YouHodler Review

I understand you may not have enough time to read my full YouHodler review, so here is an actionable summary to help you.
 

Pros of YouHodler: 

• Strong Security. YouHodler put in place many ways to keep your funds safe. 
• Solid Insurance. Crypto assets are insured for up to $150 million.
• Stablecoin Interest. YouHodler offers some of the best interest rates for stablecoins.
• Unique Features. You’ll find cool products such as the Multi HODL and the Turbocharge, which you won’t find anywhere else.
• Flexible Terms. You can increase the duration of your loans at any time.
• High LTV. The top 20 coins can be used as collateral with 90% loan-to-value.

Cons of YouHodler: 

• Seniority. YouHodler was founded in 2018, which is quite recent compared to its competitors.
• Currencies to Borrow. Depending on the currencies you use as collateral, you can only receive loans in USD, EUR, GBP, and BTC. 

• Year founded: 2018
• Headquarters: Cyprus and Switzerland
• Licenses: European Union Financial Commission
• Currencies available to earn interest: Fiat (USD, EUR, CHF, GBP), crypto (BTC), and stablecoin loans (USDT, USDC, TUSD, PAX, PAXG)
• Currencies available for borrowing: BTC, BCH, BNB, ETH, LTC, XLM, XRP, DASH, HT, REP, and 15 other popular coins with the list growing.
• Type of service: Direct lending

YouHodler was founded in 2018 by Ilya Volkov, an active member of the Blockchain Association and the Crypto Valley Association with 15 years in fintech commercial finance and trading.  

YouHodler currently operates throughout Switzerland and the EU. 

Renat Gafarov is YouHodler’s CTO and has four years of experience as a blockchain architect. He is also the creator of blockchain integration back-end solutions. 

Mr. Gafarov’s resume boasts the creation of hundreds of unique smart contracts -- some of which power the DeFi platform of YouHodler.

YouHodler has bank accounts at reputable banks throughout Europe and Switzerland. 

YouHodler also has partnerships with trusted fiat payment providers. 

Partnerships with fiat payment providers show that YouHodler has a background of working with banks and government entities to provide customers with a secure experience.
 

YouHodler License Insurance

YouHodler is an active member of the Blockchain Association of Financial Commission and the Crypto Valley Association. 

Customers are protected by the independent Financial Commission’s efficient dispute resolution process.

The dispute resolution process allows customers to secure a licensed third party to resolve any conflicts which they may feel cannot be resolved by YouHodler.

The dispute resolution process and Youhodler being an active member of the Blockchain Association of Financial Commission gives YouHodler the extra level of legality and legitimacy which brings safety to customers throughout Europe. 

The benefit for EU residents using YouHodler over competitors like Makerdao or Compound is that they have a bit more protection under the law.
 

Insurance

YouHodler is partnered with Ledger Vault to create a pooled customized crime insurance program. 

The crime insurance program insures your crypto-assets for up to $150 million. The amount is backed by Arch UK Lloyds of London syndicate. 

The insurance amount of $150 million covers certain risks.

Covered risks include employee theft caused by collusion and third-party theft of private keys/master seed in the event of a physical breach of hardware security.

In order to reduce these risks, YouHodler also offers a number of other measures to complement their insurance:

• All cold wallet private keys are isolated, stored, and encrypted within a hardware security module. 
• Key usage for signatures is strictly controlled by different managers with different functions. They each hold training in mandatory multi-signature principles.  
• YouHodler partnered with Ledger to make sure YouHodler’s keys have a backup recovery mechanism. This ensures the executives at YouHodler can independently recover funds at any time.

Security Features

YouHodler also follows the practices of the high-end financial services industry by allowing certain users to lock their financial assets. 

If you own over 10,000 USD (or its equivalent in any fiat or cryptocurrency) at YouHodler, then you can request to disable all withdrawal options. 

All other features will still be available but if someone hacks into your account, they will not be able to withdraw.

The only way to withdraw would be to contact YouHodler, verify your identity, and then request to withdraw or enable withdrawal.

Disabling all withdrawal options will eliminate any possibility of suspicious withdrawals since only you will be able to verify your identity through time-stamped pictures and/or video calls. 

For users with less than $10,000 in their balance, they can use 2FA and strong passwords to secure their account -- as is standard among the top DeFi platforms. 

