BlockFi vs Crypto.com

Crypto.com and BlockFi are two of the more popular full-service crypto banking platforms today. Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is privately owned and is headquartered in Singapore. They have approximately 4000 employees and over 50 million users. BlockFi is privately owned and was launched in 2017. They are based in Jersey City, New Jersey and have offices in New York, Argentina, Singapore and Poland. Our Crypto.com versus BlockFi review will compare these two platforms to determine which is best for you.

What is BlockFi?

BlockFi is a crypto banking platform that supports around 40 different digital coins. They do offer a crypto exchange but specialize in crypto lending and interest earning crypto accounts. The site accepts several different cryptocurrencies as collateral for loans and users can borrow up to 50% of their digital assets value. Investors can earn interest on over 40 different cryptocurrencies. In addition, they offer a credit card that provides crypto rewards when it is used.

What is Crypto.com?

Crypto.com’s cryptocurrency banking platform provides a wide range of services. Users can buy, sell and trade over 250 cryptocurrencies on the site. They offer crypto loans that can be collateralized with over 20 different cryptocurrencies and interest earning accounts for around 40 different digital coins. The site also has their own token, Cronos (CRO), similar to the SMTF token from SmartFi, with the main difference being SMTF buyers are guaranteed to get the full SmartFi crypto price back if they hold the token for 1 year. In addition, users can buy and sell NFTs on the site and a credit card is available for qualified users.

Features

BlockFi Features

• Crypto Exchange: Users can buy, sell and trade over 40 different cryptocurrencies on the BlockFi exchange. However, U.S. clients are limited to trading only 15 different digital coins. Of the available cryptocurrencies only 12 can be funded from or withdrawn to personal wallets.
• Crypto-backed loans: BlockFi users can borrow up to 50% of the value of their collateral when they take out a crypto loan. The interest rates vary depending on the LTV, ranging from 4.5% at an LTV of 20% up to 9.75% at an LTV of 50%. Cryptocurrencies that are accepted as collateral for loans are BTC, ETH, LTC and PAXG.
• Interest Earning Account: Investors can earn interest on 48 different cryptocurrencies when deposited to BlockFi. No minimum or maximum is set for BlockFi interest earning accounts. Interest rates vary a great deal depending on the particular digital coin that is deposited ranging from as low as 0.10% up to 15%.
• BlockFi Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card: The credit card offered by BlockFi gives users 1.5% in Bitcoin rewards with every purchase. There are no annual fees for the credit card.

Crypto.com Features

• Crypto Exchange: The Crpto.com exchange supports over 250 different cryptocurrencies. Fees for trading depend on the volume of trades and can be lowered if the user is holding the CRO token. You can get started trading on Crypto.com for as little as $1
• Crypto-backed loans: At Crypto.com users can borrow up to 50% of the value of the crypto asset the use as collateral. Interest rates vary depending on the LTV of the loan. Crypto.com offers loans at 50% LTV, 33% LTV and 25% LTV. Funds can be borrowed for up to 12 months and there is a $100 loan minimum. Interest rates range from as high as 12% to as low as 2% if you have staked the CRO token. The cryptocurrencies accepted as collateral are BTC, ETH, LTC, XLM, EOS, ADA, ALGO, ATOM, VET, LINK, WBTC, DOT, XTZ, FIL, MATIC, AVAX, KLAY, SOL, ENJ, SAND, HNT, ONE, NEAR and CRO. This is far more coins accepted as collateral than on platforms like SpectroCoin as you can see by reading a SpectroCoin review.
• Interest Earning Account: Crypto.com offers interest earning accounts for around 40 different cryptocurrencies. Their system for calculating the interest on accounts is somewhat complicated. Interest amount depends not only on the particular cryptocurrency but also on whether or not the user has staked CRO, Crypto.com’s native token. Interest rates go up depending on the amount of CRO staked. Another factor affecting interest rates is the length of time the user opts for with the options being 1 month, 3 months or flexible.
• Crypto.com Credit Card: There are 5 different tiers for the Crypto.com credit card and no annual fees apply. Users are rewarded with a certain percentage of CRO depending on the card tier level
• Cronos (CRO): CRO is the native token of Crypto.com. Users who stake CRO earn interest and also get better rates on crypto loans and interest earning accounts as well as more rewards for using the Crypto.com credit card and lower fees when trading.
• NFTs: NFTs can be bought and sold on Crypto.com

BlockFi vs Crypto.com Interest Rates

BlockFi’s interest rates on loans are pretty straight forward and are based on the loan to value (LTV) ratio of the loan.

• BlockFi Loan Interest Rates
• 50% LTV: 9.75%
• 35% LTV: 7.9%
• 20% LTV: 4.5%

It is more complicated to determine the interest rates on Crypto.com loans as it depends on the LTV and the amount of CRO staked. The following is an example with and without staking.

• 50% LTV and no CRO staked: 12%
• 50% LTV and $40,000 CRO staked: 8%
• 50% LTV and $100,000 CRO staked: 6%

Interest rates on loans are lower at BlockFi if you don’t stake CRO at Crpto.com. However, you get better rates at Crypto.com if you stake CRO.

