Spend your crypto assets today without having to sell them. Discover how Nexo makes that possible and much more in this complete and unbiased review of the platform.
Case Study
The typical cryptocurrency investor buys to hold for the long-term. In anticipation of a potential future price appreciation.
However, life is unpredictable and emergencies come up that requires your urgent attention and of course money right now.
But you don’t want to sell your cryptocurrencies because your crystal balls tell you prices will only rise with time and selling it means sacrificing your dream of that Lambo.
How do you satisfy your urgent need for fiat (cash) without selling your precious crypto assets?
How can you actually spend your crypto without selling them and still benefit if the price goes up? All while avoiding that dreaded capital gains income tax?
That is where crypto lending and asset management platforms like Nexo comes in.
What is Nexo?
Nexo is the world’s first instant crypto credit line company that enables you to borrow instantly in 45+ fiat currencies, and earn daily compounding interest on your idle crypto assets.
With Nexo, you can take a loan in stablecoins or one of the over 45 supported fiat currencies using your crypto assets as collateral.
The company collects your crypto asset and gives you a loan in cash. And returns your crypto back to you once you pay back the loan.
Thus, effectively enabling you to actually spend your crypto assets today without having to sell them.
You can choose to repay the loan in fiat, crypto, or a mix of both for your convenience.
More so, you can lend, save, or stake your crypto assets on Nexo to earn daily compounding interest and staking rewards.
The company was co-founded in 2017 by Antoni Trenchev, Georgi Shulev, and Kosta Kantchev.
Nexo is a subsidiary of and managed by the same team behind Credissimo.
Credissimo is a leading European FinTech Group founded in 2007 that utilizes innovative proprietary technologies to provide: instant online consumer loans, e-commerce financing, and bill payment services.
Bringing professional banking services to cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors. By leveraging the best of the team’s 13+ years of experience in FinTech.
Since 2018 to date, the company has processed over $3 billion in transactions, supports more than 45 different fiat currencies, and serves over 1 million users in over 200 jurisdictions globally.
Things You May Like About Nexo
- Your crypto is secured in BitGo’s bank-grade Class III vaults. BitGo is the SOC 2 Type 1 & Type 2 certified crypto custodian.
- BitGo Custody is covered with $100 million insurance through Lloyd’s.
- Zero transaction fees.
- Borrow as little as $10.
- Accessible via mobile and web applications.
- Flexible loan repayments. Repay your loan in fiat, crypto, or a mix of both, at any time, and in any amount convenient for you.
- Competitive interest rates. Up to 12%.
- Accessible across 200 countries and supports over 45 fiat currencies.
- SMS and email margin notifications to avoid unexpected liquidation.
Things You May NOT Like About Nexo
- Lacks internal exchange
- You can’t buy crypto with fiat directly from the platform
- It’s centralized
- You can’t take more than $2m without contacting them.
Nexo Review: How Does Nexo Work?
Nexo is basically your regular crypto bank. Where you can lend your crypto assets to earn daily compounding interest and take flexible low-interest loans.
With a Nexo account, you can gain immediate access to fiat (cash) by staking your crypto assets as collateral.
- First, you need to create your free Nexo account.
- Verify your identity by completing the compulsory KYC requirements.
- Deposit crypto into your Nexo account. Nexo currently supports deposits in 15 (and counting) major cryptocurrencies such as BTC, BNB, USDT, LTC, ETH, LINK, TRX, etc.
- Start earning high-interest yields immediately or borrow fiat instantly. With no credit checks.
Anybody with a duly verified Nexo account can take instant loans on the platform.
The amount of loan you’re able to take on the platform depends on the size of your collateral.
For example, if you want to take a $5,000 loan, you must have collateral let’s say Bitcoin (BTC) valued at $10,000 or more.
But if the value of your Bitcoin falls below $10,000 you stand the risk of automatic liquidation. Where your collateral will be sold in order to cover your loan.
To avoid this situation, you’re required to maintain a healthy loan-to-value-ratio (LTV) of 50% or lower.
That means that your loan should be 50% of the dollar value of your collateral or better still lesser.
If your loan amount goes as high as 83.3% the Nexo oracle will begin initiating a sell-off of your crypto assets to offset the loan.
But before this happens, you would have received at least 3 notifications via email and SMS with a request to increase your collateral or pay off the loan to avoid automatic liquidation.
Spending Your Crypto With Nexo Card
The Nexo is the first of its kind, MasterCard powered cryptocurrency debit card that allows its holders to spend their crypto assets without selling them.
