Would you dare to pawn your bitcoin?

[m2017]

In Russia, there is a demand for digital deposites in pawnshops. According to information from forbes.ru, up to 100 requests for money secured by cryptocurrencies are received monthly. In this regard, the pawnshops asked the Central Bank of Russia to clarify the possibility of accepting cryptocurrencies as collateral on a par with gold. To which, the regulator didn't find grounds for banning such activities. For now.

I remind that in Russia the legal status of cryptocurrencies has not yet been clearly defined. Most likely, the legislative framework will be finalized and transactions with digital assets will be regulated so that they receive the status of a full-fledged liquid collateral. And now, it turns out that pawnshops in Russia can accept currencies as collateral, and there are no laws prohibiting this.

Currently, digital currencies are recognized as property only for the purposes of the laws "On Combating Money Laundering", "On Insolvency" and "On Combating Corruption", in other cases, "legislation doesn't establish the legal basis for the circulation of digital currency", says Central Bank of Russia.

Also, in that article (I warn you, the text is not in English), a probable problem is voiced when it is physically impossible to transfer cryptocurrencies to a pawnshop for storage. It seems to me that this is solvable. It is enough for a pawnshop to create its own crypto wallet, to which the client's cryptocurrencies will be sent for temporary storage (until the borrower's debt is repaid).

P.S. This is a slightly loose interpretation of information.


Now let's move on to the question posed in the topic title.
- Would you approve of the possibility of leaving crypto as a deposit in a pawnshop?
- Has such a service not yet appeared in your country of residence?
- How do you feel about the emergence of such new trends in the service sector?

I think that this service in a pawnshop will not be possible without the KYC procedure, which few will like.

Ready to discuss this topic?

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[DaveF]

No different then taking a loan against your BTC from some of the larger places that do it online.
The biggest issue I see is regulation and price volatility and the rules that you are agreeing to when you do it.

You give them 1BTC they give you $25000. If the price goes up can you get more cash from them? Or do they give you some back.
If the price plummets back to $15000 and you walk away do they have any way of going after you?

Personally I would not, but that is just me. Would rather just sell and buy back. Unless they are offering very low interest rates, which pawn shops are not known for.

-Dave

[BenCodie]

Is there such service where I am? Not directly, though I am sure a deal could be brokered to fix the issue below:

No different then taking a loan against your BTC from some of the larger places that do it online.
The biggest issue I see is regulation and price volatility and the rules that you are agreeing to when you do it.

You give them 1BTC they give you $25000. If the price goes up can you get more cash from them? Or do they give you some back.
If the price plummets back to $15000 and you walk away do they have any way of going after you?

Personally I would not, but that is just me. Would rather just sell and buy back. Unless they are offering very low interest rates, which pawn shops are not known for.

-Dave

I thought about the same thing. It seems that the deal would be heavily skewed in the borrowers favour. There would have to be adjusted terms in order for this to work.

I suppose the above answers both of the other questions in the OP.

[dzungmobile]

- Would you approve of the possibility of leaving crypto as a deposit in a pawnshop?

Pawnshops are like many services. So if you can use your bitcoin as a collateral on exchanges, on lending services, you can do it at pawnshops if they accept bitcoin. Pawnshops somewhat are similar to lending if I am right.

If you ask me when I am a person who wants to use my bitcoin as collateral at pawnshops, I don't have rights to approve it. I am not the business owner/ operator.

If I am a pawnshop owner/ operator, I will have to consider risk of Bitcoin volatility. If my taste is accept risk, I will accept bitcoin as collateral. Obviously, I will only accept it if my pawnshop's Terms of Service has a liquidation term.

With a liquidation term, I might get benefit when I liquidate the collateral like buying a discount bitcoin. It is double benefit if I am a real Bitcoin investor too.

[Lucius]

For me, every service in which someone gives its BTC for this or that reason is essentially wrong. Most of those who are active on the forum know what happened to companies that offered tempting interest on BTC deposits, and yet they were companies that operated at least somewhat in accordance with the law - while on the other hand, a pawn shop can literally disappear overnight and you can easily lose everything.

Of course, there is also the issue of KYC and the protection of this data, but also the problem of personal safety if it were physical branches - which leads me to conclude only one conclusion, and that is that this is a very bad idea no matter how someone presents it.

[stompix]

The biggest issue I see is regulation and price volatility and the rules that you are agreeing to when you do it.

You give them 1BTC they give you $25000. If the price goes up can you get more cash from them? Or do they give you some back.
If the price plummets back to $15000 and you walk away do they have any way of going after you?