The amount of interest paid on interest earning accounts at BlockFi is also straight forward. The following table shows interest rates for 10 popular cryptocurrencies on the site.

Calculating interest at Crypto.com is more complicated. Factors that affect interest include the cryptocurrency, the amount deposited, the term and the amount of CRO staked. The terms available are 1 month, 3 months and “Flexible” with 3 months offering the best rates. The following table shows the same 10 cryptocurrencies as above with the amount deposited being $1000 and the term being 3 months.

Unless you stake over $4000 in CRO, the interest rates paid by Crypto.com are considerably less in most cases than those paid by BlockFi

Currencies

BlockFi supports 48 different cryptocurrencies on their platform. The following are the digital coins supported.

The only fiat currency accepted at BlockFi is the U.S. dollar.

Crypto.com supports over 250 cryptocurrencies on their platform. Some of the currencies supported include:

The platform also supports over 20 fiat currencies including the US dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, British pound sterling and Euro.

Security

BlockFi uses Gemini as a custodian for storing their crypto funds, the bulk of which are stored offline. Gemini insures the crypto that it stores online. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is one feature BlockFi uses to protect users. Another is a feature they refer to as allowlisting also known as whitelisting. Allowlisting lets users restrict withdrawals to only known addresses that they have added to their allowlist.

Crypto.com stores 100% of its user’s cryptocurrencies offline through its strategic partnership with Ledger and funds held in cold storage are insured. All funds held by Crypto.com in hot wallets are company funds. Fiat currencies deposited by users are held in regulated custodian banks. The platform uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which includes password, biometric, phone, email and authenticator verification to protect transactions. They also make it mandatory to whitelist external addresses through email verification as a further security measure.

Fees

BlockFi charges a 2% origination fee for its loans. There are no transaction fees on trades. They allow one free cryptocurrency withdrawal and one free stablecoin withdrawal per month after which a fee will be charged. The BlockFi withdrawal fees are as follows:

Crypto.com does charge fees for trades. Fees vary depending on the user’s trade volume over a 30-day period. Maker fees range from 0.075% to 0.060% unless your trading volume is $10 million in which case there is no fee. Taker fees range from 0.075% to 0.050%. Staking CRO will further reduce trading fees. Withdrawals completed on-chain will be charged a fee that varies depending on the cryptocurrency. However, these withdrawal fees can be avoided by using the withdraw to app function.

Ease of Use

Both BlockFi and Crypto.com are relatively easy platforms to get started on. It is fairly straight-forward to find what you want on both sites. For beginners BlockFi is somewhat easier to use. Determining interest rates on loans and deposits is less confusing. Also, to get the best rates at Crypto.com, users need to stake a fairly substantial amount of CRO

Mobile App

BlockFi’s app is available for Android and iOS mobile devices. Everything you can do from a desktop you can do using the mobile app including crypto trading, managing interest earning accounts and getting crypto-backed loans. It can also be used to manage the BlockFi credit card. The app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Android Google Play Store

The Crypto.com app is available for iOS and Android devices and can be used to do anything you can do from a desktop from trading, to getting crypto loans and managing interest earning accounts. It can also be used for managing the Crypto.com credit card and buying and selling NFTs.

Access

BlockFi is accessible in most U.S. states as well as world-wide with the exception of countries sanctioned by the U.S., the U.K. or EU.

Crypto.com has users in over 90 countries including the U.S, Canada, Australia and most members of the EU

Wallets

BlockFi offers users a non-interest-bearing wallet for users to store their digital coins. It is a custodial wallet but can be used to buy, sell and trade crypto all in one place. The wallet can be locked with 2FA authentication.

Crypto.com offers both a centralized wallet and a decentralized wallet. The Crypto.com wallet is decentralized and the Crypto.com app wallet is a centralized custodial wallet.

BlockFi vs Crypto.com Credit Card

The BlockFi credit card gives users 1.5% in Bitcoin rewards for each purchase made by the user. There are no annual fees for the credit card.

Crypto.com’s credit card also has no annual fees but the reward system is a little more complicated. The credit card has 5 different tiers based on the amount of CRO staked, with each tier offering different rewards.

Additional rewards include Spotify, Netflix, Expedia and Airbnb credits along with other perks depending on the tier level.

BlockFi Pros & Cons

BlockFi Pros

• Fast loans
• No credit checks
• Earn interest on 40+ cryptocurrencies
• 95% of user’s crypto assets in cold storage
• Mobile app
• Competitive interest rates

BlockFi Cons

• Fee for withdrawals after the first cryptocurrency and first stablecoin withdrawals every month
• Users don’t have control over private keys

Crypto.com Pros & Cons

Crypto.com Pros

• Native token that improves interest rates and perks
• Fast and easy loan approval
• Mobile app
• Custodial and non-custodial wallets
• Good selection of cryptocurrencies on the exchange
• 100% of users crypto in cold storage

Crypto.com Cons

• Have to stake CRO token to get the best rates

Conclusion

Crypto.com and BlockFi or both good crypto platforms and the one you choose will depend on your need. For trading cryptocurrencies Crypto.com may be the better choice as they support a much larger number of crypto currencies. BlockFi appears to be the better choice for crypto loans and interest earning accounts as their rates are better unless you want to stake a large amount of CRO.