It’s no secret that crypto is in the midst of a multi-year bull market right now with leading assets such as BTC and ETH chasing all-time highs and most other tokens, including memecoins, going from strength to strength. It’s also no secret that there’s never enough capital to buy all of the assets on your bull market wish list.
Lending protocols provide a solution to this, allowing DeFi users to deposit one asset, such as ETH or BTC, and borrow stablecoins, which can then be swapped for other assets, be it AI tokens, RWA assets, or memecoins. When used responsibly, lending allows savvy DeFi users to maximize their gains. They can capitalize on the upside to their collateral increasing in value while also using their borrowed assets to make additional gains.
But the lending protocol you choose will dictate the assets you can deposit, the ways you can utilize your borrowed funds, the interest you’ll pay, and the lending-borrowing ratio you can maintain. Here are five of the best lending protocols that will give you the most bang for your buck.
Nolus
Nolus is a cross-chain lending protocol that’s on the up. There’s a respectable $3.3M in TVL and $55M in volume since it launched less than a year ago. There are two things that make Nolus an ideal solution when operating in a bull market. Firstly, there’s its ingenious provision of up to 150% financing – 3x the industry average – through its DeFi Lease product. This allows lenders to obtain the maximum available capital and thus earn the maximum available yield.
As for how Nolus achieves this without increasing liquidation risk, it’s because both the staked asset – the down payment – and the borrowed asset are combined to acquire the asset the user desires. By pooling these sources, it’s possible to access much greater capital than would otherwise be available. The second neat thing about Nolus is that it doesn’t liquidate the user’s position in full should they become under-collateralized. Rather, it administers partial liquidation, granting ample opportunity to top up collateral and minimize downside risk.
Aave
Aave needs no introduction to DeFi users, having established itself as a mainstay of the $36B DeFi lending industry. $20B of that total is accounted for by Aave alone, whose multi-chain reach, robust security, and user-friendly interface have made it a…