Jean Galea

Health, Wealth & Happiness

  • Start Here
  • About
  • Investing
    • Cryptoassets
    • P2P Lending
    • Real estate
  • Podcast
  • Start a Blog

How to Earn Interest on Binance – Ultimate Guide

Published: March 01, 2021Leave a Comment

how to earn interest on binance

Binance is once again showing the cryptocurrency world that it is a Jack of All Trades. On top of its core exchange services, the platform is also involved in Bitcoin derivatives, as well as its very own pre-paid crypto Visa card. And of course – you also have the native Binance Coin (BNB).

With that said, a Binance product that I am particularly interested in exploring further is its interest-earning service. That is to say, by depositing digital currency on the Binance platform, you can earn interest on your holdings in a similar way to a traditional savings account.

If this is something that you might want to explore further – here I explain the ins and outs of how to earn interest on Binance.

Earn Interest on Binance – The Basics

In a nutshell, Binance allows you to earn interest when you deposit some of your cryptocurrency tokens into the platform. There are two main ways of doing this – on a flexible basis or by locking the digital assets away for a fixed amount of time.

Naturally, by opting for the latter, you will benefit from a higher interest rate. This is comparable to a fixed-rate certificate of deposit (CD) account or savings bond. That is to say, you won’t be able to redeem your crypto holdings until the respective term has concluded.

If, however, you opt for a flexible arrangement, this is much more aligned with a conventional savings account. In other words, you can withdraw your digital funds at any given time. For as long as your crypto assets are held in the Binance flexible savings account, you will earn interest.

Flexible Savings Account

Now let’s dig a little deeper into how each interest-earning opportunity works on the Binance platform – starting with the flexible savings accounts.

As noted above, this allows you to deposit funds into Binance and you will earn interest for as long as you keep the digital assets there. You can withdraw your cryptocurrency at any given time – meaning the investment is 100% liquid.

binance flexible terms

This option is going to be suitable for those of you who like the idea of earning interest on your digital currency holdings, but want immediate access to your coins as and when the time arises.

The redemption process isn’t quite instant, but near enough – as the funds will be available for withdrawal the very next day after you make the request. This is good enough for making planned trades, but not quite good enough if you want to trade crypto quickly in response to a brief or unexpected market event, for example, a significant dip that only lasts a few hours in an otherwise long bull run.

Supported Digital Currencies and Yields

If opting for the flexible savings account, Binance supports 58 different cryptocurrencies of varying market capitalizations.

At the upper end, you have the likes of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, NEO, and Ripple. In terms of less liquid coins, this includes WAVES, Komodo, IOST, and many others.

When it comes to interest rates, this will vary quite considerably depending on which cryptocurrency you choose to deposit.

binance savings account

For example, it appears that the best paying yields are associated with USDT and BUSD – which both attract a 7-day APY of 6%. At the lower end, Ripple and Ethereum attract a yield of just 1.40% and 0.87%, respectively. If it’s Bitcoin you’re looking to earn interest on, Binance pays an APY of 1.20%.

Listing each and every supported coin and interest rate is beyond the remit of this article, so please check the Binance platform to get more information on your desired market.

Note: To avoid confusion, a 7-day APY does not mean that you will earn the respective interest rate every 7 days. On the contrary, this is still an annualized rate. It’s just that the 7-day APY takes the net difference between the interest rate today and 7 days previous.

Fiat Currency Interest

Perhaps the above interest rates are not overly attractive – especially with major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. With that said, you stand the chance to earn an even better yield on Binance – should you wish to generate interest on your fiat currency deposits.

At the higher end, it’s possible to earn a 7-day APY of 5% on GBP deposits – which is huge. I say this, as by leaving your GBP in a UK bank account, you’ll be lucky to earn more than 1% annually. In the case of EUR deposits, this attracts a lower, albeit still generous, APY of 3.21%.

