Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings has announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency lending service allowing users to earn an annual interest rate of 1% on their bitcoin holdings, with plans to expand the service to ETH and XRP.
In an announcement on the new feature, dubbed ‘VCTrade Lending’ SBI detailed that users will be able to lend a minimum of 0.1 BTC, at press time worth close to $1,900, and a maximum of 5 BTC, at press time worth $94,790.
The announcement details the company will charge no deposit, account management, or annual membership fee for the service, but will charge a fee on withdrawals made using the Japanese Yen. It reads:
“VC TRADE LENDING” is a service that allows customers to lend their cryptocurrency assets to us and receive usage fees according to the quantity and period of cryptocurrency assets.
Pointing out the advantages of its service, SBI noted that one of the biggest risks associated with cryptocurrency lending services is the “risk of bankruptcy of the lender.” All of its customers’ lending transactions, it says, are companies within the SBI Group that “boast high reliability.”
For now, users will be lending the funds for an 84-day period, which suggests they will not be able to withdraw their BTC until the lending period is over. SBI, it’s worth noting, is a well-known supporter of cryptoassets, to the point earlier this year it offered an XRP benefit to its shareholders.
Last month, it acquired Japanese cryptocurrency exchange TaoTao for an undisclosed amount, after negotiations between TaoTao and Binance to create a strategic partnership fell through for unknown reasons.
While on SBI’s platforms it will only be possible to lend BTC for now, on most top cryptocurrency exchanges it’s already to possible lend other cryptoassets, including BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, and more.
On OKEx’s Earn program, for example, users can earn interest on stablecoins and various altcoins, making the offering similar to a traditional savings account, but with better rates. On top of that OKEx and other platforms let users lend their funds with no lock-in period for smaller rates, if they so prefer.
It’s worth noting that lending cryptoassets has risks associated with it, including the one SBI outline: if the lender goes bankrupt there may be little recourse for users. Established platforms may be one of the safest ways to go about it.
Featured image via Pixabay.
