@maxmmm - I have been lending out crypto on exchanges and now DeFi since 2015. I have never lost any money, though I have lost some money to crypto losses, but it's negligible. Don't use odd sites and spread your load. With that said, it's always possible something big will go under one day.
You can get better yields on USD than 20%. In the bull market I got 25% / year and I'm not sure in the bear. I think it was 6-12%.
Sunny is offering 34% on USD-USD, but I think some of that is paid in SUNNY, which you can convert to USD -
Sunny Aggregator
Similar for Saber, but lower yields -
Saber: Solana AMM
These are on Solana.
To get on them, you will need to do something like:
1) buy Solana on FTX.com
2) transfer Solana to your Solana wallet
3) pool on those sites
For a wallet I would recommend the SafePal hardware wallet or the Phantom web wallet. Not all Solana sites support SafePal at the moment.
Beefy has up to 37% (on Binance Smart Chain) -
Beefy Finance
To overview the risk of these:
1) you have the risk of the underlying smart contract platform e.g. Solana, ETH
2) you have the risk of the stablecoin provider having issues, e.g. Tether, Circle
3) you have the risk of the decentralised exchange, e.g Pancakeswap
[4) if you are using yield farming, e.g. SolFarm, then you also have that risk]
The extent of major problems in this space has been close to zero. There have been low-level scams. The biggest issue was on one called AutoFarm, on which I lost 3% of affected assets.
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Then you have the centralised platforms, such as Youhodlr, Nexo and Crypto.com. They all offer about 12%. This is offered on the back of those platforms lending out your crypto. You might get better rates on Bitfinex, but the rate is not fixed. They do that by:
1) loanee deposits crypto on the platform as collateral
2) they get crypto to do whatever they want with
3) if the collateral comes to be worth ~= as the loan, then it is closed and the creditor gets the funds
That I am aware of there were two issues with this model:
1) Bitfinex was hacked (2015 or 2016) and it's clients had to take a haircute, which was paid back in about six months. So no long lost nothing in 1:1 asset terms. They just lost the ability to mobilise those assets.
2) There was a small outfit called
Cred that went under. I think their lenders lost everything.
My advice is to use multiple platforms. Nexo, Crypto.com and Blockfi are probably some of the most trustworthy.
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But the simple play with crypto is:
DCA in every month. $10 every month from Jan 2013 is now over $100,00. Unless you want to time the 4-year bull-bear cycle, just forget about it.
But right now I think we are starting the ascent to the next peak, followed by a large crash. That will go on for about a year. Then you want to move in with a certain % of your net worth. If things continue as they have been a small percentage will end up being > 50%.
You can look at lending of those assets. For example I bought lots of ETH in March 2020 for $120. I lent it out continuously today, for what has been about 8% PA. Just what I have earned on interest is probably 300% of what I put in initally.
Bitcoin is mature, but from the next crash there will likely be good gains to be had in Solana and solid projects like MANA, ENJ, BAT and others.
Just buy in when it its crippling lows after about one year of bear market. Even if it's 0.1% of your net worth. The cartel may be able to knock crypto, but they can't take it from you. And so far the only thing that has made people use crypto more than if it becomes legal tender is if the government bans it.
The next decades will be a battle between decentralisation and centralisation, in all spheres - governance, health, finance, food, media...
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