Crypto platform tells savers how it's different from Celsius Network

A crypto platform is stressing that it has a completely different business model than the embattled Celsius Network — and strives to make its users' money work for them in a sustainable way.

In a live ask-me-anything session on Cointelegraph's YouTube channel, YouHodler CEO Ilya Volkov said the interest rates offered through his company are sustainable — and unlike others in the space, the exchange isn't exposed to third-party risk.

Volkov said YouHodler is "self-sufficient" and hasn't been backed by an initial coin offering or venture capitalists, with customer funds never placed under someone else's management.

Explaining how the trading platform can afford to offer interest rates that beat banks, the CEO explained it shares a "significant part" of its revenues with users — and when asked about the current bear market, described crisis as a time of opportunity.

"It's a nice time to prove that everything is up and running, we have a sustainable business model, we have proper risk management," Volkov said.

Illustrating how this works in practice, the CEO pointed to how the current climate had prompted YouHodler to reduce the maximum amount that each user could earn interest on — from $100,000 to $25,000 — with the prospect this could increase in future.

And on the topic of sustainability, he stressed that YouHodler has no connections to other DeFi protocols — something that has led to serious headaches for a number of rivals.

The future

Volkov acknowledged that the crypto winter is hard for many, but pointed to the fact that other asset classes are also struggling as high inflation and key rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve contribute to "a lot of panicking on the market" — with fears growing that a recession might be on the horizon.

He explained that YouHodler offers products for passive and active crypto investors alike — catering to those who simply want to buy or swap digital assets, people who want cash to pay bills without selling off their crypto, and advanced traders who intend to use lending for leverage.

Giving his vision of building a bridge between DeFi and CeFi, YouHodler's CEO was confident that the future is bright for the industry.

"We all witnessed a transition from private storage to cloud storage. Now, we are 99% cloud-based. I believe that, in a few years from now, we will all be blockchain based in terms of storage of data, in terms of digital identities," Volkov said.

He went on to reveal that YouHodler's very first DeFi product is slated to launch in July — and that it'll be easy to use with no staking or pooling that's linked to third parties.

Not your keys, not your crypto? 

A common refrain with crypto wallets and lending platforms relates to an old saying from Bitcoiners: "Not your keys, not your crypto." 

While Volkov is a firm believer in hardware wallets and uses one personally, he believes that companies like YouHodler can and should hold a place in the ecosystem.

He said: "An alternative to banks is cash. How good is it to have cash in your kitchen? Of course it'll be safe until someone steals it somehow. Money should work. Money should make money, it's a main principle for money management. That's why it's better to distribute it — it's better to use part of your funds in cold storage and in a hardware wallet, and another part operating in the market." 

Looking ahead, YouHodler is planning to launch its own credit card and establish connections between hardware wallets and its application for ease of access.

"The last mile is always the most complicated and the most difficult," Volkov said.