There are plenty of exciting opportunities in crypto right now. Popular crypto exchanges let you diversify your portfolio with digital assets. Additionally, you can use various lending platforms to earn passive income with your crypto and even take out loans.
CoinLoan is an all-in-one platform that lets you earn, borrow, and trade crypto. If you want to manage your digital assets in one single ecosystem, CoinLoan lets you do just that.
But how does CoinLoan stack up against its competitors, and is this crypto trading and lending platform worth using? Our CoinLoan review is covering all of the features, pricing, and pros and cons to help you make the right choice.
What Is CoinLoan?
CoinLoan is a crypto lending company that was founded in 2017. The company operates out of Tallinn, Estonia, and was founded by Alex Faliushin.
According to its website, CoinLoan’s goal is to provide better access to financial services like loans to borrowers and lenders. It’s also simplifying life for crypto fans who want to have all of their trading and lending tools on a single platform.
What Does It Offer?
CoinLoan has three main features: earn, borrow, and trade. This makes CoinLoan extremely versatile. Additionally, if you’re currently using multiple crypto exchanges and savings accounts, switching to CoinLoan can help keep things simple.
Crypto Interest Account
There are numerous crypto interest accounts on the market these days, and CoinLoan also offers an interest account. Opening an account is free, and you can deposit a variety of cryptocurrencies and fiat to begin earning daily interest.
CoinLoan currently supports over 20 assets for its interest account, including popular cryptos like Bitcoin and Cardano. But you can also deposit Euros, Great British Pounds, and USD Coin (USDC) to earn interest.
Most assets currently pay 7.2% APY, which is far higher than you’ll ever find with a regular high-interest savings account. Here’s how CoinLoan’s interest rates break down for some of its most popular supported assets.
Interest accrues in-kind, meaning you earn Cardano if you deposit Cardano. The minimum deposit period is one day, and there isn’t a maximum.
Note that you also need to buy and stake CoinLoan tokens (CLT) if you want to earn the maximum interest rate for any asset.
CLT is the platform’s native token, and you purchase it directly through CoinLoan’s platform. Staking CLT doesn’t pay you interest directly, but it boosts the interest rates for other assets in your crypto interest account. Here’s how CLT staking tiers work:
- 125 CLT: Increases interest rate by 0.1%
- 375 CLT: Increases interest rate by 0.3%
- 1,000 CLT: Increases interest rate by 0.8%
- 1,250 CLT: Increases interest rate by 1%
- 2,500 CLT: Increases interest rate by 2%
CLT currently costs around $30, so you’re spending at least $3,750 just to start earning slightly higher interest rates. Ultimately, this means CoinLoan’s interest rates are slightly lower than you might expect for most users.
However, even earning a base rate of 5.2% APY on most cryptos or 10.3% on fiat is much better than leaving your unused assets sitting idly on the sidelines.
Also note that minimum deposit requirements vary depending on the asset. For example, you need to deposit at least 0.005 BTC or 25 Euro to fund your account.
Crypto-Backed Loans
One of the main advantages of using crypto to take out loans is that you don’t need to sell your cryptocurrencies to get cash. Furthermore, because crypto loans are over-collateralized, you don’t need to worry about credit scores or strict borrower requirements to take out loans; if you have crypto, you can leverage it as a borrower.
To use CoinLoan to take out a loan, you start by depositing collateral. You can deposit cryptocurrencies the platform supports, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. From there, you enter your loan amount, the asset you’re borrowing, loan period, and your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.
The minimum loan period is one month but you can choose up to 36 months. LTV ratios includes 20%, 35%, 50%, and 70%, and having a lower LTV means you need less collateral to take out loans, although this increases your interest rate.
But even with interest and loan origination fees, CoinLoan can be quite affordable for borrowers. For example, if you need a quick 1,000 Euro loan, you could deposit 0.138 Bitcoin if you have BTC in your portfolio and take out this loan for a total loan cost of 1,059.5 Euro.
And again, you can adjust the LTV ratio so you have to deposit much less BTC to take on loans. Overall, this helps borrowers access fiat and crypto faster without having to submit paperwork and deal with strict lenders.
You can also pay back loans whenever you want. Just note you can’t use cryptocurrency from your interest account as collateral to take out loans. However, you can withdraw crypto from an interest account without paying fees and then leverage it to borrow.
It’s also worth noting that you get a 50% discount if you pay off loan fees with CLT tokens.
Buy And Sell Crypto
The main reason to use CoinLoan is to earn passive income with your crypto or to take out loans. But the platform makes it easier for you to move digital assets around through CoinLoan Trade.
CoinLoan trade lets you make crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto trades. You start by depositing fiat, cryptos, or stablecoins to your CoinLoan wallet. From there, you can purchase any of the assets CoinLoan supports.
