A subsidiary of Japan’s SBI Holdings has opened a lending service that allows clients to gain interest when lending their Bitcoin. The service will enable the Bitcoin lenders to earn 1% yearly interest. Users can deposit between 0.1 BTC ($1,800 on current value) and 5 BTC ( $90,000).
Based on the service plan, the SBI VC Trade platform will be used for the lending service. The depositor will be entitled to interest after the deposited amount has reached 84 days, with no annual membership or account management fees.
More Options will be Offered in the Future
The lending platform only accepts the Bitcoin cryptocurrency at the moment. But SBI has plans to add other significant cryptocurrencies like ETH and XRP in the future. The goal is to expand the number of participants and depositors, but the first launch is open to only Bitcoin holders.
The service was announced yesterday. Although no fees will be charged on account maintenance or annual membership, the users are still subjected to taxes on interest, following the state’s law.
In the press release announcing the new service, SBI Group mentioned the “high reliability.” The goal is to reduce concerns about the risk of bankruptcy in the cryptocurrency market by offering the security of crypto funds while clients still get to earn interest.
SBI also Launched Contracts of Differences (CFDs)
The financial giant has also rolled out contracts of differences (CFDs) packages for the top crypto assets such as ETH, BTC, and XRP on its SBI FX trade platform.
With the launch, clients can easily borrow from the SBI FX Trade to trade CDFs with leverage. And just last month, SBI’s long-time partner Ripple launched XRP loans for the RippleNet network. The plan uses the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution.
One time leading crypto with about $500 million worth of liabilities Cred, Earlier in the month went bankrupt. Generally, the crypto industry is considered very risky, as the lack of effective regulation has led to several lose of funds for users. Other incidents in the sector have prevented the mainstream sector from fully embracing Bitcoin and crypto.
But with the introduction of this type of lending service, lenders who deposit their crypto funds with the financial giant are assured their funds are safe. That is because each fund is insured and protected by the SBI Group, so clients do not need to worry.
The service wants to maintain a low-risk reward to encourage those who prefer safety first before talking about high-yield investment. According to the announcement, the SBI VC Trade clients will earn low-interest rates on an annual basis, although the lending period will last for 84 days.
As announced, XRP and Ethereum will be included later, as well as other crypto-assets not mentioned. It means holders of other cryptocurrencies will soon be able to safely deposit their funds while anticipating an interest yield at the end of the lending period.
