Celsius, a blockchain powered lending and borrowing platform, just announced that it aims to replace big banks and futures exchanges, like the CME and CBOT, with crypto coin holders who will earn returns through lending. Using its platform, which will launch in Q1 2018, Celsius members can easily borrow coins at significantly reduced rates compared to traditional financial institutions, while lenders can earn automatic interest by holding coins in the Celsius Wallet.
Dubbed as “The Wallet That Pays Back”, registrants who deposit coins into the Celsius Wallet will receive up to 7% per year on loaned coins.
Beginning early next year, users globally will be able to transfer Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or any of the several other coins the platform will accept into the Celsius Wallet and earn interest. Assets deposited will then be lent and distributed across the Celsius Network to a wide array of borrowers at competitive rates.
Rather than enabling big banks and exchanges to make huge profits on trading coin futures and options, Celsius allows its members to directly lend to member institutions, while earning five-to-ten times more than they would by leaving their coins in a basic wallet,” said Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky. “At Celsius, we’re excited to have the opportunity to empower people with crypto assets to earn interest via ‘Crypto Cashback’.
Taking aim at traditional futures exchanges, Celsius plans to offer significantly improved rates for any institutions who are interested in taking positions on the growing, yet volatile cryptocurrency market.
Today’s futures market is built for big banks and futures exchanges to rake in profits while providing no benefit for coin lenders and borrowers,” added Mashinsky. “Through blockchain, we’re building Celsius to shift the power and earnings back to the coin holders and provide more favorable borrow rates to both sides of the marketplace.
Celsius plans to offer a variety of powerful financial tools for crypto asset holders, including:
- Peer-to-Peer Lending: Individual coin holders can easily deposit coins into the Celsius Wallet and earn interest on lent coins from a trusted network of members.
- Peer-to-Peer Borrowing: Individuals looking to borrow within the network can easily borrow from Celsius member pool at highly competitive rates.
- Crypto Shorting: Network members will be able to short crypto assets by borrowing coins from lenders almost instantaneously.
- Global Credit: Borrowers will be able to leverage guarantors from all over the world who are willing to vouch for them. These guarantors can join their digital wallets to expand borrowing limits and lower interest payments.
- Capital Protection: Celsius will provide protection for all coins, by collecting a portion of the principal interest amount from borrowers. Celsius plans to use this reserve pool to protect lenders from defaulted loans.
Celsius challenges the status quo of the existing banking and financial system, especially when it comes to their profit-driven policies.” states Mashinsky. “Blockchain has the potential to reinvent how financial transactions are originated, managed and recorded around the planet. We believe blockchain is the future of finance, and we’re building Celsius to be a fundamental part of that future.