Despite the world of decentralised finance – or DeFi – floating around the collective digital consciousness for years now, the concept could still use some demystifying for the masses. Many everyday savers and investors are understandably still hesitant about diving headfirst into a world where the catchcry is “HODL” and the experience is often likened to the wildest rollercoaster ride of your life. And look, that’s completely fair.
However, a new blockchain-based Australian FinTech is looking to further solve this issue of adoption by channelling high-yield investments in DeFi into a frictionless, accessible process for anyone, regardless of how brushed up they are on the crypto space.
That’d be Block Earner, a platform that launches in just over two weeks and is perhaps best illustrated as a bridge between traditional finance and decentralised finance – both worlds that have been slowly converging over the past few years and will undoubtedly continue to align over the next decade.
Sexy? Not quite. That is until you consider the returns, which are particularly toasty in the current low-return climate tethered to tradition. Deposits held by Block Earner will earn 7% fixed, or up to 18% variable, annual percentage yield. Given the more crypto-aware amongst us have been gnashing their teeth on high-yield returns for a while now, it’s about time a wider range of people had easy access to the fruits of an evolving financial world.
Block Earner’s nectar was evidently sweet enough to attract $6.4 million in a seed funding round last year, which was led by US VC firm Framework Ventures. Big names like Coinbase, DeFi Alliance, and Longhash Ventures invested in the funding, as well as Synthetix founder and rich-lister Kain Warwick, along with Avalanche’s Emin Gün Sire and AAVE founder Stani Kulechov.
That speaks to a high volume of valuable confidence in Block Earner’s founders, Australian crypto vets Jordan Momtazi and Charlie Karaboga who have responded to the tendency for investors to chase riskier asset classes and derivatives with a more measured approach that is, on a relative basis, much less risky.
Holders of a Block Earner Yield Account can choose between the aforementioned return rates, which are USD based yield on the money deposited. Throughout the entire life of the account, users have access to both their capital and yield at any time, meaning you can withdraw at any time with no looming lock-up period to contend with.
Given you can see how your money is performing and move it whenever you want, it’s perfectly reasonable to want to dig into Block Earner’s credentials in security before taking the dip. The FinTech has been registered with AUSTRAC as Digital Currency Exchange and Independent Remittance provider and has also been integrated with Fireblocks, which is an ISO and SOC 2-certified infrastructure used in the industry to safeguard billions of dollars in crypto assets.
So how does it work? The process really isn’t that hard to understand.
Those with a Block Earner account deposit anything from $1 in Australian currency before funds are converted by the platform into USDC stablecoins, which like other stablecoins such as Dai and Tether, are pegged to a reserve asset – usually the US dollar – in a 1:1 ratio. In other words, they aren’t subject to the same extreme volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
After a Block Earner user’s funds are converted into USDC, these funds are deposited into DeFi platforms AAVE and Compound, where they are then loaned out to other crypto users in exchange for an annualised fee, which is then passed back to investors in the form of yield. For those more intimate with the crypto space, it’s yield farming without the effort, and with far less risk. And this is something that could see a profound revolution in the adoption rate necessary to grow the space further.
With the rate blockchain-based finance is growing, spreading the benefits to everyday investors could position Block Earner as a portal to the future of finance. If you’re planning on jumping through then it’s best to sign up to the current waitlist, which is open to prospective customers and will allow you to gain immediate access to the platform’s high-yield accounts when it launches in February.
Waitlisters can currently earn part of a $1 million bonus pool incentive launched by the service, by which referral codes will net both the referee and referrer $20 per referral, uncapped.
You can pre-register today to receive early access here.
This article is sponsored by Block Earner. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Boss Hunting.
