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Celsius vs BlockFi vs YouHodler vs Nexo 鈿栵笍 Crypto Lending Platform Comparison - YouTube
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Many of you have requested a comparison between
Celsius, BlockFi, YouHodler, and Nexo which
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are all platforms that allow you to earn interest
on your cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
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As requested, in this video, we will be comparing
the business model of individual platforms,
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the return rates, the credibility and track
record, usability of their apps and we will
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also talk about some of the risks that you
should consider when depositing your crypto
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on one of these platforms.
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We will also round up the comparison with
our independent rating of the just-mentioned
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categories for every platform.
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So keep watching until the end to find out
how we scored individual platforms.
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If you are new to this channel and your goal
is to become a more educated P2P investor,
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consider subscribing and hit the like button
to see more content like this in the future.
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So let's first give you a brief intro to every
platform before we dive deeper into the comparison.
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Celsius Network is the fastest-growing crypto
lending platform in the world, which was founded
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in 2017 by Alex Mashinsky.
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Currently, there are over 650,000 users using
Celsius Network to take a crypto loan or earn
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interest on their cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
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In total, Celsius manages more than $17 B
worth of assets.
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The platform offers its services worldwide,
however, they are currently not issuing loans
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in the United States due to local regulations.
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BlockFi is the largest competitor to Celsius
Network.
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The US-based company has trading and lending
licenses in various US states.
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If you are looking for a wealth-management
app for your crypto assets BlockFi is certainly
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worth considering.
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The platform offers crypto-backed loans in
47 US states and their crypto interest account
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is available worldwide with exception of sanctioned
countries.
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YouHodler is likely the most legitimate crypto
lending platform in Europe.
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The company is registered in Cyprus, with
a dedicated branch in Switzerland.
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YouHodler offers very competitive rates on
your crypto assets as well as several other
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features which you won't find on any other
platforms.
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The platform is available in many countries
with the exception of Germany and the USA.
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So if you reside in the states, you won't
be able to use YouHodler's services.
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Nexo is another European platform that offers
crypto enthusiasts the option to earn interest
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not only on their coins but also fiat deposits.
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Nexo is in fact, one of only two, to us known,
crypto lending platforms that offer interest
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on fiat deposits.
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The platform offers its services worldwide,
with exception of Bulgaria and Estonia.
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So now that you have a brief overview of every
platform, let's talk about how they make money
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in the first place.
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So Celsius makes money from the interest they
charge to the borrowers which are either retail
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borrowers or institutions, they also make
money from their CEL token which is a utility
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token that you can use to increase your rewards
on Celsius Network.
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Another income stream is the rehypothecation
which means that Celsius uses the collateral
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from the borrowers and deploys it in order
to generate additional income.
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BlockFi is also making money through the interest
that is being charged to borrowers.
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In addition to that, the platform also charges
a 2% origination fee for anyone who wants
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to take a loan.
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Another income stream is BlockFi's exchange
feature.
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The platform makes money from the spread when
exchanging currencies.
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BlockFi also charges withdrawal fees after
your one free withdrawal per month.
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And the platform is also planning to launch
a BlockFi credit card which will generate
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another income stream.
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YouHodler is also making money from the interest
charged to borrowers.
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In addition to that, there is a small withdrawal
fee and fees for additional services such
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as the Multi HODL tool, which is a feature
that lets you leverage your crypto assets
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in exchange for potential returns.
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Like all the other platforms, Nexo also takes
a cut from the interest that is being paid
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by the borrowers.
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Nexo also makes profits with their Nexo token.
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That's at least our interpretation from Nexo's
business model as the platform doesn't have
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a dedicated section about this on their website.
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Now let's talk about the returns.
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If you are watching this video, you want to
make money by depositing your coins on one
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of the platforms right?
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Before we compare the rates, there are a few
things that you should consider though.
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Every platform has certain limits and terms
when it comes to offering interest on your
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coins.
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So for example, Celsius Network changes the
rates every week to reflect the current market
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situation.
