How to Earn Passive Income with Your Crypto? SoFi vs. Nexo vs. BlockFi vs. Crypto.com (Updated Oct’22)
Started crypto investing back in 2017, I have been using crypto apps to compound interest and accelerate earnings. I compared 10+ apps and spent hundreds of hours in research. If you are ever wondering how to make your crypto work, or which app is right for you, here is the place.
To save your time and efforts, I shared my personal experience below with all the details. If you would like just a quick conclusion, jump all the way to the end and you will find it. If you could use my promo codes, that will add extra bonus to both of our crypto journeys. Thanks a lot for your support!
SOFI (Limited to U.S. Region)
~3.8M members (as of May’22)
SoFi is the first mobile app I used for actual Crypto trading. It allows users to trade major cryptos at ease. It is an all-in-one digital wallet and pretty easy to pick up. You can do crypto investing, stock investing, banking, credit cards and all types of loans just within a single app.
The features I liked most: the banking and crypto investing features. I used their banking (so called SoFi money) to fund my crypto investing. It is an interest paying checking account that free of any non-sense charges. SoFi Money does not charge any FX fee, which is frequently charged by many crypto exchanges.
They support 20+ types of crypto coins, which is more than sufficient for most beginners. It enables you to trade crypto, convert to fiat and transfer to bank account at any time, without restriction. More importantly, it allows you to set up recurring purchase. I am a big fan of dollar-cost averaging (DCA). Recurring purchase helps avoid buying at peak, and averages out cost over time. Regarding crypto trading fee, they charge a flat 1.25% for each transaction. It is reasonable compared to other apps.
You will need SoFi Active Invest account for your crypto investing. If you sign up today, you will get $25 using my referral link after depositing $100:
- Referral Bonus ($25): https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=18d4530e-cb54-4e23-aa55-2b7d6b54a885
After signing up for SoFi Active Invest account, you will receive $10 additional BTC when trading the crypto for the first time.
After investing in Crypto for a while, I realized a key difference between investing in crypto vs. stock. Crypto coins are currencies, and they earn you interest on top of price appreciation. As someone passionate about retiring early (FIRE), crypto interest/earn becomes a big part of my financial strategy. That is how I researched and found apps below. I have used every single one of them myself. Let me share my experience with you.
NEXO
~4M users with ~$15B assets (as of Oct’22)
Nexo offers a straightforward and easy-to-use app. They have a tiered interest structure based on loyalty level (amount of NEXO token you are holding). If you hold over 10% of NEXO in total portfolio, they pay 10% for stable coins (fiat) and 5% for other crypto coins (without cliff). If you opt-in 1-month fixed term program, they pay 1% additional. For me, I am investing over long term, so choosing the higher interest is a no brainer. In terms of customer service, I heard good stories from many users. I personally have exchanged emails with customer representatives. They got back to me within 1–2 days. Nexo has a native token called NEXO, which earns up to 12% APY. However, you need to lock up NEXO for a whole year to receive 12%; interest is only paid out at the end of the term. What’s more, Nexo offers an exchange, where you can trade or swap coins. The fees with the exchange are pretty fair.
For flexible deposit, you get the flexibility and the interest is paid out and compounded daily, whereas for 1-month fixed deposit, you get the best interest but it is paid out and compounded monthly.
In terms of crypto withdraws, you get 1–5 free withdraws each month depends on your loyalty level (% NEXO in your portfolio). 10% of NEXO holding will get you the highest Platinum status and 5 free withdrawals. The number of free withdrawals used to be unlimited but was cut down due high gas fees; however, this is still better than most of apps out there.
Referral Bonus ($25 BTC for depositing $100 or more): https://nexo.io/ref/xxhs0agciv?src=ios-link
BLOCKFI
~480K users with $15B assets (as of Mar’21)
BlockFi is a NY-based company. It is acquired by FTX on Jun’22. It is fully regulated in U.S. and backed up by a few well-known VC firms. If you are a U.S. resident, this would be one of the safest choice, in terms of compliance. However, they were hacked once back in May’20, but they claimed that no fund was lost. The app is pretty straightforward and offers very limited functionalities. They have limited selections of crypto coins and provide below average interest rate (4.5% for up to 0.1 BTC and lower afterward, 5% for up to 1.5 ETH and lower afterward). The interest is paid out and compounded monthly. They offer one free crypto withdrawal each month.
