Nexo Savings Account Review: How You Can Earn Double Digit Income from Your Cryptocurrency

If you have bought some cryptocurrency and are currently HODLing it in your Coinbase account, then you may be very interested in finding ways to allow your crypto to compound and grow over time.

That’s where Nexo comes in. Nexo is a crypto holding platform that allows you to buy, store, grow and exchange more than 20 different types of currencies, at rates higher than what you would receive from a bank.

So, with that, lets get into our Nexo savings account review, and the reasons that I use Nexo to compound my cryptocurrency.

Nexo and the FTX Collapse

With the recent bankruptcy filings of BlockFi, and the freezing of assets through MyConstant, its good to see the risk management that Nexo has in place to protect clients assets:

.@Nexo has $0 net exposure to FTX/Alameda.
As a conservative institution with stringent risk controls @Nexo has safeguarded *all* funds by withdrawing its entire balances from the exchange over the past few days, as evidenced by on-chain data:https://t.co/py8fzBDKbP
1/

— Nexo (@Nexo) November 8, 2022

Why I use Nexo to Compound My Cryptocurrency

1. A High Interest Cryptocurrency Account
2. Security
3. Popularity
4. Borrowing Crypto and Other Currencies
   • The Nexo Credit Card & Credit Line
5. The Exchange Fees on the Platform
6. Heaps of Supported Currencies and Tokens (19 in total)
   • The NEXO token and Nexonomics
7. Additional Features

Other things you may be interested in include:

• How to Sign up to Nexo
• The Pros and Cons of the Platform
• The Referral Program on Offer
• Nexo Alternatives
• My Overall Summary

Affiliate Disclaimer – if you use my Nexo Referral Code, I really appreciate it. Both you and I get $25 worth of BTC as a reward provided by Nexo (read more). Thank you!

A High Interest Cryptocurrency Account

The main thing that drew me towards Nexo was (1) the rate of interest that can be earnt, and (2) the amount of cryptocurrencies they had on offer.

Cryptocurrency interest rates are made up of multiple factors, including your loyalty level, if you have fixed the interest, and if you are earning in the NEXO token (the platforms specific token).

Here is an example. BTC is currently advertised at being able to earn between 4% – 8% per year. Lets see how that interest is made up:

Factors Affecting Interest Rate	Rate
Minimum Interest Rate (fully accessible, base loyalty, earning in kind)	4%
Loyalty Level (Base, Silver, Gold, Premium)	+ 0.25% – 1%
Fixed Interest Term (BTC is 1 month)	+ 1%
Earning in NEXO Tokens	+ 2%
Maximum Interest Rate (fixed 1 month, earning in NEXO)	8%

So at a base level, you are looking at savings interest rates of:

• 4% for Cryptocurrencies and Fiat currencies
• 8% for Stablecoins

The current rates of each coin is pictured below, but this can change depending on the current promotions or offers:

Balance Thresholds

In December 2021 Nexo introduces balance thresholds which will change how much you can earn on the platform. The change comes about because there is so much interest from people in the cryptocurrency market at the moment, that rates need to find a more manageable level.

As a result of the update, the earnings rate of your Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Chainlink (LINK) will depend on the size of your holdings, and your loyalty level.

You can read more about the December changes here.

Security

Nexo takes security very seriously and currently have multiple measures in place to protect your funds, including:

• $375 million worth of insurance through partners such as BitGo and Ledger Vault
• lending solely on an over-collateralisation basis
• Military-grade Class III vaults for storage of the currencies
• Regulatory compliance Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) by Jumio – the same company that is trusted by Microsoft
• Daily reporting of reserves by a third party (allowing Nexo to meet client obligations at all times)
• 2FA authentication to log into your account
• Holding of the appropriate licenses and regulations in many countries, including compliance with ISO/IEC 27001

Additional security measures include biometric identification, confirmations on logins and withdrawals, and 24/7 support

Popularity

The platform seems to be quite popular when the public are asked about it.

Borrowing Crypto and Other Currencies

Through the platform you are able to borrow against your cryptocurrency. There is no need to sell any of your underlying cryptocurrency as long as you maintain a positive LTV.

The Nexo Credit Card and Credit Line

Not something that I currently use, but the Nexo credit card is something that may be interesting later on.