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Also, you are only able to earn higher rates
if you decide to receive the interest in Celsius's
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own utility token.
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The higher reward rates are also not available
for US citizens.
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If you would not want to pay out your rewards
in the CEL token, you can currently expect
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to receive 5.05% on your Ethereum, 3.51% on
your Bitcoin, and 10% interest on your deposits
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in Binance USD or USDC which is the stablecoin
from Coinbase.
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On BlockFi, the rate for your Ethereum and
Bitcoin deposits depends on the number of
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your assets.
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The more bitcoin or ethereum you deposit,
the less interest you will receive.
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The interest rate for Ethereum ranges between
0.5% and 4.5%, the rate for bitcoin is between
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0.5% and 5%, and the rate for the two stablecoins
is currently at 9% per year.
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What's worth mentioning is that if you want
to save some fees, and bring more stability
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into your crypto interest account, you can
also deposit the Binance USD coin for which
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you will not need to pay the hefty gas fee,
as the currency runs on the Binance Smart
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Chain with way lower fees in comparison to
stablecoins that run on the ethereum network.
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The Binance USD coin is currently only supported
on Celsius Network and BlockFi.
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YouHodler offers currently the most competitive
rates for your USDC coins without the need
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to stake the platform's own utility tokens.
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You can earn 12% interest on your USDC holdings
and the platform offers 5.5% on Ethereum and
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4.8% on your bitcoin deposits.
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Nexo is another platform that offers higher
rewards for those who want to receive the
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interest in the native NEXO tokens instead
of the deposited currency.
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The platform offers 6% for non-Nexo token
holders on bitcoin and ethereum and 10% on
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the USDC coin.
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What you should keep in mind is that platforms
tend to adjust the rates from time to time,
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so you can't really predict the real return
from your deposits.
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Also, keep in mind that by depositing your
crypto, the value of the currency might decrease
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which will make it hard for you to liquidate
your assets if that's something you would
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otherwise consider.
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So now, that you are aware of the returns
let's briefly review the credibility of the
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platforms and their track record.
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Celsius Network is likely the most legitimate
platform in this space.
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The founder Alex Mashinsky is a well-known
entrepreneur.
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Before launching the Celsius network, he has
co-founded three startups worth more than
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$1 Billion each.
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On the Celsius App, you are also able to monitor
the progress and review some of the statistics.
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As we are recording this video, there are
over 650,000 users and the platform is managing
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$17 billion worth of assets.
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Alone in the last 12 months, Celsius has paid
out more than $367 M worth of rewards.
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While we haven't managed to get answers to
our questions, the CEO does hold a weekly
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AMA session where he is addressing the most
frequently asked questions, which is something
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rather rare in this space.
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The platform is not transparent when it comes
to sharing its financial reports, but with
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a little bit of digging, you can get your
hands on the financial report for 2020, where
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you will find out that the platform is not
profitable yet.
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BlockFi is co-founded by Zac Prince and Flori
Marquez.
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The CEO Zac Prince has more experience within
the business development space rather than
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the fintech space.
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BlockFi is also financed by many institutional
investors and the platform is mainly targeting
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the US market.
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While you can use the crypto interest account
worldwide, the crypto loans are available
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only for U.S citizens as BlockFi has the required
lending licenses only in the U.S.
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If you want to check BlockFi's statistics
you won't be happy as there are none available.
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Some external sources suggest that there are
more than 125,000 registered users, however,
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we were not able to verify any of those claims
directly with BlockFi.
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YouHodler is founded by Ilya Volkov, who brings
previous experience from the fintech space
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in Russia.
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According to our research, it seems like he
has relocated to Switzerland to launch his
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crypto lending platform YouHodler in 2017.
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I know that YouHodler has been praised by
some of you in the comments on previous videos,
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unfortunately, the platform isn't publicly
revealing any financial reports, nor statistics
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about their user base or assets under YouHodler's
management.
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This is something you should certainly consider
when using YouHodler.
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Moving on to Nexo.
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Nexo claims to manage $12 B worth of assets
from more than 1.5M of users.
