Hodlnaut Review: Earn Interest On Your Crypto

If your cryptocurrency is currently sitting in a wallet and isn’t generating rewards, you’re probably missing out.

There’s a variety of ways to earn passive income with your cryptocurrency these days. Between staking and crypto interest accounts, you can earn meaningful rewards just for holding crypto.

Hodlnaut is one of the most beginner-friendly to earn crypto rewards. In fact, its crypto interest account pays up to 7.25% APY new users can get a bonus of up to $20 for opening and funding an account.

Our Hodlnaut review is covering everything you need to know about this crypto rewards platform and how to decide if it’s the right choice.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: On August 8, 2022, Hodlnaut suspended deposits and withdrawals due to market conditions. They also suspended their regulated license application. This is a bad sign, and as a result, we cannot recommend Hodlnaut to readers.

Pros & Cons

Who Is Hodlnaut?

Hodlnaut is a Singapore-based company that began in 2019. Like competitors BlockFi and Celsius, Hodlnaut offers a free cryptocurrency interest account that lets you earn rewards on your deposits.

With over $500 million in held assets and more than 10,000 users, Hodlnaut is a sizable player in the crypto rewards space. And simplicity is really the name of the game. There aren’t any account fees, minimum deposits, or hoops to jump through to open your account.

You don’t get features like cryptocurrency rewards cards like you do with BlockFi. But if you’re just looking to earn interest on your cryptocurrency and want an easy-to-use platform, Hodlnaut could be right for you.

What Does It Offer?

A crypto interest account is Hodlnaut’s main offering. Additionally, there are several features account holders can use to maximize their rewards.

Hodlnaut Interest Account

Hodlnaut’s cryptocurrency interest doesn’t have any account fees or minimum deposit requirements. Currently, Hodlnaut supports seven assets:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Dai (DAI)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Tether (USDT)
• USD Coin (USDC)
• Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
• Pax Gold (PAXG)

You earn interest on a weekly basis. There isn’t a lock-in period, so you can deposit or withdraw whenever you like. Hodlnaut also has some of the most competitive interest rates out of all the crypto interest accounts out there.

Here’s a range of Hodlnaut’s current interest rates:

With Hodlnaut, you get the highest interest rate with the first tier of deposits. For example, Hodlnaut pays you 4.08% APY on the first 0.1 BTC you deposit. Your next 0.9 BTC earns 3.25% and anything above 1 BTC will earn 1.61%.

You get paid interest in-kind by default. This means if you deposit Bitcoin, you earn Bitcoin as rewards. However Hodlnaut also has a new preferred interest payout feature that lets you select the cryptocurrency you earn as interest. This helps you diversify your holdings and is also useful if you think an asset Hodlnaut supports is going to appreciate in the near future.

Free Token Swapping

Like many popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Hodlnaut lets you swap various cryptocurrencies and stablecoins around. Like preferred interest payouts, this is an effective way to diversify your portfolio. Token swapping also lets you earn more interest if you swap to a token that pays more interest than what you’re holding.

Hodlnaut doesn’t charge fees for token swapping which is also a perk. When you place a swap, you get a quote price that lasts 30 seconds. The quote displays how much of a cryptocurrency or stablecon you’re going to receive after completing the swap.

You can also place a market order to instantly complete a swap, although you might earn slightly more or less than you bargained for if markets are volatile. You earn interest on assets the day you complete a swap, so you can also use this feature without interrupting your crypto earnings.

Fixed-Term Deposits

Hodlnaut largely caters to newer cryptocurrency investors because starting interest rates are so competitive. In other words, you don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin to get the best interest rates.

However, Hodlnaut still caters to investors with significant holdings thanks to fixed-term deposits. With fixed-term deposits, you lock up your cryptocurrency for a set amount of time. In exchange, you earn more interest than you would if you stick with the lower tiers in Hodlnaut’s regular interest account.

How much interest you earn depends on the asset and how long the lock-in period is. Hodlnaut offers 30-, 90-, and 180-day lock-in periods. You also get paid interest upon maturity and interest earned isn’t compounded.

Again, most investors should use the regular cryptocurrency interest account because the starting rates are so high. But if you have a larger portfolio, fixed-term deposits are superior.

Note that while you can terminate a fixed-term deposit before maturity, you'll forfeit all accrued interest.