BlockFi just launched their crypto credit card, with 1.5% cash back. This is the first credit card in the crypto space. Initially the company announced a $200 annual fee, but this was removed later on. I suspected this is just some sort of marketing strategy to catch the eyeballs. The card benefit is mediocre comparing to other popular non-crypto credit cards.
Regarding referral bonus, you get $10 BTC when signing up using the referral link. Need to hold for 30 days
- Referral Link: https://blockfi.com/?ref=46459782
CRYPTO.COM (CDC)
50M+ users (as of May’22)
Before getting on board, I know crypto.com (CDC) is the first generation crypto app. I did not expect much to start with, but I am so glad to give it a try. This app has been constantly evolving over time and becomes an all-in-one crypto wallet. I was quite impressed with what this app offers: large portfolio (150+ coins. New adding every month), debit card, crypto earn, crypto exchange, crypto borrow, DeFi (decentralized finance), and NFT. In Mar’21, they launched mainnet for DeFi, allowing staking CRO (their platform coin) on DeFi with ~12% APR. In addition, they pay 3% for BTC and 4% for ETH (up to 5% for BTC and 6% for ETH for high loyalty level). The deposit cap is up to $0.5M/$1M/$2M based on your loyalty level. .
Security wise, this is a highly secure and regulated crypto platform, with numerous security certifications and assessments by top security auditors. In Jan’22, the platform was hacked, $30 million worth of crypto was stolen, but all funds were reimbursed to users. The company’s quick actions were well received by user community. The company kept communication open, strengthened security measures, and expanded insurance coverage as a result.
The team is ambitious and moving fast, constantly adding new features and coins. On top of that, they have the most extensive marketing partnerships in crypto space, period (For example, LA STAPLES Stadium, Matt Damon, Water.org, Visa, F1, UFC, Fnatic, and etc.). CDC positions its CRO as everyday crypto coins, which will be widely adopted and used in businesses. CDC originally plans to get to 100M users by 2025, and now the target has been pulled up to 2023. I believe that CDC is heading to the right direction and going to skyrocket sooner or later.
In addition, they have the best-in-class debit cards. Depends on amount of CROs staked, you get various benefits. The benefits include cash back from 1% to 5% and crypto interest from 1% to 14%. On top of that, you could get free Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and airport lounge access based on your level of staking. What’s more, you do not need to pay any annual fee for any of benefits. At the end of the day, the staked CROs are still all yours to keep, and can be sold anytime after staking period expires. This is simply one of the best debit cards out there. The only drawback is that it is a debit, not credit card. If you are interested in learning more about their different levels of cards, feel free to check out my detailed crypto.com debit card review here.
Fee wise, they do not stand out among other apps. They waive card transaction fee for new users for the first 30 days, but charge a 2.99% fee afterward. However, you could easily avoid this, by ACH/wiring funds into the app in advance of any trading. Recently, they are adding instant ACH capability to U.S. market. CDC do not provide free crypto withdrawals.
For referral bonus, you get $25 worth of CRO when signing up using my referral link, and reserving a shiny metal Ruby debit card (this requires buying and holding $400 worth of CRO)
- Referral link: https://crypto.com/app/da8gssgff3
CONCLUSION (TLDR)
Overall, I summarized my comparison among multiple apps below. Hope this could help you find the right app, and get you started with earning crypto interest, too:
REFERRAL BONUSES
SoFi ($25 + $10 BTC)
- You get $25 bonus by signing up with SoFi Active Invest account and depositing $100+
- $10 BTC bonus for your first Crypto trading
- Referral link: https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=18d4530e-cb54-4e23-aa55-2b7d6b54a885
After signing up for SoFi Invest, you will receive $10 additional BTC when trading the crypto for the first time.
Nexo ($25 BTC)
- You get $25 BTC by depositing $100+
- Referral Link: https://nexo.io/ref/xxhs0agciv?src=ios-link
BlockFi ($10 BTC)
- You get $10 BTC by depositing $100+ and hold for 30 days
- Referral Link: https://blockfi.com/?ref=46459782
Crypto.com (Exclusive Referral Offer for $100)
- By using my referral link or code, you’ll receive $100 worth of CRO when you reserve your shiny metal Ruby Card or above (this requires buying and holding $400 worth of CRO for 6 months)
- While standard promotions may advertise a $25 bonus, my rewards+ membership enhances your welcome bonus to $100. The reward amount is boosted with my referral.
- Referral link: https://crypto.com/app/da8gssgff3
- Referral Code: da8gssgff3