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If this is correct, it would mean that Nexo
is twice as big in terms of user base as Celsius
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with a much lower average deposit amount as
compared to the users on the Celsius Network.
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We are not excited about Nexo's reporting
standards as we have pointed out together
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with other red flags in our previous video.
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Also, at the beginning of January, Nexo had
only $4B under its management from 1 M users,
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now five months later, the platform claims
to manage $12B from 1.5M users, which we think
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is a bit of a steep growth even if we consider
the hype in the crypto space.
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So what about Nexo's management?
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Nexo is co-founded by Antoni Trenchev and
Kosta Kantchev.
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Based on our research, Antoni was a Bulgarian
politician with experience in the fashion
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retail industry.
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On his LinkedIn profile, he describes Nexo
as the leading regulated financial institution
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for digital assets.
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I would be really interested by whom Nexo
is regulated, as the company doesn't have
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a lending license in Estonia, where they are
a legal entity Nexo Services OU is based.
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During our research, we found connections
to Bulgaria, Estonia, the UK, and the Cayman
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Islands but their legal address is nowhere
to be found on the website.
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The second co-founder of Nexo is Kosta Kantchev
who also founded Credissimo, a Bulgarian payday
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loan company that apparently is financing
Nexo.
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According to our recent research, the executive
board doesn't even include Antoli, but only
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Kosta and two other gentlemen, from which
one is William Arthur Vesilind who was previously
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the executive director at TrustBuddy, a Swedish
p2p lending platform, which is known for the
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"misuse of clients money".
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Also when reviewing some of Nexo's comments
from the CEO in the media, he is often only
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promoting crypto and predicting prices but
lacks any deeper insights into the crypto
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lending space or how Nexo is operating.
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But that鈥檚 just our impression from his
Bloomberg talks.
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Also, Nexo is the only platform that offers
interest on fiat.
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According to our knowledge, you cannot offer
interest on fiat deposits unless you have
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a banking license which Nexo certainly does
not have.
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Even though we are not lawyers, we struggle
to understand the legal setup under which
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Nexo is offering its services.
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So now that we have reviewed some of the track
records of the four mentioned platforms, let's
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briefly go over the usability of every crypto
lending site.
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Celsius has started as a native mobile app.
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The app is well developed and it comes with
various security features such as the biometric
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scan, HODL mode, and 2FA.
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Right in the dashboard, you are able to see
how many assets you are holding and what are
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the currently offered rates.
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You can transfer and withdraw supported coins
but there is no exchange, so if you don't
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deposit your cryptos from another wallet,
you can purchase them directly through the
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app.
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Note, however, that there might be fees for
credit card purchases or SEPA transfers.
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Celsius Network supports currently 40 digital
assets.
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BlockiFi makes a less developed impression.
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The app is very simple and so is the desktop
version of the platform.
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BlockFi supports currently only 10 digital
currencies.
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The platform also offers a dedicated exchange
so you can even trade them.
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We don't recommend this feature that much
as the exchange rates are not the best.
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While the crypto loans on BlockFi are only
available to U.S. citizens, the platform is
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also working on a Bitcoin rewards credit card
which will be competing with the credit card
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from Crypto.com
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YouHodler offers some of the most advanced
services amongst the crypto lending platforms.
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Currently, the platform supports 18 digital
currencies on which you are able to earn interest.
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YouHodler allows you to exchange between various
currencies or deposit fiat via bank wire or
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other supported payment services.
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The minimum deposit amounts are very low,
so you don't need to transfer hundreds of
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Euros or Dollars to test the platform.
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The minimum deposit is around 50 EUR or USD
worth of cryptocurrency.
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As YouHodler doesn鈥檛 have a banking license,
you can only earn interest on your crypto
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assets.
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Apart from earning interest on your deposits
or exchanging cryptos, YouHodler also offers
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you the option to borrow fiat money in exchange
for collateral.
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The platform currently supports only loans
in us dollars or euros.
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YouHodler is also one of the platforms with
flexible loan terms and a maximum LTV of 90%.