They don't have to go after you, they will do just as all those platforms when the value goes close to what they lent you then they will liquidate it and that's it, that's why they ask for regulation on this:

Yury Fedyukin, Managing Partner of Enterprise Legal Solutions, recalled that under the law “On Pawnshops”, the borrower transfers things to the lender for storage and his right to freely dispose of the pledge during the term of the contract is limited.

Besides, some pawnshops even go as low as 30% when they give you a loan for gold so in crypto it might go down to 20%.
Checking the website they offer in rouble $532.24 for something value at $925.30 so they might have enough coverage even with Bitcoin volatility!

I thought about the same thing. It seems that the deal would be heavily skewed in the borrowers favour.

Think of the situation when the coins go down 60%, you get liquidated and the next day it shoots back up to the original value and you end up with the $7k you got as a loan for you BTC. Not so favorable anymore, right?

[Iadegbola34]

Personally, I think it's a cool option to have. It could provide an alternative way for people to access funds using their cryptocurrencies, especially if they need a short-term loan. However, ensuring proper security and compliance measures, like KYC, would be crucial.

[slaman29]

Interesting, but I would never trust a pawnshop in any case, but I definitely understand how it works and know that people in the past in my area used it a lot. Generally, they pawn items they never expect to get back anyway.

Pawn shops here only accept gold or expensive items with a resale value. I guess the problem is not so much people willing to pawn BTC but pawnshops willing to accept BTC volatility.

It could even be a gamble. Pawn 1 BTC for maybe 30% value now, and buy it back when BTC is super high? You end up making money

[tabas]

- Would you approve of the possibility of leaving crypto as a deposit in a pawnshop?

It's kind of hard for me but I've got this thought already that saving my bitcoin that's being held but at the same time use it as a collateral. My decision will depend on the laws if me(pawner) will have some protection from doing so but if not, I'll choose to do it with some of my altcoins but not with bitcoin. Is it just me that I've got a different treatment for the altcoins that I hold than of course, Bitcoin? And if I've got really no option, I might just sell a little amount of my btc holding than pawning it, paying the interest and there's the volatility that the value might not be in my favor.

- Has such a service not yet appeared in your country of residence?

Not yet but I think if it's with individuals that are also in crypto and I know them personally, maybe they'll agree.

- How do you feel about the emergence of such new trends in the service sector?

This is inevitable, anything that can be attached to bitcoin and integrate it with financial services is possible.

[NotATether]

Nope, nada, never, nein.

What's the guarantee that the pawn shops won't just steal your crypto? I mean, they can just do it like that, and nobody can reverse the transfer since it is decentralized currency.

Most people go full scammer when they receive someone else's crypto. Because now they know how rich it made OGs and they also want to be rich, but quickly, in a few days, not in years, and without doing any work at all.

Personally, I think it's a cool option to have. It could provide an alternative way for people to access funds using their cryptocurrencies, especially if they need a short-term loan. However, ensuring proper security and compliance measures, like KYC, would be crucial.

Who the hell does KYC in a pawnshop? Some of them are even operated by gangs/mafia.

[Baofeng]

Nah, I wouldn't go that far to pawn my BTC, I would rather pawn physical objects, like jewelries or even your car. The worst thing that can happen is that you totally lost your bitcoin here just because of some technicalities.

And there is also the trust factor involved, and as far as I know, as what we have been preaching, not your keys, not your coins.

I'm totally against it. And even if this service is available in my country, I wouldn't do that. So voted for No.

[Z-tight]

Personally, I think it's a cool option to have. It could provide an alternative way for people to access funds using their cryptocurrencies, especially if they need a short-term loan. However, ensuring proper security and compliance measures, like KYC, would be crucial.

Depositing your BTC's into a pawnshop is kind of similar to every other service in which you must give up custody of your keys, it is similar to lending and earning platforms and centralized exchanges, though these platforms are regulated differently and the purpose of depositing is different, but the risk is the same, not your keys not your coins.

Customers complied to kyc in all of the centralized exchanges and crypto companies that have collapsed in recent events, but it didn't stop them from losing their money when the platform bit the dust. The message is simple, don't give away the custody of your BTC's for any reason, you may never get the coins back.

[348Judah]

- Would you approve of the possibility of leaving crypto as a deposit in a pawnshop?

How could this be equally balanced with the both sides not being affected considering that bitcoin is a volatile cryptocurrency, i don't think it's a good idea for me personally but we can still finds alot of people who will have this as a take in, but when the bitcoin market rises it may not pay the person than it would pay the pawnshop.

- Has such a service not yet appeared in your country of residence?

Nothing yet like this in my country, i think this can be easily achieved in countries where there's no much strict law enforcement against bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

- How do you feel about the emergence of such new trends in the service sector?

