For those of you who own crypto and don't want to liquidate your assets or create a tax event then looking at lending platforms might be the way forward. From my research NEXO seems to be the most reliable of this emerging asset class. Not only can you avoid capital gains, avoid losing your assets but you can also use nexo as a trading tool which I will explain later. Loans can be repaid using crypto or fiat currencies. Also they offer an interest rate for holding your stable coins with them.
So what you need to do is simply open an account on nexo. Verify your account with just your phone number and address (for smaller loans) and for complete access provide proof of ID such as a passport or drivers licence and you are set. You can then deposit your crypto to your nexo address wallet and use it as collateral in order to take out a loan which can be in your local currency or usdt even.
"Crypto assets are held in multi-signature wallets and cold storage at world renowned and audited SEC-approved custodian BitGo, which is Cryptocurrency Security Standard Level 3 as well as SOC 2 compliant"
Then you can take out a loan against the value of your crypto. Currently supported on nexo are Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Binance Coin, TUSD and NEXO.
Here is a link to a loan calculator https://www.nexocalc.com/ which shows the LTV (loan to ratio of the asset, as in what percentage of your asset you can take as a loan. ) So for example bitcoin is 52% LTV so if you want to take a 1000k loan it only requires about 2k worth of bitcoin. Of course these figures are open to change as nexo and the market evolves.
The interest rate is 16% per year (APR - Annual Percentage Rate) except for the nexo token itself which is 8% APR. Again in the crypto space this is actually quite small and loans can be repaid at any time after been taken out. I do envisage loans being repaid predominantly within 12mths. So for example as you can see from the loan calculator if you take a 1k bitcoin loan the repayment is 1080 after 6 months which is nothing in the crypto space.
The nexo token itself is classed as a security token and you will receive a dividend from holding them on the nexo platform. Holders have already received their first dividend on December 15th 2018. You will need to have a fully verified account (your phone and passport). You can also use your nexo token to draw a loan against (the LTV is a bit low right now at 15% but that will increase over time)
Some lending statistics (based on USDT) for your viewing pleasure https://www.nexolending.com/
The price of the nexo token is pretty low right now so for those interested in getting a stash now could be a decent time to begin doing so.
https://www.livecoinwatch.com/price/Nexo-NEXO
Can be got from exchanges listed in the link above (bottom of page)
My take on it is that NEXO is quite promising. It's the essence of banking to lend and to secure money and NEXO seems to be the proto crypto bank in the making.
As a trading tool it's seems pretty straight forward. As the price of your asset increases you can pay off some of your loan with your crypto or buy some NEXO coin and repay it at 8% APR and if the price drops you can use perhaps the fiat loan to repay some of your loan or you can buy some more crypto. I guess most people will want the loan for a new car though haha.
In conclusion NEXO is a clear case of a useful crypto start up that has real purpose and utility. So if I were to invest in crypto then nexo would form part of that investment strategy.
Yeah and finally it seems a pretty legit and solid set up