Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met with the Celsius Network and informed them that only accredited investors from the United States of America (USA) can earn yield on their platform after April 15th.
With yield being one of Celsius Network's main offerings, some (from the USA) are wondering if they should keep their crypto on this platform. Is there enough value in some of the other features provided by this application to warrant my continued use?
For starters, one could of course become an accredited investor. Either prove your worth (at least one million dollars in assets - not including your primary residence, or a salary over two-hundred thousand dollars per year for the past two years in American dollars), or study hard and take a test that shows you are knowledgeable about investing and the associated risks. Hurry though, some feel these bars are too low and should be raised!
Folks residing outside of the United States are not under the direct supervision and guidance of the SEC, so in case it wasn't clear, only those who live inside of the USA need to be accredited to use Celsius Network's earn feature. The rest of the civilized world need not worry. I say this with a hint of caution as some commissions outside of the United States take their lead from the SEC. Hurry up and save that million dollars.
Back to features, let's go through the rest of the main offerings from Celsius so that you can make your own decision.
Loans at very low rates are still available. If you were eligible for a loan before April 15th, you will still be eligible. Providing your crypto as collateral continues to be a great way to not cash in or sell your crypto if you are in need of some cash. In most jurisdictions, selling crypto is a taxable event, where taking a loan is not.
If you could swap crypto within Celsius Network before, you can continue to do so. They charge no transaction fee for this and claim they offer this feature with less spread and/or slippage than any exchange or other competitor. I urge you to try it out with your friends. Have them swap the same small amount of crypto in their app and see who ends up with more crypto. Make sure to also check the 'source' crypto as some apps take the additional fees from there.
Another feature is called CelPay where you can send crypto to other Celsius users. Again there is no fee, but there is a daily limit. The recipient receives an email with a link in it to claim their crypto. This works even if the recipient is not yet a Celsian. What a great way to win friends and influence people.
Celsius also offers a way to purchase crypto using your credit card or bank account. Some area have less fees than others. Note that these are all third party fees - not Celsius fees.
For larger purchases one can perform an over the counter transaction. There are also various promo codes in effect to add a bonus when adding certain cryptos.
The second to last feature I will mention is a bridge called CelsiusX. Again, if you could access it before, you can still access it. CelsiusX is an infrastructure play that communicates with DeFi. Currently one can send/receive from dApps associated with the Polygon network such as QuickSwap. Great way to get introduced to DeFi and its set of associated rewards.
The last feature I would like to mention is Security. Celsius Network prides itself on never having an internal hack. Its security team is larger than most crypto project's entire teams. The app has a security feature called HODL mode which once enabled, no withdrawals can occur from your account. If you would like to withdraw something, disabling this feature takes 24 hours. So, protecting you in a different way than the SEC. Also, withdrawals can only occur to addresses previously 'whitelisted'. Oh, and to whitelist a new address to withdraw to - takes 24 hours to activate.
Other than those features designed to slow down or dissuade would be attackers, note that your crypto is under the protection and control of Celsius. Now, I know some of you are going to hit me with that harangued saying 'not your keys, not your crypto'. Controlling and managing private keys isn't for everyone. Do you misplace things; lose things; carelessly have things without backups? Well, if so, perhaps managing private keys to potentially vast amounts of your personal wealth isn't for you.
So, in summary, if without yield, you are having a tough time justifying staying with Celsius, I would do so just for the security of the app and their historical track record.
For those who retain things visually, here is a link to a video that outlines many of the items we just went through.
Celsius Referral Code: 11349539ab (Deposit more than $400 USD worth of any crypto for 30 days and get $50 bonus in BTC)
https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/11349539ab
I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advise. No direct affiliation with Celsius.