The platform offers a credit card that is linked to your cryptocurrency wallet. The platform provides you with a line of credit based on the Loan to Value (LTV) of your cryptocurrency assets.

This credit line is then what’s used to determine how much you can spend (borrow) with your Nexo credit card.

So for example, if you BTC has a credit line value of 50%, an you hold 1,000 worth of BTC, then your credit line would be $500.

The rates can vary each month, but can be viewed below (or for more up to date values you can look here).

There are several advantages to using the credit card, including:

• You don’t have to sell any underlying cryptocurrency (unless you go over your limit, or crypto drops below the LTV suddenly)
• You receive a 2% cashback on all purchases
• there are no account, transaction or foreign exchange fees.

With the 2% cashback, you can decide whether you receive your reward in NEXO tokens or BTC. Cashback is automatically placed in your account and you get a notification for each spend.

However, taking out the credit line on the card is the same as borrowing on the platform. Meaning that you are looking at interest rates between 6.9% and 13.9% each time you spend from your card.

There is also no grace period, so: (1) if you pay off your loan within the month, and (2) you are at the platinum level, it will still cost you 0.57% in interest for the month (i.e. 6.9% borrow interest rate / 12 months). So, overall the bonus would only be 1.43%.

If you were on the base level, the borrow limit rate would is set at 13.9%, so each month that would cost you 1.15% (13.9%/12 months). Including the cashback, you would only be up 0.85%.

As soon as your forget to pay off the account for that month, it can quickly cost you more in fees than you get in a bonus.

But with everything, there are always things that you should consider, including:

• if you have your funds “fixed” in a term period, this cryptocurrency is unable to be used towards your credit line
• sudden drops in LTV may cause assets to be moved from savings into the credit line wallet
• you are still borrowing at a cost of 6.9%-13.9%
• reading all of the terms and conditions of the card

As with most cards, you have the options of managing it online allowing you to freeze the card, receive instant notifications and create virtual cards for online purchases.

The Exchange Fees

When you make a cryptocurrency trade between Nexo accounts, all trades are instant, unlimited and don’t cost anything. This includes if your sending cryptocurrency to a friend that also uses Nexo.

Nexo guarantees the best price available as they use a smart routing system that connects to many exchanges at the same time. This allows them to find out which exchange is offering the best price for the amount traded.

Withdrawals

Each loyalty tier also provides you with a set amount of withdrawals a month. So if you are in basic, you can make one free withdrawal /month, and if your are in platinum you can make 5 withdrawals /month.

If you go over this limit, you will be required to pay a fee (that is based on the network at the time). You will be able to preview the transaction and fee before proceeding.

Supported Currencies and Tokens

The supported currencies and tokens on the platform are growing all the time. Currently the platform offers 19 different assets, including:

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Nexo Token (NEXO), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCHJ), Litecoin (LTC), EOS (EOS), Steller (XLM), Chainlink (LINK), Tron (TRX), PAX Gold (PAX), Dogecoin (DOGE), USD Coin (USDC) and DAI (DAI).

Nexo Token

The NEXO token is the platforms main token that allows brings a lot of benefits to the platform, including:

• allowing you to join the loyalty program, which:
  • earns you higher interest
  • reduces borrowing rates
  • increased the amount of withdrawals you are allowed
• participation in future governance voting
• 12% interest on the token itself.

The total circulating supply is just over half of the 1,000,000,000 target.

Nexonomics

The platform has released a series of upgrades for the Nexo Token (i.e. Nexonomics) that aim to make the cryptocurrency more useful and powerful for holders. Some of the previous initiatives included a $12 million buyback, multiple dividend payouts, and governance voting.

The Buyback 2.0 program is currently underway, which will see $100 million worth of the token being bought back.

Nexo Token Support

There is also a fair bit of support for the NEXO token, with it taking top votes in multiple twitter polls:

Other Additional Features

Nexo also offer additional features including:

• Nexo Prime, which allows tailored solutions for trading and liquidity
• their help centre that includes 24/7 online support
• a helpful blog to find all of the most up to date news
• an affiliate program if you are looking to earn extra passive income (ad the expense of Nexo, not the referred person)
• an ambassador program for those looking to join the team.