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Apart from those services, YouHodler also
offers two leveraging tools such as Turbocharged
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loans and Multi HODL, which are suitable for
more opportunistic investors.
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As the functionality of those features goes
beyond this video, you can learn how it works
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in our dedicated youhodler review on p2pempire.
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Nexo's usability is similar to Celsius Network.
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Nexo is also using its utility tokens to offer
better rates on loans, higher interests on
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crypto and fiat deposits, or more free withdrawals
per month.
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Also if you decide to stake your coins or
fiat, meaning you lock your assets for a specified
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term, you can get a higher interest rate.
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Like BlockFi, Nexo also offers you to buy,
or exchange crypto if you want to hold your
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assets in various currencies.
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Now you have a really solid idea of what every
crypto lending platform is offering.
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What you should consider though, is that as
soon as you deposit your crypto on any platform,
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you are not owning your private keys anymore
and your assets may get compromised either
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by third parties or by the platform itself.
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It's like depositing your crypto on the exchange
- if you don't own the keys, the coin isn't
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technically yours anymore.
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Platforms like Celsius and BlockFi are very
clear about the fact that you give up your
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ownership of the assets as long as you hold
them in the platform's wallet.
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The only way to protect your crypto is to
store it on a dedicated hardware wallet like
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this one from Trezor.
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That's the best way to keep your cryptos safe.
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The downside of this strategy is that you
will only benefit from the increased value
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of your coin but not the interest on your
deposits, which is something you can do on
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one of the crypto lending platforms.
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But, as with any investment, it always comes
down to the risk and return and your risk
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profile.
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So based on our in-depth comparison, let's
have a look at our independent ratings of
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every category for every platform.
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Note, that we have assigned the ratings based
on our own research.
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One represents the lowest rating while five
stands for the highest rating.
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Within the business model category, we have
also considered whether the platform is publicly
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sharing how they make money and whether this
setup is sustainable.
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So here is the result of our comparison.
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Celsius got the most points, followed by YouHodler.
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BlockFi and Nexo got the least points.
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Note that this rating is designed to fit the
comparison between those four platforms.
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It doesn't include all of the features that
you should be looking at when evaluating various
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platforms and there is also no guarantee of
any specific returns.
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In the worst-case scenario, you might lose
your deposits.
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If you want to get deeper insights, I highly
suggest reading the full in-depth reviews
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on p2pempire.com before depositing any cryptos
to one of those platforms.
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You should particularly pay good attention
to the red flag section of every review to
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be fully aware of the risks that you are taking
when depositing your cryptos for potential
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rewards.
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So now, you might be wondering which crypto
lending platform is the best?
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We believe that the choice for most crypto
holders will be between YouHodler and Celsius
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Network.
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Both platforms are not officially regulated
as there's still a lack of regulation, however,
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both are legally well off and by reading the
terms and conditions you will realize that
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the platforms are transparent and open about
how they operate at least to some extent.
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The choice between Celsius and YouHodler comes
down to the features that you believe you
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will be using.
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If you speculate on the long-term value growth
of the CEL token, Celsius will be a better
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choice, if you want to take bigger risks and
leverage your cryptos, YouHodler offers a
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more suitable option and if you want to only
receive interest on your USD stablecoins,
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both platforms offer pretty much the same
return so it really comes down to which ecosystem
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you prefer.
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If you are new to crypto-lending and you need
some additional support, YouHodler will be
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likely the better fit, as so far, we weren鈥檛
lucky to get any response from Celsius when
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testing their support.
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By using the links in the description you
can even get yourself some additional bonus
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when depositing cryptos on one of the mentioned
platforms.
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You can also use P2PEmpire.com to learn more
about individual investment platforms.
[945]
If you want to support our project you can
invite us for a coffee, which enables us to
[949]
make even better videos and support your investment
journey in the long run.
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Now, let me know in the comments, which one
of those four platforms is your favorite.
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I am curious to hear about your experience
with various crypto-lending sites.
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So, that's it from me today.
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Thanks for watching and I will catch you in
the next video.
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