Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Finale

It has been about a month since I blogged/introduced BlockFi and Celsius Network to everyone. I believe many readers are also keen to find out if the interests are really that high and how to transfer the money back to our bank accounts. To be honest, I did not have any plan to do it (convert GUSD back to fiat) so soon because there will be fees involved but after watching this video by Chicken Genius where he threw/burnt $400 to demonstrate how to use options to buy Tesla stock, I thought I should do the same too :)

Let's take a look at the interest for April!

In total, the interest I received was US$224.10 for a US$30k deposit (30,000 x 10% / 365 * 27). Anyway, I chose to receive CEL initially because I was planning to up my loyalty tier (the plan has changed since I discover DeFi but that's a discussion for another day). If you choose to receive the interest in GUSD, it will get auto-compounded weekly!

Let's take a look at the interest I need to pay the bank for borrowing that US$30k.

Hahahaha. It was just US$24.78. That means I am getting a profit of ~US$200 monthly for doing nothing simply by leveraging into a high interest/yield "savings" account. Having said that, it is definitely not risk-free but I would say the risk is minimal - when either Celcius Network or Gemini goes under.

All that is left to do is to transfer and convert the GUSD back to fiat money (USD) to show the complete loop/cycle. As mentioned previously, GUSD is backed by Gemini and as far as I am aware, both BlockFi and Gemini recognizes it 1-1 as USD. However, wiring USD out of BlockFi will incur a US$30 admin fee and requires a minimum withdrawal of US$5,000, hence it is not recommended.

Select "Transfer" followed by "Deposit into Gemini" to reach the above "Transfer Funds" page. Select GUSD and note how it states GUSD will be converted to USD once it has been deposited to your GUSD address. Click "Continue" to get your own address.

I can't emphasize this enough - always make sure you transfer your money/crypto to the correct address!

Withdrawal from Celsius

Withdrawal from BlockFi

Anyway, I initiated the withdrawal/transfer of GUSD 55.03 (the interest I received in the last week of April) to my Gemini wallet as well as GUSD 14.97 from BlockFi (the interest for the few days the fund was in transit).

You can see both the GUSD being deposited into my Gemini account as USD without any fees.

When I tried to initiate a USD withdrawal, I was not able to proceed because my bank account was not verified. To verify my bank account, I would need to deposit money from that particular account. Unfortunately, I screwed up, so it took me so long to get this article out. I wired USD from my overdraft/leverage account directly instead of my Bonus$aver multi-currency account, which was added to the Gemini side so the verification didn't happen for days while I was waiting and waiting. I only realized that I have made a mistake when I clicked around, wondering if they were actually verifying manually. lol. That is why you see a 2 x US$10 wire deposit above.

Anyway, once my bank account has been verified, I could proceed to withdraw the USD from my Gemini account.

To my surprise, I received the full US$90 to my bank account! No fees at all! I checked with my RM, it turns out SC waives inward TT fees (SG$10) for priority customer, discovered another perk today! For those with a DBS account, you can take a look at this article by Suz. If you head over to the DBS website, it states that the inward TT fees will be waived for DBS Treasures customer too.

In summary, for crypto (BTC, ETH, etc.) savings account, use BlockFi:

Gemini --transfer (no fees for 1st 10 withdrawal per calendar month)--> BlockFi

Other places/exchange --transfer (some fees)--> BlockFi

For high interest USD "savings" account, use Celsius Network:

Bank --wire USD (no fee)--> Gemini/BlockFi (receive GUSD) --transfer GUSD (no fee)--> Celsius Network for 10% interest --transfer GUSD (no fee)--> Gemini (USD) --wire (no fee/SG$10)--> Bank

On a side note, I am aware of a local startup Hodlnaut increasing its interest for stablecoins which is a great move but the beauty of the above set up is that I can avoid all/most of the fees. In addition, there is no way to guarantee my capital like 1 USD will be equivalent to 1 USDC/USDT because I would have to convert/exchange them somewhere else.

I find it quite funny when people are still so sceptical or simply treat all crypto as scam/ponzi. I do not take umbrage (lol. can't help it) but such mentality is equivalent to SPH media business model - outdated. Even CZM is finding all these interesting now and even wants to put some money into DeFi!

Anyway, I have blogged about different ways to leverage crypto to build wealth for people with different risk appetites:

The safer approach using stablecoins

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Part 2

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Finale

Risky approach but more hassle-free

- CakeDeFi - The Easy Way to DeFi

Highest risk and you are on your own

- DeFi apps on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) such as PancakeSwap and PancakeBunny

- DeFIRE with DeFi

If you are interested in the platform I am using, do sign up using our referral links for some bonus :)
BlockFi: Deposits US$100 or more into your BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), you will earn US$10 in BTC and we will earn US$10 in BTC too.

Celsius Network: Earn US$40 in BTC with your first transfer of US$400 or more and we will earn US$40 in BTC too.

Gemini: We will both receive US$10 of bitcoin after you buy or sell US$100.

CakeDeFi - Deposits US$50 or more into your CakeDeFi account, you will earn US$30 in DFI and we will earn US$10 in DFI too.

On a side note, Futu's moomoo app attractive sign-up bonus (one free Apple Share besides other benefits) has been extended to 31st May 2021 (1500hr SGT)! Take a look at the latest benefits here.

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