Crypto Lending

Delivered January 9th, 2021. Contributors: Joseph N. and

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Cryptocurrency: Nexo, Celsius

In the attached spreadsheet, Columns C & D are detailed comparative data points describing the storage, security, insurance, customer perceptions, and legitimacy of Nexo.io and Celsius Network., respectively.
Helpful FindingsNexo.io is headquartered at London, England, United Kingdom.
The company was founded by Antoni Trenchev and Kosta Kantchev.
Nexo.io assets are protected and insured under BitGo, which carries $100 million in insurance protection via a “syndicate of underwriters through Lloyd's of London.”
Celsius Network is also headquartered at London, England, United Kingdom. The company was founded by Alex Mashinsky and S. Daniel Leon.
More details on each company are included in the attached spreadsheet, Columns C & D.

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Cryptocurrency: Crypto.com, BlockFi

Details regarding cryptocurrency platforms — Crypto.com and BlockFi are included in the attached spreadsheet, Columns E & F, respectively. The details uncovered focus on various aspects of these companies, including how they store digital assets, whether they offer insurance, consumer sentiment, etc.
Helpful FindingsCrypto.com is headquartered at Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Its founders are Kris Marszalek and Gary Or.
Crypto.com insures its assets and has secured a "$100 million direct insurance policy led by Arch Underwriting at Lloyd's Syndicate 2012.”
BlockFi was founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, and is headquartered at Jersey City, New Jersey, United States.
Some BlockFi partners include “NRG eSports, DeFi Alliance, Elevated Returns, and Poolin.”
More details on each company are included in the attached spreadsheet, Columns E & F.

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Cryptocurrency: YouHodler, AnchorUSD, My Constant

 Columns G, H, & I, of the attached spreadsheet, have been filled out with competitive information on Youhodler, AnchorUSD, and MyConstant, respectively.
Helpful FindingsYouhodler was founded by Viacheslav Taran and Ilya Volkov. Its digital assets are custodied by Ledger Vault, a provider of cutting edge “digital asset management solutions and $150 million pooled crime insurance.”
AnchorUSD stores its assets using an AnchorCoin wallet in pooled custodial accounts operated by the Trustee, i.e., Prime Trust LLC. Customers are also advised to use strong passwords and manage their login credentials to curb unauthorized access to their AnchorUSD accounts.
MyConstant was founded by Duy Huynh and is headquartered at Redlands, California, United States. The company insures its customer deposits, which can be invested in Flex, a secured lending pool and protected by a $130,000,000 insurance policy by Prime Trust, an accredited U.S. custodian.
More details on each company are included in the attached spreadsheet, Columns G, H, & I, rows 2 – 10.

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Cryptocurrency: Other Players, Part 1

 Nebeus is another competitor in the cryptocurrency with a savings account offering an APY of 8.25%. The company details have been included in Column J, of the attached spreadsheet.
Helpful FindingsNebeus is headquartered at London, England, United Kingdom.
The crypto savings account company was founded by Konstantin Zaripov, its current managing director
 and Sergey Romanovskiy, its current director & CTO.
Nebeus does not keep customer deposits and it all goes to a “custodian with insurance and industrial-strength protections.”
Unfortunately, the insurance covers deposits over €5,000, while those under are held with Nebeus and are uninsured.
Research MethodologyTo identify the additional cryptocurrency competitor, your research team reviewed several block chain and financial technology reports and magazines published by Crypto Testers, Bit Compare, and The College Investor. These reports included lists of the best crypto savings accounts, including their APYs. A review of these lists identified Nebeus as among the few crypto savings accounts offering the highest APY. More details on this player are included in the attached spreadsheet, Column J.

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Cryptocurrency: Other Players, Part 2

Hodlnaut is another additional player in cryptocurrency offering a 6.2% APY on Bitcoin and 6.7% on Ethereum. Hodlnaut was arrived at as a suitable competitor based on its products and services, which compare to those offered by the other competitors like Nexo.io, BlockFI, etc. More details are included in the attached spreadsheet, Column K.
Helpful FindingsHodlnaut is headquartered at Singapore, Central Region, Singapore.
It was founded by Juntao Zhu, its current CEO
 and Simon Lee, its current CTO.
Hodlnaut stores crypto using Cold Wallets. Customer deposits are received onto multi-signature wallets and stored on wallets secured with BitGo.
The platform runs on a “secure cloud infrastructure on AWS and traffic is encrypted with SSL encryption." The platform also encourages users to use two-factor authentication.
Research MethodologyTo identify the additional cryptocurrency competitor, your research team reviewed several blockchain and financial technology reports and magazines published by Crypto Testers, Bit Compare, and The College Investor. These reports included lists of the best crypto savings accounts, including their APYs. A review of these lists identified Hodlnaut as among the few crypto savings accounts offering the highest APY. More details on this player are included in the attached spreadsheet, Column K.