Locked Savings Account

So now that I have covered the flexible option, I am now going to explore the ins and outs of the locked savings account offered by Binance. In a nutshell, unlike the flexible account, this particular option requires you to lock your crypto assets away for a fixed amount of time.

binance locked savings account

The available durations are as follows:

  • 7 days
  • 14 days
  • 30 days
  • 90 days

To clarify, once you choose your respective duration, you won’t receive your investment back until the term concludes. As such, just make sure that you are confident that you won’t need access to the funds.

Supported Digital Currencies and Yields

Unlike the flexible account – which supports 58 digital assets, the locked savings account accepts just three cryptocurrencies – all of which are stablecoins.

This includes:

  • USDT
  • BUSD
  • USDC

In terms of the yield, this varies not only depending on the coin you deposit, but the duration of the term.

Naturally, the longer you elect to lock the coins away, the higher the interest rate.

Nevertheless, USDT and BUSD attract the highest yield – with 90-day terms getting you an annualized interest rate of 7%. USDC isn’t far behind, with a rate of 6% for a 90-day term.

If you opt for a 7-day period, you’ll get 6.31% on USDT and BUSD, and 5.31% on USDC.

How is Interest Possible on Binance?

If you’re wondering how Binance is able to pay your interest on the digital assets that you deposit – the process works much the same as any platform offering a similar service.

That is to say, Binance will use the cryptocurrencies that you deposit and lend the funds to somebody that wishes to take out a crypto loan. The interest rate that the borrower pays will, of course, be higher than the yield you are able to earn.

Like other crypto loan platforms in this space, the borrower is required to put up collateral. The amount that they can borrow will therefore be dependent on the amount they deposit into Binance.

Should you use the Binance Savings Account?

Whether or not the Binance savings account is worthwhile will depend on various factors. For example, if you are holding a stablecoin like USDT or BUSD, you can earn an attractive yield of 6% per year.

This can be achieved without needing to lock your capital away – as the 6% rate is available via the flexible option.  At the other end of the scale, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Ripple will attract an interest rate of just 0.87% and 1.40% annually, while Bitcoin comes at a rate of 1.20%.

On the one hand, these rates are far from attractive. But, it’s also worth noting that by leaving the aforementioned cryptocurrencies idle in your private wallet – you are earning no yield at all.

Crucially, as I recently noted in my article on the Best Crypto Interest Accounts, much better rates are offered elsewhere.

For example, YouHodler allows you can earn an annualized interest rate of 4.8% on Bitcoin – on the proviso that you keep the coins locked for 30 days. Additionally, while Binance pays a top-tier rate of 7% on stablecoin deposits, YouHodler offers up to 12%.

Is the Binance Savings Account Safe?

Binance as a trading platform is home to the largest amount of daily volume and liquidity in this industry. It has a great reputation amongst traders of all shapes and sizes – which is why it is often the go-to platform to buy and sell digital assets.

In terms of specific safeguards, the crypto assets that you deposit into Binance will be used to loan money to borrowers. The entire transaction is facilitated via Binance – meaning that it matches lenders and borrowers behind the scenes.

binance safu

As I briefly noted above, those that want to take out a crypto loan at Binance must put up collateral. This is based on the classic LTV (Loan to Value) model. For example, if the borrower deposits $10,000 worth of Bitcoin, at a maximum LTV of 65%, they can take out a loan worth $6,500 in their desired asset.

If the borrower was to default on the loan – or the value of the digital currency used as collateral declines in value by a certain amount, Binance will liquidate the crypto.

In addition to the above, it’s also worth mentioning the Safe Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). This is an insurance pot that Binance itself funds via transaction fees that it collects from the exchange. The main idea with the SAFU is that it is there to cover investor losses should Binance get hacked (or defaults occur via Binance Earn).

Whether or not the amount of capital in the SAFU would be sufficient enough to cover potential losses remains to be seen. Taking all of this into account, it’s important to remember that your crypto deposits in the Binance savings account are never 100% safe.

The Verdict?

In summary, I’m a strong advocate of the cryptocurrency interest phenomenon. After all, by leaving your digital currencies sat idle in a private wallet – you are earning nothing on your investment in the way of income.