Other DeFi platforms such as Nexo and Compound do not offer such a level of security on their platforms.
 

Complaints Received

YouHodler has very few complaints, and the few that they have are addressed quickly. Typically, they respond to complaints within 24 hours.
 

Before I move forward with the essence of my YouHodler review, make sure you don’t use this platform if you reside in the following countries.

• USA
• Bangladesh
• China
• Iraq
• Pakistan
• Crimea
• Cuba
• Iran
• North Korea
• Sudan
• Syria
• Palestinian Territories

YouHodler’s savings accounts are good.

Here is all the information about earning interest with YouHodler, which has medium to high rates for stablecoins in the DeFi industry. 

The Lending Process

The lending process on Youhodler is as easy as other top DeFi platforms.

1. Set up an account with YouHodler.
2. Deposit the stablecoin, fiat, or crypto on which you wish to earn interest.
3. Collect interest on a weekly basis.

Depending on your cryptocurrency used to earn interest, receiving your money back can take from minutes to a few hours.
 

Rates

The current interest rates on YouHodler are as follows:

Terms

Interest is paid weekly, so you can withdraw anytime without the worry of missing out on interest payments for your secured funds.

Interest is also compounded weekly. 

YouHodler’s weekly interest payouts work to increase your portfolio’s value since the longer you keep your funds, the more interest they will earn.

Interest will be paid out in the same currency as deposited. 

For example, if you deposit BNB then you’ll be paid 3% APR compounded weekly in BNB tokens.

Earning interest on YouHodler has no strings attached. You get exactly what you see, which I appreciate a lot. 

Unlike many competitors out there, you don’t have to own YouHodler’s native tokens or reach a certain deposit threshold to benefit from their best rates.

YouHodler offers a borrowing option that is definitely worth it.

YouHodler's borrowing process takes about 1 hour and is completed in 4 steps. 

The Borrowing Process

Borrowing is standard among the top DeFi platforms:

1. Create a user account
2. Choose the loan amount, interest rate, and terms that suit you.
3. Deposit the amount of collateral required by the terms you selected.
4. Proceed to withdraw your loan and use it as you see fit.

Repaying the loan is as simple as other top DeFi platforms offer:

1. Repay the loan in part or in full
2. Choose to repay it via deposits or from your collateral
3. Withdraw the collateral to the address of your choice
4. Receiving collateral can take a few minutes (for cryptocurrencies) to a few days for fiat.

Loan eligibility criteria

One of the breakthroughs in DeFi technology has been the ability to secure loans based on collateral governed by smart contracts. 

Eligibility criteria set forth by banks such as credit scores or credit checks are nonfactors. 

All you need is the appropriate amount of collateral to secure a loan.

Keep in mind that the minimum amount you can borrow on YouHodler is $100.
 

Rates

The current rates to borrow are as follows depending on which of these collateral options you deposit:

Terms

There are a few terms and conditions of YouHodler which differ from its competitors. 

• Close now fee - 1%
• Reopen - Interest fee + 1% service fee
• Extend PDL - 1.5% from extended amount
• Increase LTV - 1.5% from increased amount
• Loan Duration - 30, 60, or 180 days with the option to renew.

Liquidation will happen to the collateral on your loan when the price of your collateral reaches 2/3 of the Price Down Limit (PDL). 

Before that happens, though, you will be notified by email in advance in case the price of your collateral drops more than 2/3 of the Price Down Limit.

When you’re notified, you can choose to sell or choose to put more collateral into your account. 

If you do not put more collateral in, and the price of your collateral reaches 2/3 of the PDF, YouHodler will liquidate the collateral on the open market to make sure the loan is repaid.

When you’re done borrowing or lending your cryptocurrencies, you’ll be pleased to know that withdrawal times are in line with standard times for their respective cryptocurrencies. 

Benefits such as Turbocharge and Multihodl lead the DeFi space in terms of innovation and keeping the customer excited and earning interest or saving money or both. 

Turbocharge is unique among DeFi competitors. If you have time to actively monitor and invest your funds, then Turbocharge will help you compound the interest you earn.

MultiHODL, on the other hand, will help those who might not have all that time but want to diversify their portfolio without tracking multiple coins on multiple platforms.
 

Platform Features and Functionality

YouHodler’s platform is very user-friendly.

