For those holding BTC for the long haul, do you earn interest on your stash?

[95Bolu]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

[matjas]

Platforms and exchanges usually offer very low rewards for BTC staking, but for most of the other altcoins, you can get quite decent % back if you decide to stake. Annual percentage yield (APY) goes from few % and up to 50 % in trustworthy websites. The downside is, that for majority of altcoins, you have to store them on exchange or other platform, which brings with it few risks.

[tranthidung]

The risk of leaving your coins or tokens on exchange is big but it is not biggest one. In fact, the biggest risk is unknown future price of coin or token you invest in and stake or yield it.

In theory, APY can be high but it does not make any sense in the end if after one year, price falls a lot, halves or lost more than that. When you choose a coin to yield, fundamentals are very important because such things can help price to be more strongly survive against volatility of general market.

So if a coin has a good APY in theory, what you need is only a stable price of that coin. Then you can end with good profit after a few months or one year.

[avikz]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

Personally I don't stake/deposit my bitcoins to any platforms that offers interest payments against my deposit. There are couple of platforms available though like Celcius or Bitbns etc. But I have never used their service.

I believe bitcoin doesn't need such platforms because bitcoin itself is a super volatile asset which can fetch a big return if you can wait for the right time. So I will continue to avoid those interest payers.

[Lucius]

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

From the perspective of what Bitcoin stands for, I think it's a bad idea - because each user should be their own bank and have exclusive access to their private keys. The risk taken by those who deposit BTC to earn interest is therefore always present, but I understand that it is acceptable to people when they see the interest offered to them compared to traditional banks.

One old faucet that is still active offers just one such option with an interest rate of 4% + per year, and since I have some active refs and that it is a BTC that I have not personally invested in, I use that option. However, if we are talking about a significant profit, less than 1 BTC deposit on such services makes no sense to me. The risk is simply too great for what I can gain from it.

[NeuroticFish]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

Imho it's usually not a good idea.
You have to either put your coins into a custodian platform/website (this has risks "not your keys, not your coins"), either convert into an altcoin for PoS, LPoS or such (and altcoins are riskier than Bitcoin).
I am not into DeFi that much, maybe I've missed some case(s).

With Bitcoin price rising nicely against fiat, putting a good amount of coins at risk for some tiny APY it's not such a good deal.

[Jawhead999]

For Bitcoin I don't do that since the risk is bigger than the APY, trading is far better than staking Bitcoin.

For Altcoins the APY is worthy and most of altcoins itself is centralized, so staking isn't really bad here since holding the coins itself has a risk. Personally I don't recommend to buy altcoins since you need to take huge risk or can be defined like go big or go home.

[DaveF]

As with what everyone else more or less said. It's a bad idea. At the moment there are too many risks for not enough rewards.
Now if a major financial institution did it, with a ton a regulations and insurance and security. I could see it being attractive.
*I* would not do it, but if there was no more risk then a CD or savings account then I would see it's appeal.

-Dave

[Pmalek]

Most people will tell you that it's a bad idea and I would agree. Staking and earning interest on coins requires that you give up custody of those assets and put them in the hands of someone else.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. Do you think the interest rates are worth giving someone control over your bitcoin? History has shown us that many platforms have been hacked, or the owners have performed exit scams and rug pulls. There is no protection against that and it can happen at anytime if you are dealing with untrustworthy individuals.

Personally, If I had some altcoins that I would be willing to "gamble" with, I would stake them somewhere in return for a decent percentage. But I wouldn't do the same with my bitcoin.

[Fesatmas]

Is it about risking? for me not for Bitcoin owned, but for altcoins I definitely do. Whatever Bitcoin is owned now will be very risky if I do not choose and sort out where to bet it. Even those offers came from the leading exchanges. Bitcoin is still Bitcoin and I will not let it move or be deposited on another party. I prefer to hold it without mixing it with altcoins that can be bet anywhere.

