Introduction to Earning Interest on Basic Attention Token (BAT)

As Basic Attention Token (BAT) continues to rise in price, and the Brave browser continues to grow in popularity, many people are wondering how they can maximize their return on investment while holding BAT. One option that those who want to hold BAT for the long-term love is using various Decentralized Finance (DeFi) solutions. This is a proven way to earn additional BAT by letting them set in a specific wallet where they are used by the company providing some type of service. If you are interested in earning additional BAT, read through this simple introduction on how to do it. If you already understand what this is, jump to the bottom to see the current services that offer investment options for BAT (as of March 2021).

Earning Interest Vs Staking

Staking is another way to earn additional crypto assets by using them to help facilitate a proof-of-stake system. BAT does not rely on proof-of-stake, however, so you cannot stake it in this way. Instead, you can put your BAT to work for you earning interest when a company uses it for liquidity, lending, or other activities.

What is Lending or Depositing BAT?

Being able to earn a return on your investment is something that can be done with many different cryptocurrencies. Someone who owns a specific crypto asset, such as BAT, sends them to a specific wallet where they are ‘locked’ into a smart contract.

The services that offer this service can then use the coins or tokens for things like proof-of-stake ‘mining’, liquidity pools, lending, or other essential activities. These activities earn a return on investment that is based on a number of factors, and the service will add some or all of that return to your wallet, so you are growing your investment over time. The specific RoI that you receive will depend on the asset you are investing, what it is used for, and other factors.

Risks of This Type of Service

Earning ‘interest’ on your BAT holdings can be a great way to slowly grow your portfolio over time if you aren’t planning on selling anyway. This process, however, is not entirely risk free. Some things to keep in mind before making the decision to do this with your BAT or other crypto include:

· Loss of Assets — Since you are sending your BAT to another wallet, you no longer have full control over them. You could fall victim to a scam, or the company that is offering the service could get hacked. Since you do not know with certainty their security processes, this type of risk should not be ignored.

· Price Fluctuations — Crypto is a volatile asset. If something happens and the price of your BAT is falling, you will not be able to quickly sell to minimize your losses. For many long-term holders, however, this is not a concern.

· Adjustment of Rewards — Many companies have ‘fine print’ that says they can adjust the rewards based on a variety of factors. So, if you were earning 5%, it may drop down to 2% at any time based on the markets. Always read the full fine print before any investment.

· Lack of Liquidity — Some these contracts require that you leave your assets in their wallet for a set minimum amount of time. This means if you have some urgent need for them, you cannot pull them out. If they do let you pull out the assets early, there may be a penalty.

Options for BAT Depositing

BAT is not one of the most frequently used crypto assets for this type of thing at this point, so there are fewer options available. As of now, the following are the only options and their current return rates. If you are aware of additional places where you can accept BAT for investing, please comment and I will update this list.

· Gemini Earn — They are currently offering a 3.49% APY return for staking BAT. Gemini is a very well-known company in the crypto industry, so the risk should be relatively low.

· Compound — Compound is a crypto lending service where you can deposit your BAT (or other assets) and others will take loans. The interest on the loans is shared with those who are funding the liquidity (staking). You get paid in a separate crypto (cBAT) at a rate of 2.32%.

· Aave — Aave is an open source liquidity pool that allows you to earn interest on your deposits. Their APY is currently quite low, but it changes regularly so it is worth checking out to see what it is when you are ready to start staking. As of now, the BAT APY is .07%.

• Crypto.com — This is a very well-known site and they will allow you to earn interest on your BAT deposits with no set lockup requirements. They currently offer 2.35% APY.
• Celsius Network — Celsius Network allows you to deposit crypto assets, including BAT, and get paid interest based on the loans they make to other people. The interest rates you can currently receive for BAT is about 3.5%.

There is a lot to know about earning BAT and other crypto in general. For many people, however, it is an excellent way to increase your assets while holding over the course of months and years. If you do not mind the slightly elevated risk, it may be an excellent opportunity for you.