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BlockFi Review: Is It Worth Handing Over Your Private Keys For Over 8%? (2020)
In this article I am going to give an recap of my experience using Blockfi, so let’s take a look at this Blockfi Review! Before I get into the burning questions about what this is and why you want it, I want to just mention that I recently wrote an in-depth ebook that goes over the 5 best ways to secure your cryptocurrency.
This information is extremely valuable and it goes into far more than just common sense. You can click HERE to get your free download now! This also gives an intro into the best practices when sending, receiving, or managing crypto in all cases, make sure to check it out! So let’s get to Blockfi and why it matters in today’s crypto market.
What Is BlockFi?
Blockfi is a new platform that allows you to get crypto-backed loans against fiat and also allows you to gain compound interest on your bitcoin holdings that you already have. DeFi (decentralized finance) is a new category in the space that is inevitably going blow up and has already shown signs of this happening.
This is basically a bank account for your crypto on steroids. It is fully insured and backed by the FDIC and SIPC Insurance that is partnered with Gemini Exchange. Anyone that is familiar with this exchange, it is very “by the book” and has customer protections in place to protect you in th event of the company going under.
This is a dual-purpose platform that now gives consumers a way to leverage their crypto holdings to help them get out of debt that they’ve accrued in fiat currency. Plain and simple. for example, let’s say you “HODL’ed” your bitcoin during the run up and crash that happened at the end of 2017 and you now want to put up your crypto as a way to get a loan (with a low 4.5%) interest rate to pay off some credit cards.
No problem, in fact, they do a 50% collateralized option, which basically means you just need to put up twice as much crypto as you take in fiat. So let’s say you need $10,000 to pay off credit cards, all you need to is to send $20,000 worth of bitcoin or ether in order to get the loan issued. You will get all of this back at the end of the term (usually 1 or 2 years, and you can prepay with no penalties). Additionally, any gains that your BTC made during that time is yours as well, so it’s a win-win situation (in my opinion).
What Is A Bitcoin Backed Loan?
I touched on this above, but this is a special type of loan that is “backed” or issued with collateral of either Bitcoin or Ethereum for the fiat value you receive. For example, if you need $5,000 US dollars, you would put up $10,000 US dollars worth of crypto to get a fiat loan until the low interest loan has been paid off.
The standard term lengths are usually 12-24 months. This is extremely helpful if you have less than stellar credit and you need an asset to use for leverage to help you pay off or pay down your debt that you’ve accrued.
This is an interesting concept, because this is the first type of asset class that you can be used as collateral for this type of use and it may pave the way for utilizing different types of value or asset classes in the future in different industries. This process is also fast, as most people get access to their funds within 2 business days.
Additionally, this is the first type of service that allows you to get a loan without having to pay origination fees and you get to KEEP all of your coins at the end of the term!
How Much Interest Can I Earn?
Right now, the interest rates are set at 6.2% APY (per year) compounded. This is subject to change or fluctuate for the future, but when you sign up for at least a 1 year term, you rate is locked in, so you won’t risk it going any lower during your term.
This is helpful because you can calculate what your monthly returns will be, and that doesn’t even include the gains you will make in the newly budding bull market. This is helpful, because you can know for sure that you will at least get a certain return amount at very least.
This method is just one way I decided to diversify my holdings in an attempt to earn more passive income leveraging the crypto I already hold on my hardware wallet. There are always risks when you invest, but this is pretty risk-free if you ask me, as it’s compounding interest that is paid to you each month and you don’t risk losing it, like you possibly can with other investments.
The interest rate can possibly go up or down over time, so I recommend that if you ‘re on the fence, top at least try and lock in a 1-year term like I did, before they change it.
With this bull market starting up, I can only assume the interest that is paid out will go down, as the value of your assets will likely far surpass that. 8% is pretty high, and it surely beats any CD or other bank or savings accounts out there.
What Are The Minimum Deposits And Terms?
