Hodlnaut Review, Usage Tips and Referral Benefits (defunct)

Hodlnaut Logo

URGENT UPDATE!!!

On 8 August 2022 evening, Hodlnaut announced it will be halting withdrawals, token swaps and deposits with immediate effect.

Key points:

  • informed the MAS of intention to withdraw licence application.
  • Hodlnaut is no longer providing regulated digital payment token (DPT) services, ie token swap feature. For the avoidance of doubt, Hodlnaut will also cease all borrowing and lending services.
  • all social media platforms will be turned off except:
  • for any enquiries, email support@hodlnaut.com
  • updates will be at https://www.hodlnaut.com/blog/news alongside regular email updates to users.
  • next update will be on Friday, 19 August 2022.

Removing the referral link from this page till there is more clarity on the situation.

Further updates to the situation can be found here.

Table of Contents

Company

We help hodlers grow their assets

Founded in April 2019 by Juntao Zhu and Simon Lee.

Business model

Hodlnaut earns interest income by lending crypto to established financial institutions and reliable decentralised protocols. Hodlnaut takes a small portion of the interest earned from these sources and passes the rest to their users.

Earning Rates

Hodlnaut takes a dynamic approach due to the unpredictability of the market. This means that interest rates will be reviewed on a monthly basis.

“An announcement of the latest interest rates will be made on the fourth week of every calendar month with a minimum of three days before any implementation of revised rates.”

The latest rates updates can be found here.

Hodlnaut also maintains an archive of their past earning rates here.

Hodlnaut interest rates on 18 nov 2021 for archival purpose

Hodlnaut interest rates on 18 nov 2021
Hodlnaut interest rates on 18 nov 2021

What happens if borrowers default?

In the very unlikely event that a borrower defaults and fails to return the borrowed asset, Hodlnaut may:

  • liquidate the borrower’s collateral and repurchase the borrowed funds.
  • take legal action to recover the funds if necessary.

Furthermore, if all else fails, Hodlnaut will be taking on the loss and paying users from their equity funds.

Customer satisfaction

Hodlnaut scores a near perfect score of 4.8/5 at TrustPilot, which is pretty impressive since most people wouldn’t bother to write reviews unless it was to rant on bad service they encountered.

Key metrics

  • Users:
    • 15000+ users [Apr 2022]
  • US$500 million worth of assets under management (AUM) [Apr 2022]
  • more than 40 employees [Apr 2022]

Notable developments

  • announced it will be halting withdrawals, token swaps and deposits with immediate effect [8 Aug 2022]
  • added support for BNB Chain for USDC deposits and withdrawals [28 June 2022]
  • support the Terra network for deposit and withdrawal of native LUNA via the Terra network [4 May 2022]

Presence in Singapore

  • Hodlnaut is currently headquartered in Singapore. Hodlnaut has a Hong Kong presence as well, but all funds and operations are in Singapore.
  • Entity: HODLNAUT PTE LTD (UEN: 201911850K)
  • Location: 24 Raffles Place, Clifford Centre, Singapore (048621)
  • Member of Singapore FinTech Association (SFA)

Regulation by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Currently exempted from holding a licence under the transitional arrangements in the Payment Services (PS) Act.

In March 2022, Hodlnaut announced having received an in-principle approval (IPA) letter for a Major Payment Institution License in Singapore from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act (PS Act).

Hodlnaut currently offers two digital payment tokens (DPT) services:

  1. borrowing and lending services
  2. Token Swap feature.

Currently, MAS is only regulating Hodlnaut’s DPT Token Swap feature, and not DPT borrowing and lending services.

Hodlnaut is also a certified Fintech by the Singapore Fintech Association, an accreditation recognized by the MAS.

Travel Rule

To comply with the Travel Rule, Hodlnaut users are now required to provide supplementary information when they transfer digital assets from Hodlnaut to a different address or deposit the digital assets as well. The details such as user code, VASP code, and recipient address will be required.

To meet the Travel Rule obligations in Singapore, Hodlnaut is working with Sygna. Sygna helps Virtual Asset Service Providers in meeting the regulations like the Travel Rule requirement. This ensures that your Hodlnaut experience is hassle-free and that your data is stored securely.

In view of the above, Hodlnaut will ask its users to input information provided by the beneficiary VASP when making a withdrawal. Likewise, for depositing crypto into the Hodlnaut wallet, users have to key in the information provided by the originating VASP.

Additional reads:

  • Deposit and Withdrawal Travel Rule Guide
  • FAQs on the Travel Rule
    • How will the Travel Rule impact transactions with Non-Custodial Wallets (such as Metamask, Trezor or Ledger wallets)?
    • How will the Travel Rule impact transactions with platforms or exchanges which do not have a User and VASP Code?
    • How will the Travel Rule be implemented on Hodlnaut?
      • “We will never restrict withdrawals or user funds without any valid or concrete reason.”

    • Do all Hodlnaut users have to be Travel Rule compliant to continue using Hodlnaut’s services?

What will happen to Hodlnaut if there is a change in government regulations for cryptocurrency or lending platforms?

If there are any new regulations, Hodlnaut will adjust business operations according to what is required by the MAS. Contingency plans are in place to ensure that business processes can continue. If all else fails, users will be notified in advance and allowed to withdraw their funds.

Roadmap

  • Portfolio management
  • Auto/scheduled swaps

Social media

Below is an informative video on Youtube that addresses burning questions from clients and presents some future plans for Hodlnaut:

Ecosystem

Trading platforms

Hodlnaut Apple App Store download link icon Hodlnaut Google Play Store download link icon

✔️ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Fireblocks MPC wallet infrastructure is used to secure funds. No hot wallets!