Instead, by storing your crypto in an interest-bearing account such as the one offered by Binance – you get the best of both worlds. That is to say, you will make money should the value of the digital currency increase in the open market, as well as interest for as long as you keep the coins in the account.

However, I should make it clear that the rates offered by Binance are not overly attractive. As I covered earlier, other platforms in this space – such as YouHodler, offer much better yields.

Filed under: Cryptoassets, Money

YouHodler vs Nexo – A Competitive Analysis

Published: February 26, 2021Leave a Comment

YouHodler trading

In the realm of financial technology (FinTech), YouHodler and Nexo are two highly competitive platforms offering a variety of crypto/fiat financial services. What really brought both platforms to international fame is their interest-earning accounts though. Crypto enthusiasts are constantly looking for the best platforms to safely store their crypto while simultaneously earning a passive income on it. These two platforms offer some of the best rates around in addition to a few other exciting tools to help “HODLers.” But which one is the best?

In this competitive analysis, we’ll do a deep dive on both companies to see which features set one apart from the rest.

[Read more…]

Filed under: Cryptoassets, Money

Podcasting – A Wonderful Medium for Learning and Spreading a Message

Published: February 25, 2021Leave a Comment

podcasting

Mastermind.fm is my first foray into podcasting, and it’s been a great ride for a number of years now.

I think podcasting is as popular as blogging now if not more so.

Podcasts have become one of my favorite ways to consume new information and keep updated on my chosen subjects. While I still love reading and will always treasure books, podcasts make it possible for me to make even better use of my time.

Before the advent of podcasts, my time at the gym and walking/traveling around was mostly dead time. Now, I just have to pop in a pair of headphones and continue consuming the best podcasts (and even audiobook versions of my favorite books).

Should You Start a Podcast?

No doubt one of the challenges with podcasting is that it is still quite a challenge to create a podcast. You need to invest in some equipment (I use the Audio Technica ATR-2100 or  Rode Podcaster microphones which are both great entry to mid-level picks) as well as software (Audacity, Garageband etc).

Perhaps more than equipment and software you will need to invest a lot of time in learning how to podcast properly and how to use that hardware and software.

When I started the podcast we decided early on to outsource the production of the podcast and that has been one of the most important decisions for us. If we were doing the production ourselves I’m sure we wouldn’t have made it so far, because it is very time-consuming and frankly it’s not a job I’d look forward to doing every week.

Choosing a good topic and niche to cover is also crucial. My podcast is an extension of my blog, in that it enables me to talk about the topics that I write about in greater depth with some of my favorite experts. That, in turn, fuels more writing and thinking.

The deep connection that forms between the host and the listener is also extremely rewarding. I’ve attended several conferences where people walk up to me and introduce themselves as listeners of Mastermind.fm. They usually follow by mentioning something specific that they learned from the show. It feels great to know that you have helped people. When I compare the effect on the listener of podcasting to the same with blogging (which I have been doing for far longer), the former one is definitely more powerful.

Adding on to that, a podcast can give you more exposure within your community or line of business. That can be important if you’re looking to land more clients, speaking engagements, etc. Personally, this wasn’t one of my main motivations since my blog was already doing very well, but people seem to attach more credibility to someone who not only runs a blog but also a podcast (YouTube channels have a similar effect).

Podcast monetization is not easy at all. You need to have a sizeable audience before being able to attract any sponsors for the show. Affiliate links don’t really work well as listeners are unlikely to follow any of those through clicking links in the shownotes or using your referral codes. That leaves you with having to work for many months for no payment in the hope of attracting a sizeable audience, then being able to convince a brand to sponsor you.

Sponsors are not a great solution to monetization either, as listeners are typically annoyed by ads and frequently fast forward through them, which means that your sponsor won’t be getting much out of it. The only way to nail this monetization source is if you can weave the mentions into the course of your show. Mixergy and What Bitcoin Did do this well.

