Cryptocurrencies

[Stickler]

Yes, their retail side allowed for retail customers to borrow as little as 1000. Company has physical offices in US and has(had) the BEST customer support. I even have a personal account manager who is actually local to me. He was always a phone call away (still is) if I needed anything.

BlockFi is another platform that does the same thing. US based. I just always felt that CEL was much better at the customer service end.

Celsius and BlockFi both switched their interest accounts to requiring US holders to be 'accredited investor' approved. Trying to be proactive and comply with US oversight. Basically show a net worth in excess of certain amount or annual income. It is common across any investment platform in the US for 'higher risk' investments. They restrict their access to people unless they can show their 'status'.

It is not a leveraged trading platform. You can buy or sell through them. But their main business was / is crypto lending and interest accounts. Nothing nefarious about them or VPN requirement. Full KYC AML and bank compliant.

Accredited Investor.. hmm.. that's probably the term I was looking for. I don't have plenty of assets to show on paper so I doubt I would qualify for that. It was sounding like a nice option, but the regulation takes me out of the game. I always wanted to formally take the time to understand how shorts/longs and all the ins and outs of that type of investing worked. I'm assuming your net worth has to be pretty nice in order to qualify.

On coinbase (i know i know), I'm lvl 3 for their levels:
Bank purchases / deposits $35,000/day
Card purchases $7,500/week
PayPal Purchases $1,000/day
Google Pay Purchases $7,500/week
PayPal withdrawals $25,000/day
Wire transfers No limit

And was offered their beta CB1 which allows trading w/o fees for a subscription per month. There are still some fees built in by changing the trading price or some shit, but it's still cheaper if you trade more frequently. Don't you have to be an "accredited investor" to get a CB Pro account too?

I also have an account on Gate.io which has a TON of different things you do if you don't live in the US. All hosted w/ in the same platform so it's a freakin' tease to see, but the minute you click a few buttons it goes back to the dashboard home screen. That exchange is listed in Asia or south pacific somewhere I think, but b/c of KYC adheres to shit that keeps me from participating.

 

[macgyver]

Accredited Investor.. hmm.. that's probably the term I was looking for. I don't have plenty of assets to show on paper so I doubt I would qualify for that. It was sounding like a nice option, but the regulation takes me out of the game. I always wanted to formally take the time to understand how shorts/longs and all the ins and outs of that type of investing worked. I'm assuming your net worth has to be pretty nice in order to qualify.

On coinbase (i know i know), I'm lvl 3 for their levels:
Bank purchases / deposits $35,000/day
Card purchases $7,500/week
PayPal Purchases $1,000/day
Google Pay Purchases $7,500/week
PayPal withdrawals $25,000/day
Wire transfers No limit

And was offered their beta CB1 which allows trading w/o fees for a subscription per month. There are still some fees built in by changing the trading price or some shit, but it's still cheaper if you trade more frequently. Don't you have to be an "accredited investor" to get a CB Pro account too?

I also have an account on Gate.io which has a TON of different things you do if you don't live in the US. All hosted w/ in the same platform so it's a freakin' tease to see, but the minute you click a few buttons it goes back to the dashboard home screen. That exchange is listed in Asia or south pacific somewhere I think, but b/c of KYC adheres to shit that keeps me from participating.

"Accredited investor' status is set by SEC. Have to show net worth of 1 mil plus and your residence can not be used in calc. Or show yearly income in excess of 250k (I believe)

You can still use BlockFi if you want a crypto loan. I used to use them, but CEL offered better rates and more flexibility. With BlockFi, there is a 1% origination fee on loans and no early payback penalty. Cel had NO orig fee, BUT you had to pay a min of 6 months interest. But if you were taking 100k loan, your monthly carrying costs are only $83 as an example. So if you wanted to pay off in 6 months, borrowing the 100k would only cost you $500.

BlockFi stopped offering interest based accounts in the US though. They still do lending. I have a credit card with them. It pays all the rewards in BTC. Made about 1k in BTC in rewards so far this year, just running bills though credit card and getting paid rewards in BTC. Rewards are also not taxable.

I just keep my eye on the angles. Collateralized lending is a great way to approach crypto holdings. Except the case of what I am dealing with and that is the danger. I think BlockFi has a separate auditing company out of NY called Gemini capitol. Full SEC registered company...etc. Nothing shady. But risk in anything.

 

[Stickler]

"Accredited investor' status is set by SEC. Have to show net worth of 1 mil plus and your residence can not be used in calc. Or show yearly income in excess of 250k (I believe)

You can still use BlockFi if you want a crypto loan. I used to use them, but CEL offered better rates and more flexibility. With BlockFi, there is a 1% origination fee on loans and no early payback penalty. Cel had NO orig fee, BUT you had to pay a min of 6 months interest. But if you were taking 100k loan, your monthly carrying costs are only $83 as an example. So if you wanted to pay off in 6 months, borrowing the 100k would only cost you $500.

