BlockFi crypto wealth management and lending company now has over $53 million in client crypto assets under management. BlockFi announced the update in a blog post on April 23.
In the announcement, BlockFi also states that it will implement some policy changes starting from May 1, 2019. Specifically, the company says that the minimum deposit to earn interest has been lowered. Bitcoin (BTC) balances of 0.5 BTC and more will begin earning interest on their deposits, while ethereum (ETH) deposits up to 250 ETH will earn 6.2% annual percentage yield (APY).
BlockFi has previously amended some of its policies. In March, the company lowered the interest rates for its biggest cryptocurrency deposit accounts. The company said then that balances of up to or including 25 BTC or 500 ETH would still earn the 6.2% APY, while all balances over that limit were set to earn a 2% rate starting on April 1.
BlockFi has said that it will add a fiat withdrawal fee of 0.0025 BTC and 0.0015 ETH in April, although all withdrawals submitted prior to that will reportedly remain free. “These small adjustments are necessary to ensure that BIA can support as many clients as possible while maintaining the high quality services we provide to the average crypto consumer,” BlockFi explained.
Last May, trading and clearing platform LedgerX launched a new BTC savings product that is licensed by the United States Commodities Future Trading Commission. Rather than just “hodling” and hoping that Bitcoin appreciates, investors can purportedly earn a fiat-based yield on their BTC by employing what is referred to as a call overwrite technique, wherein an investor deposits BTC into LedgerX, then sells a call option at a slightly longer date, with a higher strike call option.