If you can do without sponsors, it’s even better. In that case, you’d probably rely on memberships or Patreon donations. I haven’t reached that level yet and I’m not sure my podcast will ever get that big, but who knows.

Given the many other benefits of podcasting, however, monetization need not necessarily be the main goal for you. You could very well have a successful podcast and never earn a single cent directly from sponsors and affiliate links, but it would still have been rewarding in other ways and perhaps even profitable by helping you attract more clients, becoming well known etc.

My Podcasting Experience

I’ve always considered myself a decent writer, however, speaking was a much bigger challenge. Throughout my childhood, I’d always been labeled as quiet and introverted and encouraged to speak more. Of course, things are never that simple. I like to think a lot before declaring an opinion, and that’s perfect for writing when you have all the time in the world to get comfortable with an opinion and formulate the right words. However, when speaking in the context of a group discussion or podcast, you need to be very fast in your thinking and persuasive in your speech.

Hence Mastermind.fm presented a huge challenge for me and a great opportunity to improve this weakness in my skill set. I’m quite satisfied with what I’ve achieved so far, although there’s still a long way to go and many more improvements to be made. I’ve also had some sessions with an accent coach who has been helping me on eliminating some Maltese English peculiarities in my pronunciation which can be a stumbling block when speaking to an international audience. I would wholeheartedly recommend such coaching if you’re not a native English speaker. Podcasts in English are dominated by American hosts and so you need to be able to make yourself understood as a basic first step. Again, a podcast is less forgiving than a blog in this respect.

I would highly recommend that you start a podcast, but only if you know you can commit enough resources to it. I see too many shows fizzle out after a few episodes and that’s a shame. You need to establish a schedule and stick to it religiously. Compared to a blog, a podcast audience is way more sensitive to changes in your publishing schedule and quality of episodes. Two or three delayed or sub-par episodes and you will most likely lose a big chunk of your audience.

With blogging your content is more evergreen as Google does a great job of serving older content to people every day, while there is no search engine for podcast content yet. Moreover, you can always go back and updated old content on a blog, but you can’t do the same with a podcast.

If you like how it sounds so far and want to take the plunge with podcasting, read on for some learning resources and recommended equipment.

Equipment and software I recommend

  • Rode Podcaster / Audio Technica ATR2100 – both are dynamic mics
  • Audio Hijack / Ecamm Call Recorder for Skype (Mac) / Pamela for Skype (PC)
  • Zencastr / Cleanfeed / Squadcast
  • Skype / Zoom

Podcasting Learning Resources

If you’re new to the world of podcasting however it can seem a bit daunting as there are a lot of details you need to get right in order to make sure that your podcast is professional and successful. Here are the top learning resources I’ve found:

Podcast Answer Man

podcastanswerman
The home of Cliff Ravenscraft, a well-known podcast producer with tons of experience. You will find everything you need here, and Cliff also sells podcasting hardware packages, handy if you’re in the US and don’t want to spend time researching the different hardware options out there. His whole site is a podcasting resource, but you can start off with his dedicated set of how-to videos.

Pat Flynn’s Podcasting Guide

pat flynn

Perfect for those who are just starting out, Pat Flynn is absolutely killing it with his podcast, and he spells things out very nicely in this set of videos about how to get started with podcasting.

John Lee Dumas’ Podcasters Paradise

podcasters paradise

John Lee Dumas is one of my favourite podcast hosts and he amazingly releases one podcast a day. He has a free weekly webinar which you can join, and from there you can also subscribe to become a full paid up member of his podcasting community, where you can continue asking questions and learning.

Jeff Sanders’ Podcasting 101

This is a post containing some useful resources and Jeff’s journey in starting his podcast.

Recommended Podcasts For Entrepreneurs

Here are my favorite podcasts in the areas of business and entrepreneurship.

The Tim Ferris Show

This is my all-time favorite podcast as it never fails to be interesting. Tim has, of course, made a big name for himself with his 4 hour series of books and on the strength of that he has been able to consistently attract superb guests to his show.

