Get Dollars,
Keep Your Crypto
Deposit your BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP or OMG as collateral and get a loan in dollars at 5% APR.
Interest is calculated daily for each coin and distributed in the same currency every Monday
Put your crypto to work
Loan Calculator
The collateral needed is calculated as approximately 3 times the amount of money you want to borrow.
months
months
months
months
Interest per month
(at 9% APR)
Total Interest
(-)
Margin Call Price
(1
-
equals)
9% interest
on a - loan you would pay - a year in interest
33% LTV
on a - loan you would deposit - as collateral
No Term Lengths
You can pay off your loan whenever you’re ready
How it Works
So you want to take out a loan? Let’s look at how this will go down in reality to figure out how much crypto you’ll need for your loan, how much interest you’ll end up paying and, most importantly, how much cash you’ll get access to.
Here's an example
- Loan Amount
- -
- Required -
-
-
( -) - Loan-to-value ratio
- 33% LTV
- Interest rate
- 9%
- Interest per Month
- -
- - Margin Call at
- -
So in this scenario, in order to get a for $10,000, the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is 33% - you’ll need to deposit $30,303 (or ~3x the loan amount) as collateral to Celsius in order to secure the loan.
Remember, because your loan is asset-backed, we don’t need to run a credit check. You can pay off the principal of your loan whenever you want, or you can just continue to pay the monthly interest. Once you pay back the $10,000 loan you will get all of your deposited coins back.
With Celsius, there are no origination fees, no minimum terms and no other hidden fees or extra costs. We try to make everything as simple as possible with no surprises in the fine print.
A Bit More About Margin Calls and LTV
The LTV, or loan-to-value ratio, is your loan amount divided by the amount of crypto you deposited. We require a ratio of about 3x, we do this to try to ensure that we would never be required to execute a Margin Call in case the market takes a significant dip and the value of your crypto falls dramatically.
We monitor the market minute-by-minute, if large fluctuations in the market due occur, we’ll notify you as soon as possible, just so you’re aware.
If your crypto drops in value too much (by more than 35%), you’ll have a couple of options so that your LTV is back within the limits:
Pay Back
Pay back a portion of the loan
Deposit
Deposit more crypto
Sell
Sell a portion of your crypto to pay off part of the loan
We will try to notify you as far in advance as possible of a potential Margin Call so you have as many options as possible to adjust the LTV accordingly.
FAQ
How do I pay off my loan in dollars?
The principal of the loan will be paid at the end of the loan term with an ACH to the borrower bank account.
Where do my coins actually go?
WWe deposit your coins/tokens with trusted custodians like BitGo as well as major exchanges. If Hedge funds want to borrow the coins they must provide full cover with cash collateral which is secured in an FDIC-insured bank account.
What happens if my crypto collateral assets drop sharply in value while I have a loan?
To protect the community, we will set limits to balance out lending as much as possible against margin calls. Once the value of your collateral drops below the agreed level (usually between 20-50% of the currency’s value at the date of execution) you will be notified by text and email that you can either: 1) Deposit any accepted coins into your wallet to increase your collateral 2) Pay down the loan by depositing USD funds via ACH or 3) Sell some of your coins.
Will you sell my crypto, which is held as a collateral, without asking me?
In some extreme cases we may. If you do not respond and your collateral continues to drop in value we will sell a portion of your coins. If the value of your collateral continues to fall you may receive additional notifications.
How much collateral is needed to get a cash loan, and how does this compare to competitor platforms?
We plan to allow people to start borrowing dollars once they have deposited at least $300 worth of accepted cryptocurrency. Based on the volatility of the coin, the amount a member can borrow will vary between 20-50% of the value of the coin. We aim to keep the minimum deposit as low as possible to remove any barriers to entry.
Do I pay interest on my loan in dollars or CEL?
Customers will take a loan in dollars and pay it back in dollars and the interest will be paid in BTC, ETH or CEL.
How long term are these loans?
The majority of loans we offer are for a one year term with a six month's minimum.
What are the interest rates on cash loans?
We intend to lend with single-digit interest rates - no matter your credit score - so we can provide our members with much lower rates than they would get from a traditional bank. We expect dollar loans to crypto holders to be somewhere between 7-9% compared to 18-35% for typical credit cards.
How and when is the interest paid when I borrow cash against my crypto?
Interest will be removed from the crypto being held as collateral by Celsius at the beginning of the transaction and CEL will be bought off the open market weekly with the pool of pre-collected interest.
How is storing with Celsius safer than storing in cold storage?
We diversify the assets across multiple platforms, such as cold storage (BitGo), institutional exchanges, and short orders, in which case we have 120-150% of the dollar value in an FDIC-insured bank account.
What is the insurance, risk?
We have access to Lloyds and AON insurance which costs 1-1.25% of the coin value per year. If you are interested in the insurance, you’ll need to sign up to the program and the cost will be deducted from the interest paid to you for the coins deposited with us.
How and where are the coins traded?
The coins will be deployed in a number of ways, the most common being used in margin lending and shorting. We use the interest and fees borrowers and shorters pay us to pay you interest.
How are my coins secured?
They are held in encrypted accounts and, once deployed (lent out) they are backed by collateral on the part of the borrower to ensure the lender is always protected.
Who is your (cold storage) custodian?
BitGo and other top custodians.
Do you use my coins as working capital?
No, none of the cryptocurrency we hold from our members is used as working capital for the company.