and additionally with cold storage.
SALT Lending
SALT is a crypto lending US company registered in 2016, which was one of the first of its kind. Users taking out loans can use an array of different cryptocurrencies as collateral, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and many others. SALT offers flexible LTV ratios at 30% to 70% and an annual percentage rate from 5.95% to 11.95% relative to LTV. The minimum loan amount is higher than average sitting at 5000 USD and the period for repayment is 3 to 12 months. In contrast to its competitors, SALT functions exclusively as a lending platform and does not allow investors to earn interest by contributing to the company’s liquid funds. As for security, SALT offers cold storage and a multi-signature process.