Staking XRP isn’t possible because Ripple is not a proof-of-stake blockchain. There’s another way to earn passive income from Ripple, however, and it’s called lending.
Staking is a great way to lock up your crypto assets and earn staking rewards. Lending, on the other hand, makes it possible for you to lend your cryptocurrency to others and earn returns.
There are several platforms that support cryptocurrency lending, and we will cover the best ones in this article. We will also share some additional information about staking, lending, and XRP.
Read on to learn more.
What is Staking?
Staking is a popular way for crypto owners to earn a passive income by putting their assets to work. This process works similarly to storing your money in a savings account but with higher returns.
Crypto staking was first introduced by proof-of-stake blockchains such as Cardano (ADA) and Ethereum (ETH). Proof-of-stake is a consensus mechanism that enables a significantly more energy-efficient way of processing crypto transactions, reducing the use of electricity by over 99%.
When you stake cryptocurrency, you’re contributing to a blockchain network by participating in the processing of transactions. Your cryptocurrency is locked in for a certain period of time, but you earn returns called staking rewards, which makes it a worthwhile investment.
What is Crypto Lending?
Crypto lending is another popular way of earning a return on a cryptocurrency that you hold. But in contrast to staking, lending doesn’t require you to pick a proof-of-stake blockchain to earn returns.
Crypto lending platforms make it possible for borrowers to borrow fiat or cryptocurrency against their existing crypto assets. In order to qualify for a loan, borrowers need to deposit their crypto assets to a lending platform as collateral.
For example, let’s say that someone wants to borrow $10,000 against their ETH at a time when ETH is valued at $2,000. In most cases, they would then need to deposit at least 5 ETH to qualify for a loan. Depending on the platform, the required collateral-to-loan ratio can be as high as 15:10.
Lenders, on the other hand, use crypto lending platforms to lend money to borrowers. By lending fiat or cryptocurrency, they can typically earn 1-15% APY. In case you’re not familiar with the term, APY stands for annual percentage yield and represents the return on investment (ROI) after one year.
There are four different types of crypto loans that you should know about.
- Collateralized loans require the borrowers to provide crypto collateral, as explained earlier, and hence don’t require a credit score check or even KYC in some cases.
- Uncollateralized loans work similarly to personal loans and require a credit score check and KYC.
- A line of credit makes it possible for people to borrow a certain percentage of their deposited crypto collateral and get charged only for what they withdraw.
- Flash loans are quick loans used in market arbitrage, and they make it possible to borrow assets that will be returned in the same transaction.
In this article, we will focus on collateralized loans and how you can benefit from them as a lender.
What is Ripple (XRP)?
Ripple is a fintech company that works to solve some of the global payment problems. It was first founded in 2004 as Ripplepay by a software engineer called Ryan Fugger.
XRP, its native token, was first released in 2011 with a total supply of one hundred billion tokens. Since then, it has been considered one of Bitcoin’s biggest competitors due to its faster transaction speeds and higher energy efficiency.
3 Best XRP Lending Platforms
There are three lending platforms that offer a high APY for Ripple holders, namely Nexo, CoinLoan, and YouHodler.
Nexo
Nexo is a digital asset company that offers a variety of crypto lending services through its platform, including collateralized loans and lines of credit. It was founded in 2018 and currently counts over five million users worldwide.
Using the Nexo lending platform, you can earn up to 12% APY on your XRP loans, and the minimum lending amount starts from $100.
Trustpilot rating: 4.6
CoinLoan
CoinLoan is a crypto lending and exchange platform that was founded in 2018. It offers collateralized crypto lending to a quarter million users registered on its platform.
The CoinLoan lending platform can earn you up to 7% APY on XRP loans, and the minimum lending amount starts from 500 XRP.
Trustpilot rating: 4.1
YouHodler
Up to 4.08%
The YouHodler platform offers a wide variety of crypto services, including crypto lending. It’s regulated by EU and Swiss institutions and trusted by more than two million users. Just like the previous two companies, YourHodler was founded in 2018.
By lending your XRP through YouHodler, you can earn up to 4.08% APY, with a minimum starting investment of $100.
Trustpilot rating: 4.3
Conclusion
While staking XRP is not possible since Ripple isn’t a proof-of-stake blockchain, crypto lending is a viable alternative to earning passive income from XRP.
By depositing their crypto assets as collateral, borrowers can access fiat or additional crypto, while lenders can earn returns on their deposited funds.
There are several platforms that support XRP lending, including Nexo, CoinLoan, and YouHodler, which offer the highest APY rates.
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