Hodlnaut takes a security-first approach, and there are no hot wallets at Hodlnaut. Instead, they use Fireblocks' multi-party computation wallet infrastructure to secure funds. When users sign up for an account with Hodlnaut, they will be assigned a unique address generated by Fireblocks. When they deposit funds into Hodlnaut, funds are secured with Fireblocks' wallet infrastructure.

On the backend, Hodlnaut will then access the funds and either transfer them to self-custody cold wallets or lend the funds to borrowers.

About Fireblocks

Fireblocks is a leading enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables banks, fintechs, exchanges, liquidity providers, OTCs, and hedge funds to securely manage digital assets across a wide range of products and services.

The technology consists of the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 250 financial institutions and has secured over $400 billion in digital assets. Fireblocks has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit and offers 24/7 global support.

For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

No lockup period for crypto interest accounts

There is no lockup period when using the interest account on Hodlnaut, except for fixed term deposits. This means that you are free to withdraw all your funds and all your earnings at any point in time to take advantage of market trends.

What happens if Hodlnaut gets hacked?

n the unlikely event that a hack happens or if Hodlnaut is forced to end its operations, Hodlnaut will be taking on the loss and paying users from their equity funds. However, there is no guarantee that all users will be able to get back all their funds.

Fixed Term Deposit

Hodlnaut offers fixed-term deposits from 28 to 180 days. Fixed Term Deposits are an alternative for users with larger deposits who may earn lower interest rates in the open-term tiered system.

One free withdrawal a month

Users enjoy one free withdrawal per calendar month, subject to terms and conditions. Refer to official guide for details.

If you need to perform more than one withdrawal in a month, the usual withdrawal fees ($10 as of January 2022) is very reasonable.

Hodlnaut one free withdrawal a month
Screenshot showing the checkbox to activate the monthly free withdrawal

Protect Your Assets with Nexus Mutual’s Custodian Cover

Hodlnaut users are able to purchase Nexus Mutual’s industry-leading custody cover from within the Hodlnaut platform, and get protected against the following risks:

  • the custodian gets hacked and you lose more than 10% of your funds
  • withdrawals from the custodian are halted for more than 90 days.

The product covers any token or combination of tokens users have in their Hodlnaut account. In case of a claim, users will receive the equivalent of their funds in ETH or DAI up to the covered amount.

Disclaimer by Hodlnaut

Hodlnaut would also like to highlight that iTrust and Nexus Mutual are not entities regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Hodlnaut is not licensed by the MAS to provide the optional custody cover, nor licensed to itself carry on any regulated insurance activities. For the avoidance of doubt, Hodlnaut, in providing the option to purchase custody cover on its platform, is in no way providing an insurance product.

Token Swap

“Token Swap” allows users to trade between different assets within the Hodlnaut platform.

Users can re-balance their asset holdings without leaving the Hodlnaut platform. The feature makes the user experience streamlined and hassle-free, and users don’t have to spend on transactions fees between wallets!

❌ Drawbacks

Limited cryptocurrencies supported

As of 23 July 2022, cryptocurrencies supported on the platform are:

  • BTC
  • WBTC
  • ETH
  • USDC
  • USDT
  • DAI
  • PAXG

Partnerships

Tokenize has Partnered with Hodlnaut to #SupportLocal

Tokenize has Partnered with Hodlnaut
As strategic partners, Tokenize Xchange will be Hodlnaut’s preferred fiat (SGD) to crypto on-off ramp for digital assets. See the announcement on the Tokenize Xchange blog.

Learn more about the Tokenize Xchange platform.

Strategic Parnership between Hodlnaut and Okcoin

On 15 September 2021, Okcoin and Hodlnaut announced a strategic partnership: “Singapore-Based Crypto Lending Platform Hodlnaut Partners with Leading Crypto Exchange Okcoin”.

The strategic collaboration positions Hodlnaut as the first CeFi platform to partner with the American crypto exchange, and aims to allow users from both platforms to easily purchase cryptocurrencies and earn attractive returns on their assets.

Okcoin is also Hodlnaut’s preferred fiat on-ramp solution especially for BTC/SGD and ETH/SGD pairs (only available to customers of Okcoin Pte. Ltd.), as this would allow Singapore users to generate yield on the two largest crypto assets in their local currency.

Learn more about the Okcoin platform.

Usage Notes and Tips

Beware of phishing sites

Scammers have created many domains and social media accounts to impersonate Hodlnaut. Hodlnaut has compiled a list of these malicious sites and accounts:

Choosing ‘Interest Payout Preference’

Hodlnaut gives you the flexibility to have interest paid in the same currency deposited (default) or have interest paid in your preferred currency.

The blue button is so glaringly obvious I wonder how I failed to notice it for months after signing up.

Hodlnaut payout preference
Screenshot from the Hodlnaut demo account showing payout preference button

Demo account

You can preview the Hodlnaut user interface using this demo account.

Feedback Portal

Hodlnaut has a Feedback Portal where users can:

  • Submit new feedback/requests/bugs
  • Upvote and/or comment on submissions from other users
  • View Hodlnaut’s roadmap to see upcoming product launches or feedback implementation

Free internal transfers

In July 2022, Hodlnaut announced that internal transfers between Hodlnaut Accounts are now free. Users can quickly transfer crypto to their friends & family for free within the platform, saving time and money.

Save on USDC transfer fees by using BNB Chain (BEP-20)

Previously, Hodlnaut only supported ERC-20 for USDC deposits and withdrawals. Starting 28 June 2022, Hodlnaut added support for BNB Chain, which allows for faster transaction times, and lower fee transactions across platforms to and from Hodlnaut.

Check out their video tutorial on Youtube: