Strengthening the lending market, veteran exchange Bitfinex's lending platform adds Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Established cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has been actively updating its cryptocurrency lending services since the second half of the year. In July, they released their lending robot "Lending Pro," followed by the launch of the peer-to-peer lending platform "Borrow" in November. Yesterday, on 12/18, they added new lending options for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Bitfinex Borrow

"Borrow" is a peer-to-peer lending platform launched by Bitfinex on November 11th, with loan interest rates ranging from 5.5% to 18.25%. Compared to the platform's margin lending, Borrow offers a more intuitive format and interface.

According to theofficial announcement, Bitfinex has added borrowing options for Bitcoin and Ethereum on Borrow. Users can use fiat currencies such as US dollars, euros, yen, and US dollar stablecoin USDT as collateral to borrow Bitcoin and Ethereum.

For borrowing Bitcoin, users can use US dollars, euros, and USDT as collateral with a 80% loan-to-value ratio, while for yen, it is 70%. Currently, Ethereum can only be borrowed using US dollars as collateral with an 80% loan-to-value ratio, and the repayment period ranges from 2 to 120 days as chosen by the user.

Bitfinex charges an annual interest rate of 3.6% for Bitcoin loans and 1.23% for Ethereum loans, and is only available to users who have passed KYC verification.

CeFi, DeFi Strategies in Attack and Defense

As a veteran platform for margin lending and financing, Bitfinex has been somewhat slow in responding to market changes. Faced with the strong rise of DeFi lending platforms and liquidity mining this year, Bitfinex only introduced updates such as "Lending Pro" and peer-to-peer lending in the second half of the year.

In addition to threats from DeFi, Bitfinex also needs to compete with centralized lending institutions like BlockFi and Celsius Network. Furthermore, the derivative exchange FTX, known for innovative product offerings, has recently entered the margin lending market, providing cryptocurrency users seeking stable returns with another new option.