Investing

Learn all about earning interest on crypto, and the various ways you can earn crypto interest on Bybit, with yields up to 180%!

earn-interest-on-crypto-key-terms.png

3-steps-earning_crypto-interest-bybit.png

bybit-spot-account.png

ways-to-earn-interest-on-crypto.png

bybit-savings-staking.png

bybit-liquidity-mining.png

bybit-dual-asset.png

bybit-shark-fin.png

bybit-launchpool.png

bybit-nft-marketplace.png

earning-interest-on-crypto-pros-and-cons.png

earn-interest-on-crypto-bybit-products.png

Part 1: The Basics of Earning Crypto Interest

Cryptocurrency markets are well-known for their inherent volatility. While this poses nontrivial risks, it also opens up unique opportunities to earn yields and returns that the traditional stock market investor may not even dream of.

These substantial yield opportunities have grown larger and more accessible with the development of the 

 (DeFi) industry. The real game changer has come about with the boom of crypto 

(DEXs), both striving to give customers a diversity of financial products.

In this article, we’ll show you how to earn interest on crypto and, more importantly, how to choose investment opportunities that will optimize your yields.

Jargon to Know to Help You Earn Interest on Crypto

Before diving into the best opportunities to earn interest on crypto, let’s cover some of the most important terms used in the crypto finance industry.

 (APY) is yearly interest that accrues to your investment, taking into account the effect of compounding.

 is the measure of a crypto’s market value, which is derived by multiplying its current market price by its circulating supply.

 (TVL) refers to the total market value of all the crypto funds currently locked in a DeFi platform’s 

 refers to a substantial and usually prolonged market decline. Bear markets are characterized by the dominance of selling rather than buying among market players.

 is a decentralized digital network that stores transactions in chains of blocks. Transactional activity on a blockchain is controlled collectively by all of the network’s participants/users. Most of the activity on a blockchain network — exchange of funds between users, confirmation of transactions, and business operations — involves the use of crypto coins.

 (PoS) is a consensus mechanism used on some blockchain networks for validating block transactions. In PoS blockchains, network users lock a certain amount of their crypto assets on the platform for the right to validate transactions and receive staking rewards.

 refers to locking crypto funds, both on centralized and decentralized platforms, in order to generate income.

 is a process whereby you deposit your crypto assets in a DEX’s 

in order to receive rewards in tokens and fees.

 occurs when the price of a deposited asset in a liquidity pool decreases from the time when you deposited it.

The primary methods through which you can earn interest on crypto are staking and lending. Staking involves locking your funds on a blockchain to help validate transactions, in return for which you earn crypto rewards from the platform. Additionally, some centralized platforms — such as CEXs and 

Staking, however, has moved beyond its original intent and now often refers to a plethora of investment products on CEXs and DEXs, in which funds aren’t specifically used for blockchain validation.

 refers to depositing your funds to lending pools (and sometimes to other types of pools as well) with DeFi lending and borrowing protocols, as well as with centralized crypto lending platforms.

When considering lending and staking crypto, of key interest to investors are the security and investment risks involved.

Staking is often viewed as a safer option than lending. After all, staking is a fundamental process on a blockchain network, and is thus well-protected by the overall blockchain security model. If staking fails on a blockchain, the entire blockchain fails, along with all of its 

 (DApps). Due to this critical importance of staking, its safety is secured against all but the most severe hacks.

DeFi lending also takes place on DApps residing on top of the underlying blockchain, which introduces an additional layer of vulnerability. Furthermore, DeFi lending presents some very specific security risks, such as 

Therefore, staking generally poses comparatively fewer security threats to your funds as compared to lending. 

The risk-vs.-return between staking and lending, however, may not be as clear-cut. In general, established lending protocols such as 

 offer lower interest rates for large-cap, popular cryptocurrencies, as compared to standard staking interest rates. However, some smaller lending platforms might offer extremely high-interest rates, usually for highly volatile, small-cap coins.

As with everything in the world of finance, the higher the rate offered, the more risk the investment carries. The downside risks of investing in very new, “dark horse” cryptos available on some lending platforms might be extremely high. Furthermore, when you use DeFi lending protocols, you’ll also face the potential for impermanent loss, due to the volatility of crypto assets. Nevertheless, protocols usually assist with mitigating the losses by distributing a portion of the trading fees to liquidity providers.

Another important factor in the staking vs. lending comparison is collateralization. On lending and borrowing platforms, borrowers are first required to lend funds to the protocol as collateral for their borrowed amounts. Staking, on the other hand, involves no collateral.

Staking on Exchanges vs. Staking on Blockchains

If you decide to stake your crypto funds, your two main options will be via CEXs, and/or participation on a blockchain platform, which can be done directly by running a validator node or by joining a staking pool.

Running a blockchain validator node lets you earn staking rewards directly. However, the technical setup and minimum investment requirements are often significant. For example, to run a validator node 

 you’ll need to download the entire blockchain, be online at all times to avoid “slashing” penalties and run all the requisite software.

Financial requirements for validator nodes are also far from trivial. For instance, Ethereum validators must stake at least 32 ETH (around $43,000 as of Sept. 25, 2022).

As an alternative to direct staking, you may join a staking pool, which is run by a staking service provider who allows you to participate, with significantly lower technical and financial commitments. However, unlike direct blockchain staking, participating in a staking pool makes you dependent on that pool’s operator.

Instead of staking on a blockchain, whether individually or via a pool, you might consider staking via a CEX. For many crypto investors and users, the CEX route is more affordable, less risky and less technically complicated.

This is largely due to two key factors — the security of your funds, and customer support. Major CEXs are the largest crypto trading platforms in the industry. Their security setups and customer support provide key advantages over blockchains and DApps.

