Bitcoin lender Ledn to roll out ETH, USDT interest accounts

Despite its roots embedded in Bitcoin (BTC) lending, lending platform Ledn has announced the launch of an Ether (ETH) yield offering following user requests for a shielded alternative to manually staking Ether.

The Cayman Islands firm has added an ETH offering to its Growth Accounts products, which currently offers users ring-fenced facilities to earn interest on Bitcoin and USD Coin (USDC) deposits.

An announcement shared with Cointelegraph highlighted user calls for a means to earn interest from ETH holdings without having to manually stake and manage Ether through liquid staking pools.

The lending firm also notes that its Growth Accounts are specifically ring-fenced from Ledn’s other products and services. Deposited ETH is only exposed to the counterparty that generates yield off the staked amount, which means that user deposits will remain unaffected if Ledn were to go bankrupt.

Related: Coinbase launches crypto lending platform for US institutions

This is particularly pertinent given the high-profile failures of some of the cryptocurrency industry’s most prominent crypto lending firms. The likes of Celsius, Voyager and Three Arrows Capital highlight the potential pitfalls of over-extended and questionable lending practices that have plagued the industry.

Ledn chief strategy officer Mauricio Di Bartolomeo said that Ledn users have continually inquired about an Ether offering and remained confident that it would be a favorable alternative to self-managing ETH staking:

“This yield option is significantly easier to set up than native ETH staking. Looking forward, we’re working towards rolling out ETH support across the entire Ledn suite of products in the coming months.”

Ledn also announced that it will be launching a second stablecoin Growth Account, with users set to be able to deposit and earn interest on Tether (USDT) tokens from Oct. 12. These new offerings will not be available to United States or Canadian users.

Ledn is not the only Bitcoin-first company to gradually roll out support for cryptocurrencies other than BTC. Casa, a noncustodial wallet platform that began as a Bitcoin-only service, rolled out multisignature ETH self-storage in June 2023.

In August 2023, Ledn announced a partnership with Cayman Islands real estate company Parallel that would enable cryptocurrency users to invest in property to attain eventual residency.

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