Have any of you guys used Blockfi to get paid interest on some of your hodl stash? Very intrigued by this and wondering what the downsides are besides the obvious "not your keys" risk.
I looked into blockfi. I think Celsius.network is a better outfit, I've been earning some decent retirement income on a percentage of my btc stash as I await the next mooning, for about 6 months now.
Also getting a nice dividend every week of over 10% on my usdc with celsius.network. Very stable and predictable. Can't get that kind of interest rate many other places.
That's all peachy, but where exactly these "insane" rates that are being paid are coming from?
IMHO, some of these companies are ponzi and/or re-hypothecate their holdings.
How to calculate the probability of their default?
I don't know, hence I don't participate.
This. It might be un-sexy, oldschool or whatever, but if I don't understand their business model, it's likely a scam to me. All the offers I considered turned out to be scams in the end. Not that I've considered them all, but 100% is 100%.
Now, every such scam needs a grace period to build trust. It makes little sense to go for a, say, 2M$ hit when just a little wait can get you 100M$ instead. Make the suckers happy until the day you exit. They won't even know what hit them.
Be wary and ready. If it's like I am afraid it is, he who runs first wins.
If i had a large position in USDC, then maybe I would as it seems the most secure as far as regulation is concerned.
USDC might be different. It is certainly different from most shitcoins as far as emission goes: not like btc, but still in a good place. But is it a bearer asset? Can USDC be blacklisted? If they can't, the scammers still can run with the money and get away with it.
Sorry if I come out as a party pooper, but better safe than sorry.