This is detailed on Blockfi’s website as well, but I will list the details here below:
“There is no minimum or maximum deposit for the BlockFi Interest Account. However, only deposits over 0.5 BTC, 25 ETH, or $2,500 GUSD will accrue interest. Balances of up to and including 25 BTC or $100,000 GUSD will earn the 6.2% APY interest rate. All balances over that limit will earn a tiered rate of 2% interest. To clarify, if you had 25.5 BTC in your BIA account, the first 25 BTC would earn interest at 6.2% and the remaining 0.5 will earn interest at 2%. For ETH, balances between 25 ETH and 100 ETH will earn 3.25% APY. ETH balances above 100 ETH will earn 0.2% APY.”
Is It Safe To Use Blockfi?
There are always risks when sending your private keys to a 3rd party, however you need to weigh your options. This is not for everyone, but is a good resource for people that have racked up a lot of debt and have an asset in their savings that they can now use in order to get some relief. There has never been an option like this before in the past, so I only recommend doing this if you need it.
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a HUGE advocate of keeping your private keys in your possession at all times. So why did I try this? The simple answer is diversification. To clarify, I didn’t use the bitcoin backed loan option, but rather the compound interest option with some extra ETH that I had on my hardware wallet that I was willing to risk. Holding it on a hardware wallet is always the safest, but that just means you will live with the gains (or losses for the past year and a half) with whatever the market gives you.
***CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR BLOCKFI AND TRY IT OUT!***
Conclusion
Overall, I liked the service and the customer support that I received. I always like to support crypto-based companies because I am fascinated with the space and I am always eager to see the new innovation that is being created within this new industry. I wanted to try to earn some compound interest on coins I was going to be HODL-ing anyways and I used the minimum amount required just to test it out. If I like it and my experience is smooth after 12 months, I may go longer. We will have to see where the market is at that point.
***CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR BLOCKFI***
The one take away I will give you is, if you have only a small amount of BTC or ETH, I would still use a hardware wallet to store your coins, until you’ve accumulated a lot more of it. If you want to start diversifying and branch out once you’ve built up your stash like I have, it’s a very interesting way of “guaranteeing” returns, for coins you plan on keeping for a long time. I will leave a link below for the hardware wallet that is my favorite right now below!
CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM THEIR OFFICIAL SITE!
What do you think? Would you hand over your private keys for compound interest at 6%? Let me know if the comments below!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
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Should I Buy Bitcoin Now?! Or Should I Wait? (March 2020)
In this article I’m going to address the urgent question I get almost every day recently “Should I Buy Bitcoin Now?!“. Most of the people I deal with kept asking me over the past year and a half what was going on with bitcoin. It was almost if they were saying “See, I told you so! Bitcoin was a bad investment”.
Those same people have taken notice to the massive price increase and have asked me if now is a good time to get in. To them I say, It was a good time to get in around $3,300 when everything looked terrible and you laughed at me. Well, hindsight is 20/20, and deep down, I knew this was just part of a normal market cycle and that it would recover. The short answer is; If you don’t have any bitcoin now, please start getting some before the limited supply runs out.
One of the best ways I have been suggesting people start accumulating and acquiring bitcoin for the first time is to use this free app I have been using myself that give you free bitcoin back on every purchase you make, while receiving a discount of anywhere from 2-33% off every purchase.
This is the LIFE INFO APP, and I will leave an in-depth review of this amazing way to earn free bitcoin HERE. The gist of it is that it’s a shopping app that gives you discounts on thousands of brands and retailers on every purchase you make. The savings you accrue can be converted directly into bitcoin right within the app!
I have been testing this app for several months now, and I have earned over 80$ worth of bitcoin on purchases I was already been making anyways. Why not earn free bitcoin? This is the #1 way I’ve been recommending people start acquiring bitcoin who are new to it and want a VERY easy way to do so, with no technical knowledge.
***CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE LIFE INFO APP TO START EARNING FREE BITCOIN***
The Current State Of Bitcoin (July 2019)
As of the time of this writing, the price of bitcoin is currently $9,870.95. This is a pretty steep discount from where it was 5 days ago at $13,500. Bitcoin has been having significant gains over the past few weeks very steadily. This has primarily been happening because of some very fundamentally bullish news, such as the announcement of Facebook’s new cryptocurrency called “Libra”.
Many believe will bring the awareness and main stream of cryptocurrency adoption. Although this will be used as a “Stable Coin”, it will ultimately force billions of people to understand the ways of the future and finance.
