Crypto.com | BlockFi | Celsius
Earn up to 13.86% on your $
Earn interest on Bitcoin, Ethereum, or $-table coins
Long term holders often wondering where to park their crypto assets end up with confused ideas. Which platform is the best to earn interest?
While my passion lies within DeFi (short for Decentralized Finance), I recognize that CeFi (short for Centralized Finance) is a better starting point for beginners. We will have plenty of DeFi content in the next issues, but CeFi within the crypto space is still much more efficient than traditional finance (aka banking).
You can compare rates of both CeFi providers and DeFi applications on loanscan.io.
CeFi is custodial. That means you don’t own the private keys, and if anything were to happen to the company behind or the fund they are responsible for, you would bear the consequences. That being said, it has been reliable for quite some time now, while offering a wide range of personal finance features and linked pre-paid cards to shop anywhere.
Using the most popular service providers, I gather below their main features in the hope that it helps you decide where to start.
Crypto.com | Essential
- Deposit options: 5/5
(Layer 1 blockchains, ERC20 tokens, Wrapped tokens such as Pax Gold, Stable coins) - Interest Payout: weekly
- Payout in: same as deposit only
- Payout bonus: yes*
*Boosted interests via their CRO token (up to an additional 2% yield in CRO) - Mobile app: yes
- Credit card capability: yes
- Trading capability: yes
- Loan capability: yes
- Other: assets must be locked for a specified period of time in order to earn decent interest. The longer it is locked, the higher rate one gets. Options are flexible (withdraw anytime, lowest rate), 1 month, or 3 months.
BlockFi | Essential
- Deposit options: 3/5
(Bitcoin/Ethereum, Pax Gold, Stable coins) - Interest Payout: monthly
Note: All the funds deposited or earned on BlockFi are automatically yielding interests - Payout in: any
Note: This is a unique and very useful feature: You can choose the crypto currency to earn no matter which one is held in the interest account - Payout bonus: NO
- Mobile app: YES
- Credit card capability: coming
- Trading capability: YES
- Loan capability: YES
- Other: The desktop interface is simple and easy to use.
Celsius | Essential
- Deposit options: 5/5
(Layer 1 blockchains, ERC20 tokens, Wrapped tokens such as Pax Gold, Stable coins) - Interest Payout: weekly
- Payout in: same as deposit only*
Note: non-US users have the option to earn in CEL instead - Payout bonus: YES*
*Boosted interests via their CEL token
Note: for the best rates, one must be holding 10% of its portfolio in CEL (granting a diamond status) - Mobile app: YES
- Credit card capability: NO
- Trading capability: NO
- Loan capability: YES
- Other: Highest interest rates on stable coins.
Some take away
Setting ourselves within the simple context of parking and earning interest on crypto holdings, let’s draw a few conclusions that should help you decide which direction to go.
Due to the weekly payout, it is easier to compound within the crypto.com app. You receive timely notifications as soon as they arrive, and you are free to swap, sell, or keep them.
However, in order to get a good rate you need to lockup the relevant asset for 3 months. If you are a long term holder, this should not be a problem but it remains important to be aware of this, as those assets can not be used for emergency funds.
BlockFi interests are not compounded as often, however they are automatically compounded on a monthly basis. I like this approach very much as there is very little care you need to provide with such account. Also, the assets are not locked and can be withdrawn anytime.
If you’re looking for earning and diversification at the same time, Crypto.com is probably the better choice.
But if you’re looking for long term compounded earning, BlockFi is by far the easiest option. The interface is simple and straightforward. You have the bank account linking capability, so you can convert in USD anytime or make back and forth with your bank account quite easily.
Both applications average a 5% interest rate so far, plus 2% CRO in the case of crypto.com (if you have the necessary CRO staked for this bonus).
Personally, I use both. While Crypto.com provides me with wide crypto exposure and shopping capabilities (using their pre-paid card), BlockFi allows me to choose which crypto to accumulate while compounding automatically. For example, I have Ethereum holdings yielding in Bitcoin every month which in turns yields on its own. You can additionally request a loan quite easily too, a topic which we will expand on as we gear toward DeFi guidance.
Celsius not great for US users
Celsius offers great rates on your crypto. However for the US, it comes with an important lack of features. You can’t receive interest in CEL, you can’t use the Celsius pay functionality, and whether you are in the US or somewhere else, you can’t trade within the app. The login is not best as you have to enter your full credential every time you go back in the mobile app. Withdrawal address has to be confirmed 24 hours before, which is fine for security, but you can only have one per crypto asset. Not very convenient if you ask me.
There may be some crypto tokens you can deposit on Celsius and not on the other CeFi providers. In that case, it makes sense to complement your yielding strategy with a Celsius portfolio, for example. Or you might want to take advantage of the high rates on stable coins. Whatever the reason is, picking the best of each provider is always on the table. It’s a bit more time to manage, but less risk overall as the responsibility is split accordingly.