BlockFi stopped offering interest based accounts in the US though. They still do lending. I have a credit card with them. It pays all the rewards in BTC. Made about 1k in BTC in rewards so far this year, just running bills though credit card and getting paid rewards in BTC. Rewards are also not taxable.

I just keep my eye on the angles. Collateralized lending is a great way to approach crypto holdings. Except the case of what I am dealing with and that is the danger. I think BlockFi has a separate auditing company out of NY called Gemini capitol. Full SEC registered company...etc. Nothing shady. But risk in anything.

When you get a crypto loan what are the requirements for getting it? Is it like a traditional loan typically, or do they use your crypto as collateral? (I'm assuming that's how people get liquidated, when their collateralized assets fall below whatever the threshold is to pay back the loan?

 

[macgyver]

When you get a crypto loan what are the requirements for getting it? Is it like a traditional loan typically, or do they use your crypto as collateral? (I'm assuming that's how people get liquidated, when their collateralized assets fall below whatever the threshold is to pay back the loan?

None. Just opening an account. KYC AML. It gets connected w/ your bank acct. Use loan calc to figue out what loan you want take and how much collateral you need. You put required collateral in your acct and submit loan app. They approve it and then you have the cash in 24-36 hours. Read contract for covering loan margin calls. I just kept funds in there to cover it if it were to happen. But if you get margin called, worst case they liquidate collateral at current rate and pay off loan and you get balance back. Just might have sold at a time where you didnt want to, but relative to current BTC or Crypto, technically you did not lose money. You sold at the lower price to cover the loan and get refunded the difference.

 

[samefredd]

Bitcoin isn't on the rise today. Maybe XRP?

 

[Rider]

Another big crypto exchange is on the ropes now:

Major crypto broker Voyager Digital suspends all trading, deposits and withdrawals

Digital asset brokerage Voyager Digital is pausing all customer temporarily suspending customer trading, deposits, and withdrawals.

www.cnbc.com

 

[ItalianMuscle]

I meant to chime in again, when I read this a week ago, but been very busy..

Celsius denies allegations of Alex Mashinsky trying to flee US

Troubled crypto lending firm Celsius is doing its best to restore liquidity alongside CEO Alex Mashinsky, who currently stays in the United States.

cointelegraph.com

 

[tommyguns2]

All these crypto loans is a recipe for disaster. I was trying to figure it all out about 6 months ago when the process of staking was being explained to me. Something in my gut told me this had the potential to tank. If someone is willing to give me 8% interest to me for loaning my crypto, they have to put that to work in high risk activities to cover that 8% and still generate their profit. It creates incentives for higher and higher risk moves. If and when the music stops, who is actually holding your crypto? Not you, and trying to undue all the moves will be a nightmare.

Again, I'm not inherently anti-crypto, but when it's being used as I'm describing above, it's not a currency, it's a security, and I can understand why people want to regulate it, just like derivatives and mortgage backed securities. It's presently NOT be employed significantly like a currency. When I can start buying retail goods and services with crypto easily, then I'll start thinking of it like a currency.

 

[tommyguns2]

As I said before, crypto is being treated as a security, but other securities are backed by actual hard assets, while crypto is backed by software that shows its presence on the blockchain. Still trying to get my head around it. I've always hated software!! LOL

 

[macgyver]

@Swiper, not looking for tit for tat, but this is too good to not at least laugh at.

Your buddy Schiff who lost Euro Pacific Bank (which was accused of money laundering...etc) is now in trouble with another one of his ventures. Looks like customers could be holding the bag on this one as well. So I know how you were quick to post vids of Schiff calling Celsius's Mashinsky a fraud....why did you not post this where Schiff's bank is getting shut down for the same reason?

 

[Swiper]

@Swiper, not looking for tit for tat, but this is too good to not at least laugh at.

Your buddy Schiff who lost Euro Pacific Bank (which was accused of money laundering...etc) is now in trouble with another one of his ventures. Looks like customers could be holding the bag on this one as well. So I know how you were quick to post vids of Schiff calling Celsius's Mashinsky a fraud....why did you not post this where Schiff's bank is getting shut down for the same reason?

Perhaps you missed these tweets. Nobody’s losing any money because he has all his customers money unlike like Celsius

this is good example of an honest business and a total fraud, Celsius

 

[macgyver]

Well calling Celsius a 'total fraud' is a little stretch. Possibly some bad decisions mixed with very bad market timing... .but fraud, I dont think I would go that far.

On chain metrics show Cel constantly working towards shoring up. Since the initial event, they have now brought their liquidation margin call on their BTC loans down to 2700, from inital 18,000 (which came close to getting hit!)

They have also been paying off many notes to the tunes of 100's of mil which frees up over-collateralized capital.

Overall, I would say things are looking MUCH better than they were when this first happened. But still suck balls 100% not knowing what is going to happen. No doubt 100% my fault so no one to blame but me. Risking all that for only 3% yield, I was being WAY too greedy. Live and learn.

The good thing is in all things bad, there will be opportunities.