Best Bitcoin Interest Account

Bitcoin Interest accounts are making interest-bearing accounts popular again. For a long time banks used to offer their customers passive income through a high-yield on their cash held at the bank. However, nowadays this is no longer the case. With the emergence of Bitcoin as a new form of money, many financial services providers are copying, some of the attributes, which used to make traditional banks popular.
There is a tidal wave of innovation ongoing where these new fintech companies are trying to win over the hearts and minds of customers again with attractive offerings and a customer-friendly attitude.
In this guide, we are going to address how to earn interest with Bitcoin & have a look at some of the different providers of Bitcoin interest accounts.
We are also going to explore what to look for when trying to find the “Best Bitcoin Interest Account” out there.
Last but not least, we’re also going to discuss the potential risks involved and briefly explain the difference between centralized and decentralized offerings.
What is a Bitcoin interest account?
You simply deposit your Bitcoin and start earning interest. Non-bank lenders, Celsius.network, and BlockFi for example are offering high yield interest rates on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The idea is simple, they will use your Bitcoin funds to provide over-collateralized loans to different parties in the cryptocurrency space and with the profits, they’ll be able to provide you with an interest yield for your idle Bitcoin.
Lately, we are seeing a host of other players in the cryptocurrency space jumping on the bandwagon. From Bitcoin wallets to Cryptocurrency exchanges, there is a war going on to capture the customer’s trust. This brings up an important topic! Can we trust these types of offerings? Before we address the trust question, let us first differentiate custodial vs non-custodial bitcoin interest schemes.
Custodial vs Non-Custodial
We should note that there is also a wave of projects in the decentralized finance space (DEFI), which offer similar services, but in a decentralized or non-custodial manner, through the use of smart contracts. Non-custodial means that you are still in control of your own private keys. There is no custodian or middleman who acts as a guardian for your Bitcoin. There’s only you as a user interacting with a blockchain smart contract. In this article, we will mainly focus on the custodial versions, without ignoring the importance of pure DEFI. However, we feel this merits a separate article to discuss it properly. Whether you choose to go with non-custodial or custodial is up to you. The main difference is that with a non-custodial service the main risk lies with potential bugs in the smart contract. For custodial services, it is more about whether you trust the third party as a custodian for your funds.
Can you trust a Bitcoin Interest account? Is it safe to earn interest with Bitcoin?
First of all, let’s be clear, Bitcoin interest accounts are not for you if you are extremely risk-averse.
In the end, to obtain the interest benefits, you are handing over your funds into the custody of a third-party provider. You can compare this to holding your currency in a traditional bank. The faith of your funds is then directly linked to the faith of that third-party provider and just as some banks have failed in the past, it’s quite possible that some of these non-bank lenders will fail. On the other hand, it is equally true that some companies will probably survive and prosper, as will their customers. We also should take into account that we cannot compare the level of deposit insurance you can find with a traditional bank, to the insurance you can find with these fintech companies.
So, in the end, it all comes down to your own risk-reward profile as an investor. Being able to earn 6% on an annual basis on Bitcoin is definitely attractive. Especially if you consider that you might already be using custodial services for holding your cryptocurrency anyway. Example: Coinbase, Binance, and so on.
If you do, however, use Bitcoin Interest accounts to earn interest on your Bitcoin holdings, you should understand the risks involved.
So, first of all, you should definitely have a good understanding of the different methods of holding your crypto holdings. At the same time, comparing different Bitcoin interest providers will force us to ask the right questions when comparing them when it comes to the way they are constructed as a business, project. We’ve written some of these due diligence questions down in a separate article for those interested.
Now let’s get into the comparison of some of the different Bitcoin Interest Account offers providers making. Note that we have focused our efforts on the most prominent players in the market for now and strictly Bitcoin. We’ll keep adding to the list as we encounter interesting offers.
Comparing Bicoin Interest Accounts 2020
In the table below, we’ve put some of the best Bitcoin interest offers we could find.
Crypto | APY | Provider |
---|---|---|
BTC | 6.20% | Celsius |
BTC | 6.00% | BlockFi |
BTC | 5.00% | Nexo.io |
BTC | 4.50% | Bitwala.com |
BTC | 4.50% | www.blockchain.com |
Celsius Network, led by Alex Mashinsky, is offering a very respectable 6.20 % of compounded interest on their Bitcoin Interest accounts.
- No minimum deposit amount
- No lockup period
- No hidden fees at all
BlockFi is offering a cool 6% on your idle Bitcoin held into their Bitcoin interest accounts.
- No minimum deposit amount
- No lockup period
- Get your interest paid out in the cryptocurrency of your choice
Nexo is offering a cool 5% on your idle Bitcoin held into their Bitcoin interest accounts.
- No minimum deposit amount
- No fees
- No lockup period
- Daily interest payout
Bitwala
Bitwala is a popular blockchain banking service located in Europe (Germany). Bitwala is offering a traditional banking account alongside a crypto wallet. The Bitcoin Interest account they provide offers 3.95% annually. Do note that they are offering their Bitcoin Interest Account services based on a partnership with Celsius Network.
- 10€ minimum deposit amount
- No lockup period
Blockchain.com
Blockchain.com has been providing cryptocurrency services since 2011. Today, they are offering a comprehensive suite of services, including wallet, cryptocurrency exchange, and now also a Bitcoin Interest account and lending services. Blockchain.com offers up to 4.5% interest annually on Bitcoin deposits.
- 300$ USD minimum deposit amount
- Different lockup times
Conclusion - What is the Best Bitcoin Interest account in 2020?
The truth is that all these offers are quite compelling if you compare that with the interest offered at traditional banks. So, as we’ve discussed before it really depends on which one of these third parties you trust more.
Today, we have not found any reason to believe that any of these entities will have any financial difficulties any time soon, however, if you’d choose to use these services you need to be aware that this risk is there, and your deposit could at risk. But again, the same could be said for any custodial service out there. Due your own due diligence!
We’ll keep this article updated as new service come along and existing offers change their policies.