Crypto lending sector hits nearly $5B in value, but lenders earn less than 2% interest - Report

The cryptocurrency lending sector is booming, currently valued at over $4.7 billion, but lenders have earned back only $86 million (or 1.83 percent) in interest, according to a new report.

Published Thursday by crypto credit assessment startup Graychain, the 26-page report shows that nearly 100% of crypto lending today is collateralized, meaning borrowers pledge an asset to secure the repayment of the loan. “But this will change,” says the report’s author Robert Walker Cohen, an analyst at Graychain.

In terms of the number of loans, approximately 244,000 have been originated over the past 18 months. Celsius and Genesis have the highest volume with 65% of loan originations, per the report.
Source: Graychain

"The number of loans originated grew faster than new addresses and the total origination amount. That means that people are making more small loans, rather than borrowing millions at a time. This suggests adoption (on the public platforms) by more average consumers, rather than institutional borrowers," explained Cohen.

Graychain sourced its data from public blockchains, including MakerDAO, Compound, dYdX and Nuo, through self-reporting, as well as other public data such as press releases. “We started with what we had, used approximations for any missing data, and summed the results,” it noted.