The world of cryptocurrency is ever-growing with innovations that favor investment. Calculating risks and developing your own crypto strategy is vital to getting the most out of your investments.
Crypto Lending: What it is and why you should lend your crypto assets.
If you are familiar with cryptocurrency, you might have come across the term HODL or Hold ON for Dear Life. Crypto aficionados use this humorous term whenever the market arrives at a standstill.
In such a situation, not trading your hard-earned cryptos is a good idea. By setting up a crypto interest account, you can earn interest on the number of cryptos you deposit. This makes staking and lending your crypto assets very profitable, especially if you are a long-term investor looking to profit from crypto interest.
Crypto lending via crypto lending platforms involves lending your cryptos to a borrower and receiving a fraction of their earnings as a reward. In other words, you lend your assets to an individual or a company who invests them as they see fit. They set their interest rates and pay a fixed sum depending on the amount you invest. Most of the leading crypto lending platforms credit the interest to your crypto wallet every week. You are free to withdraw the interest whenever you want.
The biggest benefits of crypto lending as compared to mining and staking are that you do not need dedicated hardware and that you can withdraw your tokens any time you wish. This crypto strategy works well with other investments to help you earn interest without actually trading your cryptos.
Now that you know everything about crypto lending, the next step is choosing a crypto lending platform: Hodlnaut or Celsius. Celsius and Hodlnaut bonuses allow you to rest easy knowing that your crypto assets will multiply without risking any losses to your digital assets.
Both platforms come with their set of pros and cons, so choosing the right one will depend on your requirements and the coins that you deal in.
Celsius Network
Well-loved by crypto veterans and newcomers alike, Celsius Network is one of the best crypto lending platforms that you need to keep an eye on.
It has many features to help newcomers ease into a crypto investment while advanced analysis tools for professionals. Although Hodlnaut is catching up to Celsius Network at a fast pace, Celsius Network is still the world's leading cryptocurrency lending platform.
The CEL token
Celsius Network has its loyalty token called the CEL token which offers rewards in the form of four-tiered lists. Celsius sets these tiers on the percentage of CEL present in your portfolio.
The tiered system is especially useful if you have structured your portfolio around the CEL token as it increases your earnings.
The highest available reward status is the Platinum tier which offers bonus rewards of 25%, while the Gold and Silver tiers offer interest rates of 15% and 10%. If you are on the fence about purchasing a new token and have around 5% of your portfolio consisting of CEL currency, you can even get a Bronze tier and earn a 5% bonus discount. The bonus reward and loan interest discount make it hard to not recommend having a certain fraction of your portfolio in CEL.
CEL tokens suffer from a critical drawback. CEL tokens cannot be purchased in the US. Another problem is there are also no provisions for making CEL available to US residents. In other words, the tier list and CET perks are unavailable if you are living in the US.
Celpay: Paypal, but for cryptos!
CelPay allows you to transfer your crypto funds to another account using a mobile app. It gives a 2% usage reward if you use CEL tokens. What makes CelPay even better is that you can send cryptos to other accounts if they do not own a Celpay account.
Celpay simplifies the process of dealing with long cryptographic addresses and also gets rid of the network fees. This makes digital asset exchange slick and simple.
Celsius app and the handy CeFi services
Unlike Hodlnaut, Celsius features an accessible website on top of an iOS and Android app. Celsius Network has the best crypto lending app due to its simple design with the proper tools to ensure you earn interest on your digital assets. Creating a crypto interest account is simp[e and the CeFi services form the core of Celsius Network’s ecosystem to exchange digital assets.
CelSwap
A well-appreciated feature of Celsius is that it allows its users to trade digital assets without any transaction fees. This makes CelSwapping between Bitcoins and Ethereum or using any other currency to purchase them a profitable way to trade cryptos without worrying about the high transaction rates charged by the crypto exchange platforms.
So, even beginners can get the lay of the crypto land by testing the waters and focusing on building up their portfolio by using CelSwap's digital exchange features.
Although all exchange orders will be market orders, meaning you cannot set limit orders, CelSwap proves to be an excellent way to do some tax-loss harvesting if you play your cards right.
A number of supported currencies
Another advantage that Celsius has over Hodlnault is that it supports 56 cryptocurrencies. You can rest assured knowing that it is only a matter of time before your favorite crypto makes it to the list.
Some of the most popular cryptos supported by Celsius include:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Polkadot (DOT)
- Polygon (MATIC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Dash (DASH)
- … and many, many more.
Celsius also supports gold tokens such as PAXG and you can choose to invest in stablecoins.
Interest Rates on Celsius Network
While the APY reward rates for normal accounts aren't that high, investors in the platinum tier can make full use of the reward system to earn a lot of interest in their cryptos. The highest rates for accredited investors at the platinum tier are:
- Bitcoin (BTC): 6.3%
- Litecoin (LTC): 1.74%
- Ethereum (ETH): 5.83%
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH): 1.24%
- Pax Gold (PAXG): 5.36%
- USD Coin (USDC): 6.86%
Celsius offers yield on other digital currencies and the number of supported currencies is always on the rise.
