By Steve Burnett
Crypto lending is one of the main ways to earn passive income. If you have digital assets kept somewhere, you can lend them on a platform that lends to borrowers and earns interest on it. You can also use other crypto assets such as stablecoins as collateral for securing crypto loans.
If you have heard about crypto lending before and wonder what it is, this guide will help you understand it and how it works. You’ll also see the top three of such platforms that you can use to either lend or borrow using crypto assets.
How Does Crypto Lending Work?
Crypto lending platforms serve as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers. As a lender, you’ll deposit your assets into a lending account and the platform will hold it for an agreed length of time. The platform then uses the deposited assets to fund loans.
When borrowers take loans and repay with interest, lenders are also paid back their assets with interest. Interest rates vary from one platform to another for both lenders and borrowers. Once you register an account as a lender or borrower, you can start using the platform.
It is important to note that the crypto assets you deposit either as collateral or as assets you wish to lend are held in trust by the platform, and you don’t have access to them during the lockup period. This is how it works for centralized lending platforms.
However for decentralized lending protocols, you can simply connect your wallet to the protocol and borrow or lend as you wish. The system is controlled by a smart contract, so it is more automated and you have more control over the process. However we’re focusing on centralized lending platforms in this guide.
Also read:The Best Centralized Lending Platforms
Now that you know what crypto lending platforms are and how the process works let’s now look at the three of the best centralized ones.
Nexo
Nexo is a traditional lending platform turned crypto lending platform. Like a traditional bank, the platform allows lenders to earn interest on the crypto assets they lend to borrowers. It provides quick crypto loans and pays lenders daily compounding interest.
You can get as low as 0% APY on loans on this insured, licensed, and regulated platform. You have over 45 crypto assets to borrow from, and funds are securely held by big crypto custody solution providers such as BitGo. To increase your interest earnings, you must hold Nexo tokens.
Also unfortunately, the Nexo Earn program isn’t available to US residents because of local laws which forbid such. In addition to being a crypto lending platform, Nexo is also currently a crypto exchange and provides a range of other services as well.
Salt
Salt is another reputable lending platform in the crypto lending industry. Created in 2016, Salt doesn’t just provide crypto lending services, it also allows users to track their crypto portfolio any time. All users of this platform enjoy comprehensive insurance cover, and funds are securely held on recognized crypto custody platforms.
You can easily monitor your loans with a loan health indicator provided by the platform. Salt also uses multisig cold storage for saving users’ assets, making it one of the most secured platforms to use for lending. As a borrower, you can earn interest on your loans by repaying with Stackwise.
In addition to lending, Salt also offers portfolio management for digital assets. The downsides are that it doesn’t have an interest-earning account option, and also sets its minimum loan amount at $1,000, which may be too high for some potential borrowers.
YouHodler
YouHodler is a prominent name in the crypto lending business. It is also a crypto exchange that offers margin trading and interest accounts. The platform offers a wide variety of investment options, and you can access it through a mobile app or online.
It has a low minimum amount of $100, which means more people can afford to borrow from it. YouHodler is ideal for both absolute beginners and experienced lenders and borrowers, so you should check it out if you are looking for such a platform.
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