How to earn 8% interest on free money

What even is this? Well, for this one post only, I am taking a break from my normal writing to create a searchable, shareable guide to:

• Earning crypto while browsing the web
• Buying USDC stablecoins
• Earning 8% interest (paid daily) on USDC balances on Nexo

Last updated Jan 2020

Brave

I start the story with Brave as, Brave browser runs like Chrome, but much faster with privacy features built in. Check it out here.

It also, pays you in BAT crypto for seeing its pre-approved ads. As in any ad revenue it makes off of you, it splits with you.

If you're not interested in a new browser, skip ahead to the Coinbase section.

I use Brave for 99.9% of my browsing and in return for seeing the ads it allows - I receive about $5 each month in BAT. While not a significant amount - I am starting here as some may not want to take the risk on Nexo and so this "free money" would be a great place to start.

I wish there was a tonne more to say, but it really is quite simple. When you sign up for Brave, you'll set up your rewards account and start earning as you surf.

Brave itself is built on chromium so all your favourite chrome apps will still work!

The tricky part here is that Brave pays in BAT (Basic Attention Token) and so you need to sell your BAT for USDC (USD Coin) on Coinbase.

Coinbase

Coinbase is a crypto exchange where you can buy and sell crypto assets. (Get $10 on signing up here)

You'll need to get a coinbase account to either:

• Trade your BAT for USDC
• Buy USDC with $USD

USDC

USD Coin (USDC) is a type of cryptocurrency that is referred to as a stablecoin. You can always redeem 1 USD Coin for US$1.00, giving it a stable price.

You know that idea that Bitcoin and crypto is super risky and volatile and not backed by anything?

Yeah throw that out. USDC is specifically backed by dollars. 1 USDC will always be worth 1 dollar. The idea behind it is to add dollar-like liquidity to the market with all the advantages crypto technology can offer.

Nexo let's you deposit stablecoins (we like USDC) for 8% interest and so you'll need USDC to earn the interest. Because it will always be worth $1 and is backed by $1, it is always easy to sell USDC for USD at any time.

Nexo

This is the money maker.

Highlevel Overview of how Nexo works:

• Nexo lends money to bitcoin owners on the value of their bitcoin at ~12%
• Nexo "borrows" (us) money from depositors at 8%
• Nexo takes the margin
• The assets on deposit are insured

All in all it is a bank with huge margins.

NOTE: the money needed to borrow from deposit is a handful of stablecoins (including USDC) or USD cash. You must put down a minimum of $50,000 to take the cash option, hence ignoring that now.

With the deposits insured, and liquidity in USDC built in - the 8% seems like a no brainer to me.

Interest is paid out daily which I can confirm - is real (see screenshot below)

Where does this fit in?

So in our household we keep a portion of our emergency fund in here. The thinking being that - if the situation arises to need the fund it can be easily moved back into a cash money market account over the course of a week.

I am not giving you investment advice. Simply showing you how it's done.

​The delay being - moving money via an ACH. The crypto moves in seconds

Overview

So that this is totally clear. Here is the process on using Nexo.

Let me know what you think!