G'day mate from sunny QLD!
I just recently discovered the Defi platforms that allow you to earn interest in your crypto by just HODL or having some crypto. Yes, I know... kinda late. But, I have been doing some research and apparently the best for me at this moment (in Australia) are Celsius and Nexo.
Nexo: Nexo exchange feature is disabled, and I was told by support that they will re-enable at some point but didn't say when. However, the provide 4% APY by default ( and +2% APY if you get the APY in their token). So technically a 6%APY by default is not a bad deal. (Also apparently payouts are daily so I believe the compound effect is going to be faster)
Celsius: Celsius has a promo that if you create an account and hold the crypto there for a month you earn some cash in BTC. Rates and reward system are very similar to Nexo's ones.
Strategy: I think I will try Nexo next month, then move all the BTC in the account to Celsius. Why? Well, why not!? I earn some BTC here and there just because I hold some crypto. I am currently HODL ADA in a stake pool (so 4-5% APY vs 6% APY in Nexo. Still good though), but I'll wait until the Hard Fork Combinator event to happen on September 12 (so they include the smart contracts) and use some of the ADA to get the sweet interests in the platforms above. Hopefully it will work well.
To be completely transparent, I have to say that so far I was using Coinbase but after doing some research it was not worth to HODL anything with them. On my region (AU), they only provide 4 staking options to earn interest (DAI with 2%, Algorand 4%, Tezos 4.6% and Cosmos 5%). When I checked the other exchanges their interest rates are kind of similar for all the cryptos (even though you could get more with their native token) but with stablecoins is another story: 7-8% normally and 9-10% with their native token... Not sure if Coinbase has a native token or they are planning to release one soon though... but these exchanges mentioned above (nexo/celsius) even though they are centralized (CEX) they give me confidence (or at least so far) that I'll get some good interest. The Decentralized Exchanges Uniswap, sushiswap, pancakeswap, etc are also good for getting some good APY interests but because they are are decentralized, that means that they are not backed by anyone but the users... so if the DEX goes down, then you could loose a lot...
In any case, for any HODLers out there, what are you guys using to earn interest/APY on your crypto?
Oh and by the way, here's the Nexo link if you want to join (If you deposit 100$ you get an extra 10$): bit.ly/iggy-nexo