So why did the price drop? Well, this is actually a healthy and normal correction for what has been a parabolic rise in price and the correction here will shake out the weak hands that currently are very emotional and timid about the projects future, and only pay attention to the price and what other people are doing.
Ultimately, bitcoin is the future of finance. New mainstream stores are starting to accept cryptocurrency payments directly.
What Caused The Huge Run Up Of Price Since April Of 2019?
There are three primary factors that I believe have contributed to the massive price gains from April of 2019 til now, with no signs of stopping. Sure, there will be fluctuating prices, but it’s consistently gained over 100% consistently. Here are a few fundamental reasons I believe that triggered this to happen:
1.) Bitcoin Halvening – Every 4 years the bitcoin block reward that pays miners to verify transactions is going to be cut in half starting May 2020. This is by design and as a way to introduce scarcity and deflation to an already scarce and useful asset. Historically, the months leading up to this in years past has shown a systematic increase of price in anticipation of this happening.
Currently, the block rewards pays 12.5 bitcoin approximately every 10 minutes. It is about to be cut in half to 6.25 bitcoins per block. Scarcity is a massive incentive to start getting your act together now, before it’s too late.
2.) Facebook’s Cryptocurrency “Libra” – As mentioned above, one of the worlds largest and well-known companies is creating their own cryptocurrency. With over 3 billion active users and counting, this is introducing a new mechanism for people to make payment directly within the platform and also pay for services, like advertising, using Facebook’s native coin. There will be many high profile exchanges that will support this coin (including Coinbase), so there will be plenty of on and off ramps for this upcoming crypto. This is said to be pegged to over 12 fiat currencies’ values.
3.) Chainlink Partnership With Google – Chainlink is a cryptocurrency that specializes in smart contracts. If you are unaware of what that is, a smart contract is essentially a digital contract that is automated and processed out with no middleman, once certain pre-determined criteria is met. This is especially useful for reducing middle-men, and therefore costs, as well as efficiency.
Google has made an announcement of this partnership on a secret project and only validates the need for a blockchain in our modern world. Google doesn’t just partner with anyone, so as people start noticing that cryptocurrency and new blockchain projects are working with tech giants, people start noticing. There are very few details on what this project is exactly, but I assume it has to do with aggregating and verifying data automatically to increase efficiency in time intensive tasks.
What Is The Easiest Way To Buy Bitcoin? What Is the Minimum Investment?
The easiest way to buy bitcoin is to buy directly with a credit card. You can do this very easily with a company called CoinMama, and it only takes a few minutes to process and receive your bitcoin. I have personally used this service many times myself and is much quicker than using an exchange, like Coinbase.
Many exchanges and official on ramps will require much more time as they process KYC and account verification steps to enable an account for you. This process typically takes 3-7 business days, and you should plan accordingly. They are very useful to use if you are not crunched for time, and support many of the top coins directly with bank wire or debit cards for payment.
You can buy as little of $10 worth of bitcoin, and with what the app I mentioned, you can accrue even less than that for free. The point? You don’t need to buy a full bitcoin to get started!
Additionally, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, you can start earning free bitcoin using the LIFE INFO APP, as that’s what I’ve been doing myself. Again, this is the#1 tool I’ve been using to accumulate free bitcoin on purchases I’m making anyways.
Should I Buy Bitcoin Now: Conclusion
Overall, even though bitcoin is very volatile at the moment, I would STRONGLY recommend you buy some bitcoin if you haven’t already. There are only 21 million coins that will ever been in circulation, and there is approximately 17.5 million circulating right now. This hard cap that can never change is a deflationary mechanism designed to provide a road map of how the supply and demand dynamics will look over the next few years.
If you zoom out and look at the year over year gains, bitcoin has been one of the strongest investments over the last decade as it has had a higher value of the previous January since it started. Most people get emotional with such rapid price swings, but ultimately what makes it special is the fact that you can now become your own bank.
YOU, yes YOU, can now conduct financial transactions with anyone in the entire world (almost for free) with no permission from anyone and no middle man requiring authorization or taking a cut. THAT is powerful. There has never been anything else like it in the world before. Ever.
What do you think? Do you think it’s too late to buy bitcoin now? Let me know in the comments below!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