Hodlnaut Referral Program

Hodlnaut has a fairly generous referral program, which is great news if you have friends and family who also want to start earning crypto rewards.

The referral program pays you 10% commission on your referee’s commission. This 10% isn’t taken out of their profits either, so there’s no downside.

Commission you earn is paid in-kind, so if your friend deposits Dai, that’s what you earn. Referees also get a $20 bonus if they make a $1,000 deposit as their first deposit or within a week of opening their account.

Are There Any Fees?

Hodlnaut is one of the lowest-cost methods to earn interest on your cryptocurrency. For starters, you don’t pay account fees or any deposit fees. Token swapping is free as well, so you’re not getting dinged for using the platform or its features.

Hodlnaut even lets you make one free withdrawal per month, which isn’t a given for every cryptocurrency interest account. But if you make more than one withdrawal per month, you pay fees that vary depending on the asset type.

Hodlnaut rates are subject to change depending on market conditions, so keep this in mind.

How Does Hodlnaut Compare?

Hodlnaut is far from the only cryptocurrency interest account that’s available. And, while it’s incredibly beginner-friendly, other companies may have superior interest rates. Furthermore, many leading interest accounts support more assets than Hodlnaut.

Of course, rates for your specific cryptocurrency is what matters most. For example, Hodlnaut pays 5.33% on its first tier of Bitcoin while BlockFi pays 4.5% and Celsius pays up to 6.20%. But BlockFi and Celsius support more assets and tend to offer higher rates. Celsius also supports more cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and doesn’t ever charge withdrawal fees.

Ultimately, it’s wise to shop around and to compare rates and fees before making your first deposit. You can also compare available sign-up bonuses and even use multiple cryptocurrency interest accounts to maximize rewards. Here’s a closer look at how Hodlnaut stacks up:

How Do I Open An Account?

You sign up for Hodlnaut with your name and email address. Once you verify a confirmation email, you must enable 2-factor authentication to finish setting up your account. Hodlnaut uses Google Authenticator for this process.

Hodlnaut also follows know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. This means you have to enter personal details and verify your identity to complete your account. Information and documents you need include:

• Name
• Nationality
• Country of birth
• Date of birth
• Employment information
• Government-issues ID like a driver’s license or passport

If you have issues with KYC compliance, you can contact Hodlnaut support at [email protected].

Is Hodlnaut Safe?

Important Update: On August 8, 2022, Hodlnaut revoked is MAS accreditation and suspended deposits and withdrawals. This is not a good sign, and as a result, we cannot recommend Hodlnaut from a safety perspective.

Since Hodlnaut is based in Singapore, the company falls under Singaporean regulations. The company is certified by the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA), which is a recognized accreditation by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

However, Hodlnaut isn’t FDIC-insured or under any U.S. government regulation. You can still use Hodlnaut if you live in the United States or much of the world. But you don’t have federal insurance of any sort.

According to Hodlnaut, the company notifies users if regulatory changes force it to adjust operations. The company also states it will ensure users in advance if it has to shut down so they can withdraw funds. But again, there aren’t guarantees.

Finally, Hodlnaut states that it holds most of its assets in a cold wallet, with just 2% remaining available for liquidity. This reduces the risks of hackers draining the company of funds, which is good news since Hodlnaut doesn’t guarantee it can cover losses from hacks.

If you want to reduce risk, you can purchase Nexus Mutual coverage through your Hodlnaut account. This provides two levels of coverage:

• If the custodian gets hacked and you lose more than 10% of your crypto
• If withdrawals from the custodian are frozen for more than 90 days

How much you pay for coverage depends on your asset value and coverage period. As an example, covering 5 ETH for one year currently costs 0.1299 ETH.

Ultimately, your best bet is to secure your account as much as possible. This means using a strong password and enabling whitelist wallet addresses in your Hodlnaut settings. You may also want to spread out your crypto across multiple interest accounts if you have a large portfolio to diversify risk.

Should You Use Hodlnaut?

Hodlnaut is one of the most beginner-friendly ways to earn interest with cryptocurrency. With competitive rates and no fees, it’s also easy to see why Hodlnaut is so popular.

You should still shop around to compare interest rates with companies like BlockFi, Outlet Finance, and Celsius. But if simplicity and lack of fees are what’s most important to you, Hodlnaut is the clear choice.

Get started with Hodlnaut here >>

Hodlnaut Features