Bitcoin Forum

Im thinking of lending some of my money out on Bitfinex lending service where you either can choose
a "guaranteed to get money back" option + one where you take the risk.

Bitfinex say its a low risk, but I cant seem to find that many talking about it on the internet?

Are someone here lending out USD on Bitfinex?

The rates sounds really good, so im looking for a catch...

I don't have the experience, but am curious on this one as well.

What are the rates they offer? For the 'guaranteed' and 'risky' options?

I would definitely tread cautiously on this one... What are the guarantees the borrowers will pay back? On the "How it works" page it says so:

"If a trader end up with more losses than his balance can cover, lenders can lose part of their lent funds, unless they use insured loans (see FAQ for more information)."

I guess you'll have to open an account to get the specifics. Let us know what you find out and your experiences.

There's apparently $12M already being lent out.  The biggest concern I have is what if the owners decide simply to pull a "Sheep marketplace" and say the site got hacked and disappear with the funds.  There's nothing so far that makes me think they would do this, in fact ,if you read the comments from them, they seem to be legit and want to run a legit business, but without any repercussions, it just seems risky.

More transparency on who these people are and how would not happen I think would only increase trust and usage.  Other than this issue I think mostly their site is great since it's the only only I know where you can trade on margin and short bitcoin.

Is hoping that this topic will generate some experiences ;)

Didnt find that much on Google. On the other hand, the rates are going down if you attract to many lenders, so
theres maby an "economic explanation" behind the silence.




Was thinking the same. Even if decided to go with the insured-lending alternative, its of little matter if the whole site
where to disappear= )

...ask them?
https://bitfinex.com/pages/contact

For all you know I could be an insider on this potential scam just like anyone else.

I am also not too vocal to convince people to lend their USD on the site (since I do it myself), traders however should feel quite invited by me! ;)

Raphael NICOLLE, CEO of bitfinex

http://fr.linkedin.com/in/raphaelnicolle/en

Giancarlo Devasini, CFO

http://hk.linkedin.com/pub/giancarlo-devasini/82/646/2a5?trk=pub-pbmap

Their forum names are unclescrooge and urwhatuknow respectively.

I am lending there, for some months now without any problems at all.

Yeah, that would likely be the fastest and maybe also cheapest way (depending on the exchnage rate swings in the mean time). Alternatively you can also send USD via bank wire to their bank.

I'm also worried about they running with the money. How likely is that? There's already 16 million lent (http://charts-bfxdata.rhcloud.com/) and I wonder how many BTC.

Interest rates are very attractive, but "risk of ruin" also seems high.

I think https://www.bitfinex.com/pages/stats is public? Anyways, there are ~2.8k BTC lent out currently.

Thanks. So more than 18 million lent right now, plus whatever is in accounts that isn't lent... Considering that demand for USD doesn't increase, as more USD are lent, lenders get a lower interest (until a particular point, as demand increase when interest rates decrease) and at the same time, Bitfinex can steal a bigger bounty. Lower returns and higher risk.

I've built a website with some stats and charts made out of data pulled from the bitfinex' api

Maybe you'll find it useful:
http://charts-bfxdata.rhcloud.com

Regards
Bjorn

This was exactly the type of data I was looking for, thanks a lot.
Peace.