Bankera Loans have been rebranded to SpectroCoin Loans. You can access our new service on the crypto loans page.
Today, we come bearing good news for our users. Bankera Loans landing page is now live, and the service itself will be launched within the third quarter of this year.
Bankera Loans is already the third product of Bankera’s ecosystem that will open new crypto-asset management possibilities for our community – an opportunity to get crypto-backed loans, or, in other words, borrow money while using crypto-assets as collateral without losing their value. In this blog post, we would like to give you a sneak peek into our upcoming service.
What are crypto-backed loans?
Crypto-backed loans are an alternative type of financing that allows borrowers to place their crypto assets as collateral and receive a loan in fiat or cryptocurrency. While the borrower’s crypto assets are taken as collateral, they are returned upon the full repayment of the loan.
Crypto-backed loans also offer clients the possibility to get financing quickly. While traditional banks can take weeks to approve loans due to their stringent rules regarding customer’s creditworthiness and loan history, crypto-backed loans are issued nearly instantaneously as “trust” in the system is established by backing each loan with crypto assets.
These and more advantages make crypto-backed loans an efficient upgrade to the traditional ones and is a step further towards the future of finance management.
What to consider before taking a crypto-backed loan?
Crypto-backed loans work by users placing a crypto asset collateral and getting a loan, typically 25-75% of the value of the collateral. This variable is called the Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio. If the value of the collateral falls, users are requested to either repay a part of the loan or increase the collateral. Such measure is taken to avoid the collateral being liquidated in order to cover the loan amount.
This extreme case of liquidation usually happens when LTV reaches 75-90%. A very high LTV may not necessarily be a good thing. While you will be able to get a higher loan, it will be more likely to trigger the liquidation event in case the value of the collateral falls. Thus, individuals or businesses interested in taking a crypto-backed loan have to consider that there is a higher liquidation risk for loans with a high LTV.
Another essential factor in crypto-backed loans is the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), which is the annual cost of borrowing after including all fees. This number is a function of the amount borrowed, the fees charged, and the duration of the loan. Users should beware that at times APR does not include interest rate, as some services charge significant hidden fees (e.g., loan origination).
These are just some the factors to pay attention to before deciding on a crypto-backed loan. Users should also consider loan availability in their region, safety, loan duration, loan currencies, and repayment options to find service that suits them best.
Bankera Loans – the most efficient solution for crypto-backed financing
At Bankera, we are building the financial infrastructure that would encompass everyday banking and the crypto economy to offer a financial solution fit for the needs of today’s tech-driven market. With our third product — Bankera Loans, we will be able to democratize access to core banking services for cryptocurrency holders by providing liquidity to individuals and businesses through crypto-backed loans.
After carefully analyzing the market and its players, we are confident that Bankera Loans will offer one of the most competitive crypto-backed loans packages in the industry:
Competitive Rates
We have been following the lending rates in the market closely to offer our users attractive borrowing conditions with no hidden fees. To make asset management simpler, interest payments will be debited automatically from the user’s wallet on a monthly basis.
Flexible Loan Repayment
Bankera Loans service will have no fixed schedule for principal repayments. Our customers will be free to choose when and by how much to repay the loan, as long as the full amount is paid back before the loan maturity date. Loan duration will also be flexible and can range from 1 month to 24 months.
Balanced LTV%
At Bankera Loans, we will start with LTV of 25-50%, which is a healthy balance between being able to get a higher loan amount and avoiding the loan liquidation. After a successful loan repayment, collateral is returned in full.
Editor’s note: Since November 2019, we introduced loan packages to our services available in three different options. The options are: Lowest rates (25%), Most popular (50%) and Max LTV (75%).
Individual & Business Loans
Bankera will provide loans from going up to 1,000,000 EUR. The loan services will be designed to cater for both individuals looking for microloans, as well as companies looking for more significant financing.
Global Lending
Bankera Loans will initially be denominated in Euros (more denominations to be added later), but can be withdrawn in both fiat (EUR) and cryptocurrencies. Doing so will allow clients to access financing globally.
Clients who need fiat financing have two options. First, they can withdraw the loan in Euros to their bank account. Second, clients without a Euro bank account can choose to withdraw the loan in cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, and exchange it to fiat afterwards.
Bankera Loans is also an attractive option for clients who live in regions where bank financing is difficult to obtain, or interest rates are high.
Multi-Currency Support
Bankera Loans will offer users the possibility to receive financing in Euro (EUR), Banker (BNK), Tether (USDT), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), NEM (XEM), and Dash (DASH) currencies. Users will also be able to choose among four of the cryptocurrencies for their collateral to enable them to customize the loans in line with their trading portfolio. Support for more currencies will be available in the future.
Benefits for BNK Token Holders
To maximize BNK token utility, BNK holders will be able to get lower interest rates by using BNK as a currency for interest payments.
Low Minimum
We see a big interest from the community in smaller crypto-backed loans. This market has been heavily under-served, and typical loan minimums in the current market are often too high. Bankera Loans solution will offer our clients the possibility to take a loan as low as 100 EUR so that all clients can get financing.
Editor’s note: We updated the loan minimum to 25 EUR since November 2019.
Safe Crypto Lending
Our team has been in the crypto market for over 6 years operating SpectroCoin and keeping the assets of 1 million clients safe with multiple layers of security.
We hope this brief overview got you excited. We are definitely thrilled to be coming to the market this year with a comprehensive and robust product.
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