Not a bad idea even though much people may not really show interest because it appears as using your cryptocurrency as a qualateral for taking loan and the likes.

I think that this service in a pawnshop will not be possible without the KYC procedure, which few will like.

This aspect will also discourage many from having interest in it because ifnyou consider most of rhe bitcoiners, they are privacy consciouss and will try to oppose anything that goes with KYC or government regulations.

[mendace]

I am quite against this service also in a country like Russia.  Who could ever go to a pawn shop to sell their cryptocurrencies?  It's roughly like having Fiat money in your hand and going to a bank to ask for Fiat money in exchange....how crazy is this?  kyc...another initiative to be able to control you better.

[AmoreJaz]

Nah, I wouldn't go that far to pawn my BTC, I would rather pawn physical objects, like jewelries or even your car. The worst thing that can happen is that you totally lost your bitcoin here just because of some technicalities.

And there is also the trust factor involved, and as far as I know, as what we have been preaching, not your keys, not your coins.

I'm totally against it. And even if this service is available in my country, I wouldn't do that. So voted for No.

if you have other means to exchange your btc to your fiat, why not do it and not use the pawn system? i do not see the logic of this move unless the person in russia has no other option to convert his btc to his fiat and he badly needs his fiat.
i can agree with other physical belongings to be pawned but crypto or btc, i don't think it is acceptable when we are already in this digital age where you can practically transact over the net.

[BenCodie]

I thought about the same thing. It seems that the deal would be heavily skewed in the borrowers favour.

Think of the situation when the coins go down 60%, you get liquidated and the next day it shoots back up to the original value and you end up with the $7k you got as a loan for you BTC. Not so favorable anymore, right?

Okay...but at what pawn shop does liquidation even occur? If a borrower pawns $10,000 worth of Bitcoin (let's say rate is $100,000 for argument sake, so, 0.1 BTC) for $6,000 cash, then the price tanks by 60℅, the borrower doesn't get "liquidated" they still need to pay the $6,000 back plus interest to get their 0.1 BTC back. Which, if they truly don't believe in Bitcoin at that point' they can abandon the loan for a $2,000 profit at this point.

If the BTC goes up, repayment is obvious in order to get the higher valued asset back.

Regardless of value fluctuation of the Bitcoin, the amount of cash to be repaid is all the borrower needs to worry about. 0.1 BTC is always 0.1 BTC and as far as I know - "Liquidation" is not a common term when pawning something.

[n0ne]

Whenever we provide gold as collateral we'll be able to see the documentation mentioning the value of gold along with the weight. This serves as a proof, and the interest for the money borrowed with the gold collateral will be calculated. This is the procedure followed everywhere and the same gives trust on the service provided. In such a way if the pawn shop have the proper documentation, then it is good that we submit bitcoin as collateral and borrow money. However it has the highest risk than other forms of collateral as it is easy to destroy the trace of transactions using different mixing services. So, it all depends on the pawn shop, whether they're trusted one in the business and does they have registered with the government.

[Ale88]

No different then taking a loan against your BTC from some of the larger places that do it online.
The biggest issue I see is regulation and price volatility and the rules that you are agreeing to when you do it.

I agree with you, I see this just as a way to overcomplicate something that already exists (borrowing online, or even on this very forum). What if the laws change and the other person, somehow, feels entitled to keep your BTC because they went up in price? Personally, I would never take such risk, too many grey areas.

[OgNasty]

With the volatility of Bitcoin I could see the desire by some to want to take advantage of pawning or loans on their BTC in order to try and have their cake and eat it too.  It's a bit of a put option on Bitcoin's price, albeit with an extreme interest rate and pool loan value.  However, if you were to pawn your coins instead of spend them during a bubble, you might find that you're able to buy them back at an attractive rate if the price goes up, or just leave them and enjoy your funds if the price goes down.  Bitcoin being extremely volatile is what makes this almost attractive to a gambler with some coins burning a hole in their pocket.

[uneng]

- Would you approve of the possibility of leaving crypto as a deposit in a pawnshop?

I would avoid leaving my BTC as deposit in a pawnshop, because Bitcoin's price can become bullish while in hands of the shop, so I wouldn't be able to sell my holdings on the moment I needed or wished.

- Has such a service not yet appeared in your country of residence?

As far as I know this service isn't available in my country, Brazil, yet.

- How do you feel about the emergence of such new trends in the service sector?

I think every services involving Bitcoin have their importance and impact on the industry. The more, the better. This one doesn't fit for me, but it doesn't mean it can't be useful for other people. In extreme situations where the person doesn't have any goods or patrimony, he may need to give up his BTCs to a pawnshop for money or credit, so it has practical use cases.