I'm about as bullish as a person can possibly be about bitcoin. I think it is a real possibility that the future will made up of the have's, and the have not's. Of course; I mean those who have bitcoin and those who do not. Naturally bitcoin is a very risky and volatile asset and you need to do your own research before investing heavily. There is a chance that it could fail, and eventually become worthless. But there is also a higher chance than most would believe that bitcoin will become the world reserve currency. If that scenario comes to fruition; those with even only a fraction of bitcoin will be considered to be people who got early and were incredibly smart. And those who have been able to accumulate a full bitcoin, or even multiple bitcoins; they will be the elite of the elite. We are talking beyond Lamborghini rich.
That is why the name of the game is to accumulate as much bitcoin as you possibly can. And that is why I have been going all-out using bitcoin lending services to maximize my own holdings. Continuing to dollar-cost-average into bitcoin; while being able to accumulate even more by lending out your BTC is a deadly 1-2 punch, that will put you ahead of most people in the world. And so that has put me on the journey to find the best place to lend out my bitcoin; and I must admit it has been an ongoing journey for me personally. I have had many personal favorite services to use, that quite honestly became less good as time passed on. It could be that they had their own token introduced, or BTC reward rates were severely dropped, free withdrawals were removed, or just having lengthy withdrawals in general. While there have been many services that I have enjoyed over time, such as BlockFi, Celsius, Nexo and few others. I have yet to find the perfect service that fits my needs and wants.
And with that in mind I am constantly surveying and researching new services that come to the market. One of those services that recently come onto my radar was Ledn, and up and coming service, but one that is not well-known yet. Today I will be sharing with you my thoughts about Ledn after a few months of using the service. The things that I did like about it, the things I didn't and finally my final recommendation.
Please note that I am an American using this service, and sometimes reward rates can vary by the country that you reside in. So please keep that in mind.
This whole journey for me of starting to use Ledn began a few months ago. Up until then, BlockFi had been my lending service of choice. I liked that many of the biggest names in the space were investors; the rates had been great and also stable. There was a trading system on the site, and the withdrawal process wasn't too horrible. But then rumors came about that shook my confidence in the service. This was then followed by multiple months of rates dropping quite significantly; especially if you were like me and lending more than 1 bitcoin on the service. Eventually I was forced to change my strategy to maximize my own earnings. This is when I found Ledn.
To be quite honest, I didn't know what to expect. My first image of Ledn had come from downloading the app, and the app was quite rough. If there was a word for something less than barebones; I would use that word. Basically, the app only allows you to see a QR code for either your BTC or USDC deposit address. You weren't allowed to do anything else on the app. This meant no checking your account balance, or beginning a withdrawal or anything. It was at this moment that I nearly gave up on the service.
But I decided to check out the service on my laptop to give it one last chance. Thankfully the website was much better. The appearance was above-average, all the features you would hope for were available as well. I was willing to over-look the awfulness of the app, because I have been in the bitcoin lending scene for quite a while now. I can remember when the BlockFi and Nexo were equally horrible. Those apps have been improving over time, and so I was willing to give the same benefit-of-the-doubt to Ledn.
The thing about Ledn that initially got me attracted to the service was how great the rewards rates are. At the time of writing you can earn a 6.10% rate for lending your BTC. You can also earn an 11% interest for lending out your USDC. While I have other bitcoin at Celsius; the BTC that was coming to Ledn was from BlockFi. And these rates looked quite amazing in contrast. Going from 5% to 6.10% on my BTC. Also having USDC go from 8.6% to 11.0%. Quite a large difference. While I believe that as the price of bitcoin continues to grow, the reward rate for lending BTC will continue to lower as time goes on. This is why I am doing my best to maximize my earnings now, while the getting is still quite good.
Something that stands out about Ledn compared to their rivals is that they were the first digital asset ending company to have a complete proof-of-reserves attestation by a public accounting firm. This is something that is very important to bitcoin maximalists. While the biggest of the maxi's would argue that you should never give your keys to someone else, even to earn an extra interest on it. But if you were to do it, you would want as much of a guarantee on it as possible. And at the moment, the service is dedicated to bitcoiners. There are only two assets allowed on the service. Bitcoin and USDC. And like I mentioned just above, the rates are quite good.
Just like on Nexo, BlockFi and Celsius, you are able to take out a loan with the service by either using BTC or USDC as collateral. The rates are quite similar to those other services and work nearly the same. The loan is a 50% to value, and I was able to secure a loan for a monthly interest rate of 0.79%.
So let's do a quick run-down of the things that I like about Ledn. As I already mentioned, I am very happy about the amount of rewards that they give to their users. They do pay out on a monthly basis, just like BlockFi. While it isn't perfect, it isn't horrible either. A feature that I like is that you are able to see how much rewards you have earned so far in the month. I like to log-in each day and see that my rewards are in-fact growing each and everyday. That feature is on BlockFi already, but sadly is not yet on Celsius.
While I haven't taken out a loan yet on the service. It does seem quite straightforward and easy to use. And the withdrawals are a mixed bag for me. I like the fact that there isn't a penalty to withdraw from the service; you only have to pay for the sending transaction fee.
But that does lead me to my next point. The negatives.
I must admit that for me personally, the only real negative for the service was the withdrawal process. While yes, the mobile app leaves a lot to be desired. The thing that I like least about Ledn is withdrawing. While yes, you only have to pay the withdrawal fees, but that still doesn't stack up to some of its competitors. Celsius offers unlimited, anytime of the day withdrawals that are finished within minutes. Even BlockFi offers 1 free withdrawal per month for each coin.
But the real kicker is the withdrawal time required. It often takes 2-3 business days for it to go through. Before, I thought that BlockFi's 1 day waiting period was quite inconvenient. But doubling or tripling that makes even BlockFi look good in comparison. So if you are a deep holder who doesn't ever have any situation where they need their bitcoin back, and they need it fast. Then Ledn could be amazing for you. As I mentioned before, the rates are quite good. But, if you are a person that might ever find themselves needing their bitcoin or USDC quickly, then I would warn to be very careful about the service. Just imagine all of the recent BTC market volatility. If you were using leverage of any kind, or needed your BTC to provide more collateral for a loan at a different service. You would have most likely been liquidated before you were ever close to getting your funds withdrawn from Ledn. While that didn't happen to me; it is something very important to consider.
As for me, I would probably gradually put bitcoin onto Ledn and continue to test it out even further. The funds that go here will be my "lending hodl stash." Meaning they are funds that I won't need quickly and am happy to leave them sitting there for a lengthy time. The funds that I do need quickly will be put onto Celsius and Nexo. The service does seem quite trustable, but as always, be sure to do your own research. As of right now the reward rate is what is keeping me on the service. After all, getting as much bitcoin as possible is the name of the game. And while Ledn keeps a good reputation and also maintain their rates; they will also keep me on their platform.
How about you? Have you used Ledn before? What places do you like to lend out your BTC and other cryptocurrency?
As always, thank you for reading!
Very informative, thank you for this..