Celsius Pro
You can make use of Celsius Pro, which allows you to consult accountants on your investments and seek advice on where you should put your assets.
Buying cryptos on Celsius Network
Celsius beats Hodlnaut in the category of ease of trading cryptos as it allows you to buy cryptocurrencies from your bank account. Celsius network's streamlined way of exchanging digital currency and acquiring cryptocurrency loans makes it easy to recommend creating a Celsius account to claim your footing in the growing market of cryptos.
Celsius provides more options such as using your credit and debit cards to buy cryptos and using instant crypto credit lines to transfer funds and borrow against your own cryptos to get crypto loans at 1% APR.
Security
Celsius Network has a world-class security level on top of possessing several security measures to keep your crypto safe. The F2A authorization using the Google authenticator verification process adds a layer of security to your logins and the "HODL-mode" disables all withdrawals from your wallet in case of a security breach. Celsius utilizes an array of crypto suites to ensure proper data protection.
Celsius Network's world-class security level, together with the trust that Celsius has built over the years makes it more secure and reliable than Holdnaut.
Hodlnaut
Hodlnaut is the new kid in the block of the crypto lending market. Founded in Singapore in April 2019, it has had a tremendous following in the last couple of years.
One of the key features of Hodlnaut is that it offers one of the highest rates on deposits. This, combined with the very low fees and a simple UX, makes Hodlnaut a worthy platform for newcomers willing to invest their surplus assets.
The process of creating a Hodlnaut account is straightforward and you can finish setting it up within a matter of minutes. Once you undergo KYC account verification, you can start trading to your heart’s content.
Supported Cryptos
Hodlnaut supports 8 cryptos including:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Dai (DAI)
- USD Coin (USDC)
- Tether (USDT)
- Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
- TerraUSD (USDT)
- Terra (Luna)
Hodlnaut's interest rates
Hodlnaut's APY offerings can go up to a staggering 0% and the lock-in period is non-existent to make it easy for crypto investors to withdraw assets at their leisure. Hodlnaut users can earn interest by making use of the crypto portfolio management tools, and the recently announced cryptocurrencies USDT and Luna have no caps on their interest rates.
Hodlnaut offers crypto loans to institutional or commercial creditors.
The highest APY rewards from each coin are:
- Bitcoin (BTC): 0%
- Ethereum (ETH): 0%
- Dai (DAI): 0%
- USD Coin (USDC):0%
- Tether (USDT): 0%
- Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC): 0%
- TerraUSD (USDT): 0%
- Terra (Luna): 1%
No Minimum Deposit
Another benefit of investing in Hodlnaut is that since there is no minimum deposit limit, you are free to build your portfolio at your leisure. So, even if you don’t own a lot of tokens in your portfolio, you can still give Hodlnaut a shot and earn some passive income on the side.
Hodlnaut withdrawal fees and limits
The withdrawal limit is 100 bitcoins per day and Hodlnaut pays the rewards every week. The short investment period ensures that even small-time investors can earn a steady passive income. Hodlnaut offers one free withdrawal every month. This makes withdrawal fees negligible.
Is Hodlnaut safe?
This is the million-dollar question that is asked every time a new crypto platform pops up. Although Hodlnaut is new, especially when compared to its competitors Celsius Network and Nexo, the absence of hidden fees, along with one of the highest interest rates is why newcomers and crypto miners invest in Hodlnaut.
Over the years, Hodlnaut has solidified its hold on the crypto scene as a trustworthy cryptocurrency investment platform and the growth in the number of crypto holders that invest in this platform speaks volumes about its legitimacy.
Security
Hodlnaut claims to use industry-leading security protocols along with SSL encryption to lower the losses caused by hacking. Hodlnaut opts for cold storage instead of hot storage, further reducing the security risks.
Drawbacks
A drawback to using Hodlnaut for investing your digital assets is that it only offers interest on a few cryptocurrencies. But in Hodlnaut’s defense, the platform allows you to trade cryptos at a minimal cost thanks to the token swap feature.
Another con of Hodlnaut is the lack of fiat currency deposits. This means that you will need to buy cryptos on another platform using fiat currency and then transfer the assets to your Hodlnaut wallet. In other words, you will have to buy the cryptos on an exchange platform which may incur some transaction fees.
Compare with Celsius Network and Hodlnaut alternatives
Similar Savings Accounts
| Platform | Interest Rates (APY) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nexo | Up to 7% on BTC Up to 12% on Stablecoins ... 36 more coins | |
| OKX | Up to 5% on BTC Up to 0.08% on Stablecoins ... 196 more coins | |
| YouHodler | Up to 3.05% on BTC Up to 8.33% on Stablecoins ... 56 more coins |
Celsius Network vs Hodlnaut: Verdict
You can if you:
- Live outside the US and either already has or are planning to have a large fraction of your portfolio in CEL.
- Wish to spread your investments over a diverse range of coins.
- Desire to put your assets in a reliable platform.
You can if you want:
- The highest interest rates without worrying too much about a tiered system to make the most out of your investments.
- Responsive customer support.
- A crypto investment platform to invest your cryptos in as a crypto miner.