Bybit begins offering crypto lending services

Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit has introduced crypto lending services to its portfolio of services. This allows users to earn passive interest income on their idle cryptocurrency assets.

According to the announcement made on May 2, users can deposit their unused crypto into asset pools which are lent out to borrowers, with the lenders earning hourly interest payments of up to 16.46%. 

Bybit Lending is currently only available on Bybit’s app version 4.16.0 and above, with the exchange promising to offer it on their website soon.

Borrowers on the platform must post collateral assets equating to or exceeding the loan amount to secure lenders’ investments. 

Bybit CEO and co-founder Ben Zhou stated that the platform intends to give users an opportunity to generate returns while providing advanced traders with access to capital from lenders allowing for more advanced trading options on the exchange. 

Loan deposits and redemptions 

Bybit lending allows users to deposit and redeem their crypto assets anytime but with a few caveats. There are minimum deposit amounts for the different cryptocurrencies used on the platform- 0.03 Bitcoin (BTC) and 0.05 Ethereum (ETH), for example. 

Funds can be redeemed easily, given that the service’s loan-to-pool ratio has not reached 100% and the user has not hit their daily redemption limit.

In such cases, the lender can redeem their assets when capacity becomes available or wait until the next day if they have reached the daily redemption limit. 

Bybit joins list of exchanges offering lending services

Bybit is the latest in several crypto exchanges providing lending services. Binance launched lending services in 2019 and has numerous options allowing users to earn interest on deposited crypto assets. 

KuCoin also offers lending services for a range of tokens, and while OKX doesn’t offer direct lending services, it facilitates users borrowing funds on deposited tokens through their loan facility.