The brand and website are easy to use and navigate for first-time users and for those who need more information. 

The YouHodler mobile app allows anyone to monitor their loans, interest, Turbocharge status, and all the services from their mobile.

The mobile app is well designed, easy to navigate, and pleasant to use. Plus you can ask for customer service right from the app.
 

Design and Appearance

YouHodler’s website looks more modern than many competitors. The site is clean, making the information clearly visible and easy to find.
 

Registration Process

Registration is simple. Put in your country, email, and password. Then agree to receive platform updates.

The KYC process at YouHodler is as smooth as most in the industry. All you need to do is upload your ID and go through the verification steps of taking a selfie. 

After doing KYC, the process of starting a loan, earning interest, and withdrawing collateral all adhere to current DeFi industry standards. 

YouHodler’s customer service experience is good.

They offer 24/7 answers and help through their live chat, email, and phone line services. 

You can get answers fastest through live chat, then email, and finally after that phone service.

Responses range from a few minutes for live chat to 24-48 hours through email. 

Overall, I found that YouHodler’s members are keen on keeping their reputation strong as the DeFi space grows. 

This is why they will try to resolve any issues as fast as possible and to your benefit. 
 

YouHodler offers a few unique features that place it above other DeFi platforms which may also offer exceptionally high rates of earning crypto or better loan terms.
  

Feature 1: Turbocharge

YouHodler allows people to clone their collateral through a “cascade of loans” principle.

For example:

You take out a loan for $1000 in BTC.

You can then use that $1000 in borrowed BTC as collateral to take out a $600 loan in a different cryptocurrency, such as LINK.

You can then use that $600 of LINK as collateral to take out $300 in DASH. 

You can then use that $300 in DASH as collateral to take out $100 in BAT.

The Cascade of Loans principle described above can also be called a “chain of loans.”

A chain of loans with diverse cryptocurrencies also helps expand a customer's portfolio. 

The purchases of additional loans on the chain are without commission.

The benefit is that your portfolio will be diversified and potentially more profitable.

The danger is that a default on one loan can trigger a default on all the loans. 

You can turbocharge your YouHodler account by using the following cryptocurrencies:

BTC, ETH, PAXG, LINK, HT, BNB, XRP, XLM, LTC, BCH, BSV, DASH, EOS, REP, ETC, BAT, TRX, ADA, XMR, XTZ.

The process is as simple as getting a loan:

1. Transfer crypto to your YouHodler wallet so that the amount of crypto can be used as collateral for a first loan in the “cascading loan chain.”
2. Calculate turbocharged amount by using YouHodler to automatically borrow funds from the first loan -- which will buy more crypto and get a second loan. 
3. Set your Take Profit price where YouHodler Turbocharge will automatically use the collateral to repay the fees of the loans in the chain. You get the rest of the crypto back and benefit from the price's growth.
4. Repay or close all loans at any time using collateral to repay the loan and take the rest of your crypto ("Close now" option).

Feature 2: Multi HODL 

Use Multi Hodl with your crypto-backed loans to help you capitalize on market volatility.

Multi HODL as a market strategy was inspired by the concept of a barbell strategy. 

With Multi HODL, a major percentage of your YouHodler account stays in savings earning up to 12% per year. 

A smaller percentage is used to buy more speculative, riskier assets.

If you select your Multi HODL to be 80% in your savings then you can use 20% to purchase riskier cryptocurrency assets on Youhodler and potentially make more money. 

The process is simple:

1. Deposit a source of funds into your YouHodler wallets or savings accounts. 
2. YouHodler guarantees to save the interest for the total amount of your savings in your primary hodl position.
3. Set profit and risk levels. Pick a desired take profit amount and an acceptable level of risk for your Youhodler account.
4. In the case of crypto price growth, the value of your coins will multiply and the profit will go directly to the savings account you have in your YouHodler account. In the case of a decline in prices, you will get your initial deposit back minus the losses that the risky strategy may have cost. 

More information: 

• You can get your crypto anytime. 
• If the price drops below the loss level you selected then your position will be closed automatically after 10 days.
• You can keep using 20% of your savings for Multi HODL and 80% for low-risk instruments -- or change these up as you see fit and as it works for your risk tolerance levels.

I hope you enjoyed this review of YouHodler. 

What is the best feature of YouHodler, in your opinion? What does the platform need to improve?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!