He also comes across as a very down to earth person, somebody you can relate to. I’m sure many entrepreneurs and lifehackers will identify with the topics discussed on this show. While it is not always business-focused, it is most definitely always interesting.

Mixergy

Andrew Warner has been producing Mixergy for what seems like ages now, and his experience comes through in the quality and consistency that is provided in each and every episode.

In this podcast you will meet successful entrepreneurs who are coaxed by Andrew into revealing their methodologies and most important facts about their businesses and how they were able to be successful.

Startups for the Rest of Us

I had the opportunity to meet Rob and Mike at Microconf Europe. They’re both successful bootstrapped business owners, and in their podcasts they discuss topics related to starting and sustaining a business from scratch.

This podcast is especially good for those who own a SAAS product.

Entrepreneur on Fire

John Lee Dumas is a super prolific podcaster who also interviews successful entrepreneurs. He is a very successful entrepreneur himself, his main product being Podcasters’ Paradise, a membership site where people can learn how to create great podcasts.

John has an inimitable energetic style that will ensure you don’t dose off during his podcast episodes.

Bootstrapped Web

Brian Casel and Jordan Gal are the hosts of this podcast, which in a way is similar to Startups for the Rest of Us as it deals with topics faced by bootstrapped entrepreneurs. However, this should not discourage venture-backed entrepreneurs from listening to this podcast, as most of the concerns are shared after all.

Starting from Zero

Max Breckbill has started this podcast quite recently but it has quickly become one of my favourites due to his straightforward interviewing style and the fact that it takes us through the start and eventual success of businesses that are mostly very relatable to new entrepreneurs.

Max in fact tends to stick to interviewing solo founders and people who have built lifestyle businesses.

Tropical MBA

This podcast has been around for a long time and is very popular among digital nomads, especially those who are members of Dan Andrews’ Dynamite Circle community.

Tropical MBA’s content is more focused on bootstrapping and building a lifestyle business, but also contains a lot of useful content for any type of entrepreneur.

Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn produces a very professional weekly podcast that is focused on generating passive income. While passive income is of course the official tagline, Pat talks about a lot of practical business topics and also has some great guests on board from time to time. Pat has become famous due to the fact that he shares his monthly revenue figures, and he also discusses his own business on this show.

Pat seems like a very friendly guy who is really genuinely interested in helping his readers and listeners, so this podcast is especially ideal during those times when you are feeling a bit down with the results of your business and need a pick-me-up chat with a friendly mentor. If you don’t have that kind of person in your life, Pat’s SPI Podcast can be a good substitute.

The Top Entrepreneurs in Money, Marketing, Business and Life

Monthly income reports have long been popular when presented on blogs. The Top brings those income reports in audio version. Shows are short and to the point and consist of Nathan Latka (the 25-year-old CEO at Heyo.com).

This is a fast-paced podcast that involves sharing real revenue numbers so you can have a good idea how your own business is doing in comparison. One of the most unique podcasts that provides a huge deal of inspiration.

Online Marketing Made Easy With Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield is an online marketing superstar and best-selling author. This is a very tactical podcast in which Amy shares the strategies she uses in her own product launches.

Building a great product is not enough, and I feel this podcast is one of the best places to dig for inspiration when it comes to marketing your work and build authority in your niche.

Best of the Rest

Here’s a list of other podcasts that I don’t regularly listen to but are also very popular with entrepreneurs.

  • This Week in Startups
  • Social Triggers Insider
  • ProBlogger Podcast
  • Duct Tape Marketing
  • The Solopreneur Hour
  • StartUp
  • The Ziglar Show
  • Freedom Fast Lane
  • This is Your Life

I hope this list will serve to inspire you and perhaps bring your attention to some podcasts you might have missed.