[topbitcoin]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

If holding, then i will just decide to hold. My side earning maybe trade with money that i use to trade and not hold. Staking bitcoin or maybe save it and expect for a yield i never think about that because not want to put my money into other people or company because risk that can be come is also bigger.

[odolvlobo]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.
What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

Loaning your BTC to someone else is risky.

[Yamifoud]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

To earn while holding is a pretty good idea but to let somehow do it, instead of yours, like staking is totally risky. But many had done this and become their habit now, perhaps, it was not a problem for as long as it was staked on the trusted exchanges. I actually made this thing, with 2-3% APY is good enough but if you know how the other way that could increase your profit, that was a great idea ever.
I don't stop those people are currently staking but have to be sure that you don't have to complain about whatever happens like hacking is prone to most exchanges.

[hatshepsut93]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

First, don't mix Bitcoin and altcoins together. They might both be cryptocurrencies, but there's a key difference that Bitcoin is the most reliable project in this field, while altcoins are mostly just investment scams veiled as the next big thing.

Second, Bitcoin already gives you absurdly high returns of investment, so it's simply not worth the risk of losing all your coins to scammers/hackers to get some extra %. Practice shows that when there are centralized custodians that hold Bitcoin, exit scams and hacks are rampant.

[nelson4lov]

Firstly, there aren't much opportunities for Bitcoin out there. The ones available are just not worth it since you've to give up custody of your coins which isn't advisable. The rewards doesn't justify the rewards. Another point to note is that there aren't many opportunities like DeFi for Bitcoin and shady people can just make one with the primary aim of milking peopl their bitcoin all in the name of earning APY/APY rates. NOT WORTH IT.

[DooMAD]

I'd only be repeating what I said here a few months back.  Interest doesn't come from nowhere.  Make sure you understand what you're getting into.  Be careful:

To generate interest requires either a debt-based currency, a legitimate business model to fund it (in which case there's almost certainly a centralised element), or it's simply just a ponzi scheme.  

[Hamphser]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

Not really worth for the risk imho and where you do able to see or check out those good interest rates with those platforms which give out interest in fiat?

Staking does only have max of 2-5% APY which i dont consider to be a good idea or could really equal to the risk you've been putting because
we know that centralized platforms does have the tendency or risk on running away with those funds.

So i dont see for it to be worth or considerable but still its your choice to make though.

[GreatArkansas]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

Not really worth for the risk imho and where you do able to see or check out those good interest rates with those platforms which give out interest in fiat?

Staking does only have max of 2-5% APY which i dont consider to be a good idea or could really equal to the risk you've been putting because
we know that centralized platforms does have the tendency or risk on running away with those funds.

There are other platforms these days that offer much higher compare to centralized exchanges offering, most of them are in the different chains, like Ethereum network, Solana Network, etc.
Bridges and they will become like wrapped Bitcoin on the respective chain then you can use it to farm, like yield farming or just a normal stake/deposit.

But then again, it's still not 100% safe since most of these are smart contracts, there could be a bug on code or can be hacked.

[yazher]

I think it's better to keep your BTC in your own wallet rather than putting it on some exchange that will offer a small number of fees that won't really matter to you. This time, the pros cannot overtake the cons. Imagine you are after the small percentage fees but ended your BTC stuck on their exchange? This has happened before and it would not be impossible to happen again. I experience such a thing when I cannot withdraw my crypto assets on Okex when their withdrawal function was not working for a month.

[Dhaniii]

I have been reading up on some interest accounts out there for BTC and Altcoins and the yields are really good especially when benchmarked against fdic insured fiat.

What’s your take on this? Is this a good or bad idea?

for me storing BTC has two views on the benefits that are obtained by a person who keeps it and both have their own advantages. The first is storing in your own wallet, you get a profit when the market price rises and can be sold at any time, while the second saves it to the party when you get a fee or interest from the income saved by the owner of the BTC asset. So both have their advantages and disadvantages.