Any potential hacker attacks on a blockchain could lead to potential loss of funds. At the same time, you may use a custodial wallet on a major CEX so that your funds are at lower risk of being hacked. Naturally, CEXs aren’t immune to hacker attacks. However, the larger ones feature cybersecurity as a critical part of their business model. Thus, custodial wallets on these CEXs are relatively more secure as compared to noncustodial blockchain wallets.

Staking on a CEX may also help you access investment products with more stable and predictable rates and terms. For novice investors, it could also be a less complicated way to enter the world of crypto staking.

Additionally, staking on CEXs allows you to use coins that are normally not “stakeable” via a blockchain platform. Blockchain staking only works with cryptocurrencies based on PoS networks. For instance, the world’s largest crypto, 

 (BTC), isn’t based on a PoS network, so it can’t be staked on a blockchain.

Best Crypto Staking Coins for Highest Interest

The volatility of the crypto market means that there’s dynamic change when it comes to the best coins for earning interest. Regardless, the best interest rates in the staking game are normally available via CEX staking. Since CEXs offer a wide array of coins and products, there are often great deals available. For instance, Bybit’s current highest-rate staking offer is for the Gunstar Metaverse (GSTS) coin, at 30% yield.

CEXs also offer staking for popular stablecoins — such as USDT, USDC, BUSD and more — that can’t normally be staked on a blockchain. In addition, some of these coins have great rates on offer. For example, Bybit’s current interest rate for USDT staking is 12%, one of the highest rates for staking in general.

The table below shows the top nine coins available for staking on Bybit.

Coins are listed in descending order by interest rates. Interest rate and market cap data are valid as of October 17, 2022. (Data source — Bybit.com; Market cap data source — Coingecko.com) 

Given the volatility of the crypto industry, the key to earning the best crypto interest rates is to keep an eye on the market and source the best deals as they arise. 

One way to deal with the inherent volatility of crypto markets is to invest using stablecoins. The leading stablecoins — USDT, USDC and BUSD — are readily available for staking on exchanges, though not directly on a blockchain.

Some crypto investors, in chasing the best possible rates, move their funds in and out of centralized and decentralized staking and lending opportunities. However, this strategy might backfire, especially with smaller investment amounts, due to the fees involved in withdrawing and depositing your funds on some platforms.

Thus, to earn a higher interest rate in the long term, it’s best to choose a trusted platform in which to stake and hold your crypto, instead of moving your assets around.

Another important consideration for maximizing your returns is the type of interest rate applicable to a staking or lending product. Some of these pay interest based on APY, while others use the APR calculation method.

The key difference is that APR is a simple interest rate calculation that doesn’t take compounding into account. On the other hand, APY is based on compounding interest. All other things being equal, an 

 with the exact same numeric interest rate.

Interest rates on crypto investments do change over time. These changes can be abrupt, and quite substantial. This is particularly true for DeFi lending investments on platforms like Compound, which has algorithmic interest rates that can change within a single day. On the other hand, staking interest rates are comparatively less volatile.

Are You Eligible to Earn Crypto Interest? 

Before making your first investment, check your eligibility, as requirements may vary from platform to platform. As the first, obvious requirement, you need to have some actual cryptocurrency funds on hand.

On most established centralized platforms, you also need to satisfy 

 (KYC) and residency requirements. The residency requirement is particularly relevant for Americans, as some CEXs outside of the U.S. don’t provide service to U.S. residents.

 (DYOR) so that you understand the risks and technicalities involved in crypto staking and lending.

Part 2: How to Start Earning Crypto Interest on Bybit

Bybit is one of the leading crypto trading and investment platforms in the world, offering a wide range of interest-bearing products. To start investing with Bybit, you’ll first need to 

. You can register your new account with Bybit via email and mobile.

There are three main ways to buy crypto on Bybit: Peer-to-peer (P2P) service, fiat deposit and balance payment service, and credit card/bank transfer. 

The first option allows you to buy crypto from another Bybit user via Bybit’s 

. There are zero taker and maker fees for these transactions.

2. Buying Crypto With Fiat Deposit and Balance Payment Service 

 through the Fiat Deposit and Balance Payment service. The fiat currencies available for this service are the euro (EUR), Brazilian real (BRL), Argentine peso (ARS), British pound (GBP) and Russian ruble (RUB).

3. Buying Crypto Using Credit Cards/Bank Transfer

Bybit also allows you to purchase crypto using credit cards and/or bank wire transfers with the 

You can directly deposit crypto funds into your Bybit account from a variety of centralized and decentralized sources — for instance, accounts on other exchanges, 

 page on your Bybit account’s homepage. From there, choose the

section. The available cryptocurrencies will be shown in this section. Click on

 next to the crypto you’d like to transfer to Bybit.

, you’ll see Bybit’s deposit address for the chosen crypto. Simply use this as the destination wallet address in your wallet or account on another exchange.

Part 3: 6 Ways to Earn Interest on Crypto With Bybit

There are six key ways to earn interest or income on your crypto with Bybit. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

 1. Earn Interest on Crypto with Staking (Bybit Savings)

Bybit Savings is an investment product that allows you to stake crypto for interest. There are around 20 coins and tokens available for staking, including BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and BUSD. Choose between a flexible staking term, where you can withdraw your funds at any time, or a fixed term, which depends on each crypto and is usually 30, 60 or 90 days.

Bybit Savings is a great choice for risk-averse crypto investors. It provides a simple way to earn stable interest from popular coins and tokens, and you can even choose a flexible staking period. If you’re taking your first steps in the world of crypto investing — or, in general, prefer predictable and low-risk investment products — Bybit Savings might be the most suitable option for you.

How to Earn Interest on Crypto With up to 180% Yields

Get your daily dose of crypto and trading info