The Daily: Nexo to Pay Interest on Stablecoins, Startups Launch Bank Services

In this edition of The Daily, we cover Nexo’s recent decision to pay interest on stablecoin holdings, as well as a project by two Swiss cryptocurrency companies to offer exchange and custodial solutions for financial institutions that handle digital assets. We also look at Bitfinex’s newly updated app for “on-the-go” traders. 

Also read: Security Startup Raises $30M, Crypto Used to Fight Plastic Pollution

Nexo Announces 6.5 Percent Interest Rate on Stablecoin Holdings

Nexo, a cryptocurrency loans service, said this week that it’s going to offer interest payments on several leading stablecoins. When stored on the platform, trueusd (TUSD), gemini dollar (GUSD), paxos standard (PAX), Circle’s usdcoin (USDC), and Maker’s dai (DAI) will generate a 6.5 percent interest rate for those holding the currencies.

According to an announcement on Twitter, Nexo will also guarantee a one-to-one conversion to U.S. dollars on any major stablecoin for all liquidity providers. The company claims this is a unique service on the market.

After recently adding bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC) and ripple (XRP), the cryptocurrency lending platform now supports seven digital currencies, including bitcoin core (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and binance coin (BNB), as well as its own token, Nexo. It accepts the coins as collateral for instant cryptocurrency-backed loans.

The APR for the loans is set at 16 percent, but a preferential rate will be applied when the native token is used as collateral. The platform will distribute 30 percent of its profits to Nexo holders, as part of the company’s first dividend payment in December.

Metaco and SCX Offer Exchange and Custodial Services to Banks

Two fintech companies in Switzerland have teamed up to launch new exchange and custodial services for digital assets. Metaco, a provider of secure blockchain infrastructure, and trading platform Swiss Crypto Exchange (SCX) plan to offer their solutions to banks and other regulated custodians.

The new system developed by SCX is designed to directly connect banks in order to eliminate risks associated with the storage of assets on cryptocurrency exchanges. Silo, Metaco’s custodial infrastructure solution, is integrated with SCX and is expected to enable secure and reliable cryptocurrency trading. The two companies claim there is no central point of failure with its new system.

While SCX is still a centralized marketplace, it will now work with decentralized custody providers. The cryptocurrency exchange will provide liquidity and technology to new ecosystems built by banks. The traditional financial institutions will be responsible for maintaining their custodial activities through Silo. Metaco’s cryptocurrency storage solution, which was announced in January of this year, has been developed in cooperation with data security agency Guardtime.

Bitfinex Releases Updated Mobile Trading App

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has launched its updated mobile application, which supports the latest features of the iOS and Android operating systems. In terms of functionality, the developers have tried to provide users with an experience that’s similar to the one they expect from the platform’s main website. The app now offers two landing pages, for trading and funding, respectively. Users can customize their favorites, orders, pairs and trading history, as well as the widgets on each page.

The Hong Kong-based trading platform said in a blog post that the updated software supports both vertical and horizontal layouts, as well as iPhone X and other smartphones with notches running across the top of their screens. “On-the-go” traders can run the app on multiple devices and their settings will be preserved. Bitfinex promises a more tablet-friendly experience and has said that users can now unlock the app with a fingerprint and face scan.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Nexo, Bitfinex.

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