Features and Benefits of the Nexo Card?
- Shop in the over 40+ million MasterCard supported merchant locations worldwide and online stores.
- Enjoy zero fees on all transactions with your card. No POS surcharges or Foreign exchange fees.
- Enjoy cashback of up to 2% on all purchases with your Nexo Card.
- No maintenance or any kind of fees associated with the use of the card.
- Monitor transactions and manage your card directly from your Nexo account. You can freeze it, unfreeze it, view and change your PIN, etc.
Your Nexo Card spending limit is determined by the credit balance of your Nexo account.
The Nexo Token (NEXO)
NEXO is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token and native cryptocurrency of the Nexo platform.
The token gives its holders certain privileges and benefits on the Nexo platform such as:
- 50% discount on accumulated interests on your loans.
- 25% higher interest on the crypto assets in your Nexo account.
- A share of 30% of Nexo’s annual profits as a dividend.
To enjoy these benefits, you must have completed full KYC and hold your Nexo tokens in your Nexo account.
NEXO Tokenomics (Nexonomics)
The NEXO token has a total supply of 1 billion of which 560 million is in circulation as of November 15, 2020.
According to data from CoinGecko, the token is currently (7 PM UTC) exchanging hands at $0.205 apiece.
Which is 90% below its all-time high (ATH) price of $2.20 that was recorded on May 8, 2018.
Though the team’s token is supposedly released after one year, so far available data shows that they haven’t moved or sold anything from their stack yet.
And through its new Nexonomics program, the team is implementing a series of upgrades and features that will reinforce the NEXO token’s utility, and boost its value.
It will be interesting to see what the next 2 to 5 years will bring for the NEXO token with all the efforts DNA development being made
Nexo Review: Is Nexo Secure?
Nexo takes the security of users’ funds to the next level by storing them in BitGo’s cold storage wallets and covered with $100 million insurance protection through Lloyd’s.
This premium service is provided at no additional cost to the users.
According to the company, the $100 million insurance policy covers digital assets where the private keys are held 100% by BitGo in the event of:
- Third-party hacks, copying, or theft of private keys.
- Insider theft or dishonest acts by BitGo employees or executives.
- Loss of keys.
So, theoretically, you should be able to get your money back if the company suffers a loss through hacks, theft, or loss of funds.
However, that does not mean if you give me your login details I cannot enter into your Nexo account and drain it to zero.
You’re responsible for safeguarding your accounts by activating all relevant security features such as:
- Using a strong password known only to you and that you can easily remember.
- Enabling two-factor authentication (2FA)
Nexo Review: Some Missing Pieces of the Puzzle
- There’s no information on the founders and team behind Nexo and the supposed parent company — Credissimo— has been inactive since 2018 as can be easily seen from their website and Twitter page activity.
- There’s no clear, verifiable information on where Nexo is registered and who regulates its operations.
- It claims to be “…in compliance with all applicable global and local regulations” and “…compliant everywhere it provides services”. That’s all the info there is about its registration, regulation, and compliance with regulations.
- No verifiable office address(es), No information on the team, No verifiable registration documents, No information on what country they’re located.
- Everything we know is what we’re told. It would be cool to be able to verify some of these claims independently.
Please if you have answers to any of the questions and concerns raised in this post, kindly reach out via the comments section, social media channels, or email and I will gladly update it accordingly.
Nexo Review Summary
Nexo is the biggest and most popular crypto lending and asset management platform that allows you to make your crypto work for you.
The platform is fully compliant, constantly audited, is accessible in over 200 countries, supports 45+ different fiat currencies, and the only insured crypto lending platform in the crypto space.
What’s more, it offers highly competitive interest rates with 24/7 support service and its acclaimed security is second to none.
Imagine earning up to 12% daily compounding interest on your fiat deposit. No traditional bank can come close to that even in their dreams.
But just like everything else in life. There are risks to watch out for.
- The cryptocurrency market could crash and render your assets worthless.
- Nexo could significantly lose its market share to superior competitors and the token value can depreciate so much so that a significant size of your portfolio is wiped off.
- The $100 million insurance cover is far less than the amount deposited on Nexo.
- What that means is that you will not get ALL your money out if the platform collapses for any reason because the amount that the insurance policy covers will not be enough to go round.
- Much mystery, very discomforting.
As always, never invest money that will make you and your family go homeless, hopelessly broke, and hungry if lost.
What do you think about Nexo? What have been your experiences with using the platform? Share with us in the comments section below.