You can deposit Euros, British Pounds, USDC or other cryptos and stablecoins you hold in another crypto wallet and use those to trade on CoinLoan. CoinLoan also supports several payment methods, including:
- SEPA (for Euro and Eurozone citizens)
- Visa and Mastercard
- SWIFT
- AdvCash (available for all currencies but not available in the US)
Once you enter your trading pair, CoinLoan displays its current exchange rate and exactly how much of a particular asset you’re purchasing. If you ever want to withdraw assets, you don’t pay withdrawal fees either.
Overall, CoinLoan supports far fewer assets than exchanges like Coinbase and Binance do. But if you’re using CoinLoan to earn interest or take out loans, it’s faster to purchase crypto on its platform than using an exchange and then transferring your crypto to your CoinLoan wallet.
Mobile App
CoinLoan has a free app for Android and iOS. The app has the same features as the web version, so you can monitor your interest account, borrow crypto, and trade from your smartphone.
A mobile app isn’t a dealbreaker for a crypto lending platform. However, it’s a nice-to-have feature, especially if you regularly purchase crypto and move assets around in your interest account.
Are There Any Fees?
CoinLoan doesn’t charge withdrawal fees or fees for your interest account. Deposits are also free, so you can just use CoinLoan to generate interest without worrying about fees if that’s your goal.
CoinLoan charges a variety of fees for its loan and trading features:
- Loan Currency: Borrowing fees are 1% of the loan principal amount.
- Liquidation Fees: 7% of the liquidated loan collateral.
As mentioned, you get a 50% discount if you pay off borrowing fees with CLT tokens.
You also pay network fees when trading with CoinLoan. However, this is unavoidable, and even exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken charge these fees since this is the cost of moving assets around on the blockchain.
You also pay a variety of transaction fees depending on the payment method you use if you’re using fiat to buy crypto. This varies depending on your bank and country, so always check the exchange rate you’re getting on your order screen before placing a trade with CoinLoan.
How Does CoinLoan Compare?
CoinLoan is a popular player in the crypto lending market. However, more popular competitors like BlockFi and Celsius also let you earn interest, take out loans, and trade. Plus, depending on the assets you’re depositing, certain lending companies are often superior to others.
Here’s how CoinLoan interest rates compare versus BlockFi and Celsius for some popular cryptos and stablecoins:
How Do I Open An Account?
You sign up for CoinLoan by entering your email and password. Once you verify your email with a verification code, you complete know your customer (KYC) verification to unlock all the features.
KYC requirements involve entering your name, address, and phone number. CoinLoan also requires uploading a government-issued ID like a passport or driver’s license and selfie.
The process takes a few minutes. CoinLoan operates worldwide as well, although it states some countries aren’t eligible due to risk and that you must complete KYC verification to check if your country is supported.
Is It Safe And Secure?
Security is an important consideration for any financial service, and this holds true for crypto. Furthermore, when you’re lending or borrowing funds, it’s even more critical that your assets are protected from hacks and potential insolvency.
Thankfully, CoinLoan has numerous protocols in place to increase security. For one, CoinLoan uses BitGo as its custodian which provides $100 million in digital asset insurance. CoinLoan also says it stores assets in offline, cold storage to reduce the risks of hacks and loss.
In terms of other security features, CoinLoan customers use two-factor authentication to secure their accounts. There’s even a bug bounty program that rewards people for discovering and reporting vulnerabilities in CoinLoan’s platform.
At the end of the day, it’s still your job to protect your password and devices. And, if you’re not using CoinLoan to earn interest or take out loans, you should move your funds to your own crypto wallet like Exodus, Ledger, or Trezor where you have more control over your private keys.
How Do I Contact CoinLoan?
There are several ways to contact CoinLoan for customer support. For starters, you can email support@coinloan.io with your questions. CoinLoan also has a Telegram group and Reddit community where its members ask questions and share relevant news.
Alternatively, you can call CoinLoan at +372 634 6411 or +1 (657) 220-1706. Overall, CoinLoan reviews are fairly positive, and the company has a 4.5 star rating on Trustpilot. Most positive reviews state that the platform is easy to use and that CoinLoan customer support is timely and helpful.
Is It Worth It?
The crypto lending space is a crowded one amidst companies like BlockFi, Celsius, and Hodlnaut. But despite this competition, CoinLoan holds up well as one of the best lending options out there.
If you’re willing to buy and stake CLT tokens, interest rates are definitely very competitive. And even without staking bonuses, CoinLoan has some of the higher interest rates for certain cryptos and fiat. Plus, borrowing fees are quite low, and signing up for CoinLoan is fast and simple.
If you want more asset support, Celsius has much more variety. Loan fees are generally lower on Celsius as well. But at the end of the day, you can use multiple lending platforms to get the best interest rates and borrowing terms for specific cryptos.
CoinLoan Features