How To Sign Up to Nexo

Getting started on Nexo is super simple. The process is so easy that you can have your account funded within 30 mins of signing up (depending on the speed of your first crypto transfer).

All you have to do is sign up (and earn your free BTC 😎), verify your account, and then top up your assets.

I found verification to be super simple, and my identification was approved 15 minutes.

There are three types of verification – Starter, Basic and Advanced.

• Starter & Basic Verification – Allows you to top up an unlimited amount of cryptocurrency, but you can only withdraw $20,000 a day. You are not able to top up or withdraw through a bank transfer.
• Advanced Verification –
  • When using cryptocurrency – Unlimited top up of cryptocurrency, withdrawal of $500,000 from your savings wallet, and $2 million from your credit line wallet.
  • When transferring from a Bank – You can top up to $2 million per transfer into your wallets, and you can withdraw $100,000 from your savings wallet, and $2 million from your credit line.

Platform Pros and Cons

Pros

The Pros of using Nexo to store your cryptocurrency include:

• The platform is easy to use, send coins to, and withdraw from
• There is a lot of security and insurance in place
• You can earn passively without doing anything or thinking about your coins
• Earning a bonus BTC each month when using the crypto card (however this can be a con as well.

Cons

The disadvantages of using the platform include:

• The rates shown are marketed are the ones for platinum users. So you need to hold 10% of your account in NEXO tokens.
• You’re not able to earn some of your currencies in a NEXO token (gaining that 2%), and others in the tokens face value. The platform makes it so you can choose earning all in NEXO, or none in NEXO.
• The interest isn’t as high as if you staked the coins yourself outside of the platform
• As part of the credit card offering, you also have to pay interest on your borrowing, so the highest bonus you get is more like 1.5%

Nexo Referral Code

Nexo offers a referral program which allows you to share your referral link and reward both yourself and the person you invited, with a certain amount of BTC.

How does it work:

1. Share your Nexo referral code with your friends, website visitors or social media group.
2. Wait until your invited guest verifies their account. They will need to pass the advanced verification to be able to confirm their identity.
3. Get your guest to top up their account with at least $100 or more of assets.
   Note: Assets must be held in the account for at least 30 days
4. Get rewarded with the specified amount of BTC during the promotion (currently set at $25 of BTC)

Your reward will be available once your guest has signed up, however you won’t be able to access for the first 30 days. However, something to note is that the value of the BTC may actually be different 30 days after it was rewarded to you (the BTC amount is set on the day your friend signs up).

Currently the program offers $25 worth of BTC for you and your friend.

My Nexo Review

As part of my journey to make 1 free BTC, I have been doing various things (i.e. crypto games, coin base earn, the sun exchange) to earn cryptocurrency. This currency has been sitting stationary in my Coinbase account for longer than I would like to admit. So, when Nexo came along, I was super excited to join the platform.

It’s one of the only platforms that I have actively gone searching for a referral code. To be honest, it took way longer than expected to find a code, as I wanted to reward a personal blogger who put some effort into writing an article (not just someone posting a code under Nexo on reddit). Anyways, I couldn’t pass up the $25 BTC reward just for opening an account that I was already looking to open.

Skip to a few weeks later, and I have been completely satisfied with everything that I have seen and experienced. The sign on and verification process was super easy, and also adding my cryptocurrencies to the platform was no trouble at all.

The only tough decision that I had to make, was deciding on whether I wanted to earn in NEXO or in the current currency value.

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A Note on Cryptocurrency Taxes

With the increasing utilization of cryptocurrency in today’s age, it’s important to be aware of tax obligations that may arise through your cryptocurrency use. To help you keep track of your coin movements, and potential tax obligations, there are companies that are able to keep track of all your purchases, exchanges and sales. Here are two of the best at the moment:

• CoinTracking (the program I use) analyzes your trades and generates real-time reports on profit and loss, the value of your coins, realized and unrealized gains, and reports for taxes. There is a free version, or use this code for 10% off any upgraded plans.
• CoinTracker is a unified interface for cryptocurrency. It lets crypto holders connect their wallets and exchanges, see their portfolio, wallets, and transactions in one place, and generate their cryptocurrency tax returns with the click of a button. There is a free version, or use this code for $10 off any paid plans.

Please note, nothing in this disclaimer or article is financial advice!