So what are your favorite podcasts? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Filed under: Thoughts & Experiences

InbestMe Review : An Emerging Investment Platform With Great Potential 

Published: February 20, 2021Leave a Comment

inbESTME review

Robo advisors are slowly but surely becoming a mainstream option in the investment sector – making it possible for everyone to access low-cost financial guidance. As the number of online robo advisors continues to rise, so does the range of available services. 

InbestMe is one such automated investment platform currently available in the online retail trading market. Although based in Spain, its fintech solutions extend to investors from across the globe. 

In this review, I run through the fundamentals of InbestMe, covering its core features and whether it measures up as a reliable financial platform for your investment needs. 

What is InbestMe?

InbestMe is an automated online investment management platform that allows you to create a personalized portfolio based on your financial goals. 

In other words, the platform designs an investment plan that fits your risk profile, values, and objectives. This is achieved thanks to a dedicated algorithm – which is capable of calculating the future profitability of different scenarios based on historical data, market analysis, news, and other contributing factors. 

[Read more…]

Filed under: Money, Stock market

How Wall Street Works.

Published: February 20, 2021Leave a Comment

wall street

Let’s talk about Wall Street – how it works and what’s its relation with crypto.

Wall Street doesn’t care about price, they want flows.

Here is a great quote from former hedge fund manager Ben Hunt on the business model behind Wall Street.

“Most people on the outside of Wall Street think that the goal is to invent or accumulate an asset that goes up in price a lot. They think that’s winning.

What I would say to you is that is not how Wall Street works. They really don’t care about the price of anything.

The way that you make real money is not by the price of something going up, it’s by being in the middle of flow.”

In Ben’s vernacular, “flow” is the never-ending river of money that is looking for investments.

Outside of Wall Street, there is a common perception that Wall Street = investors. To some extent that is true, big asset managers are certainly a part of Wall Street, but it’s also not true.

Wall Street is a marketplace that has a similar business model to many “platform” business models you see today. It is entirely based on facilitating and taking slices of transactions.

For Uber, that means connecting drivers with passengers. For Wall Street, and capital markets more broadly, that means connecting investors with investment opportunities.

On its best days, Wall Street ensures that capital is properly allocated to companies that deserve it. On its worst days, it’s a casino that is happy to milk its customers to the bone.

Ben references the great financial crisis as an example of how this business model can go bad.

“The great financial crisis was all based on the creation of a new asset class called ‘non-conforming residential mortgage-backed securities.’ It was this brilliant idea that there are two parts to mortgages – a loan and the deed.

What if we cut those in two? So that we separated the loan part from the deed or collateral part. We’ll take all these loans and pool them together, tranche them up, and then we’re going to sell them.

This became a $10 trillion asset class. And all of this, the changes in the laws around mortgages, it was all part and parcel of creating a thing where Wall Street could get in the middle of trillions of dollars of flow.”

The system is a real-world manifestation of the paperclip maximizer problem, a thought experiment that explores the danger of artificial intelligence.

The thought experiment warns of the danger of a single-minded AI tasked with ‘maximizing’ the creation of paperclips, which in its most extreme case could end with a world full of paperclips and every human dead.

Wall Street is like the AI running that paperclip factory. It is a closed system guarded with gatekeepers that are incentivized to keep churning out paperclips, no matter what.

How do crypto ‘hodlers’ fit into that?

Crypto is the complete antithesis of Wall Street. It is an open, transparent system that is built on the premise of financial inclusion.

The industry encourages financial control and independence, and famously advises its participants to “HODL” as a means of building wealth.

Crypto is designed to eliminate the need for centralized intermediaries and all of the perverse incentives that accompany them. So was the internet though, and we all know how that worked out.

It seems like Wall Street and crypto are on a collision course. I just hope that Bitcoin chews up Wall Street and not the other way around.

Filed under: Money, Stock market

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 100
  • Next Page »

Latest Padel Match

Jean Galea

Investor. Dad. Global Citizen. Padel Player.

Follow @jeangalea

  • Padel
  • Affiliate Disclaimer
  • Cookies
  • Contact

Copyright © 2021 · Hosted at Kinsta · Built on the Genesis Framework