BlockFi is a financial services company that provides a custodial crypto wallet, an interest-earning account for many popular cryptocurrencies, and a credit card that provides 2% cashback for purchases - paid in Bitcoin.

Security

Where are BlockFi customer funds stored?

BlockFi holds customer funds in a combination of banks/brokers, loans, and crypto custodians like BitGo, Gemini, and Coinbase.

According to the official site:

As of June 30, 2021, BlockFi held approximately $10.3 billion in client assets on its BlockFi Interest Account(“BIA”) platform, a decrease of $4.4 billion or 30% from March 31, 2021, and an increase of $5.9 billion or 134% from December 31, 2020. During the most recent period there was a broad reduction in the price of digital assets which is reflected in the overall change in BIA balances. At the same time over 150,000 new clients funded and began using the BIA platform.

Of the $10.3 billion in client assets,

• 46% were lent,
• 38% were held with third-party custodians,
• 6% were held with banks and brokers, and
• the remaining 10% was held in other liquid hedging positions and collateral, in accordance with BIA’s Account Terms.

How safe is BlockFi’s crypto custody?

The primary custodian that BlockFi uses for crypto assets is Gemini. This is one of the most popular and well-known crypto custodians, with $200 million insurance.

What does ProHashing say about BlockFi?

ProHashing has an excellent and comprehensive review of crypto interest accounts. Here’s what they say about BlockFi:

BlockFi is an unacceptable company because of its history of security vulnerabilities.

[…]

Despite all of its positives, BlockFi is disqualified by its history of security incidents. In a minor incident in early 2021, BlockFi’s systems were used to send profane and racist E-Mails to journalists (no money was lost in the attack.) In a more significant incident, BlockFi accidentally credited too much money to about 100 customers' accounts in May 2021 as part of a referral bonus program. This latter incident caused us to stop recommending BlockFi, and a full explanation of why this incident is so severe even though most money was recovered is detailed in the “Why we changed from BlockFi to Ledn” below.

Pricing

How much do withdrawals cost?

BlockFi’s latest withdrawal fees can be found here.

As of November 2021, the fees for each asset are listed below:

How much does it cost to take a loan?

The interest rates for a loan from BlockFi vary according to the LTV chosen. The full rates can be compared here.

All loans include a 2% origination fee, regardless of the LTV chosen.

Supported Assets

What coins can I earn interest on with BlockFi?

BlockFi provides an interest earning account (BIA) for each of the following currencies:

• BTC (Bitcoin)

• ETH (Ethereum)

• LINK (Chainlink)

• LTC (Litecoin)

• USDC (USD Coin)

• GUSD (Gemini USD)

• PAX (Paxos)

• PAXG (Paxos Gold)

• USDT (Tether)

• DAI (Maker DAO)

• UNI (Uniswap)

• BAT (Basic Attention Token)

What coins can I use as collateral for a loan?

BlockFi supports depositing Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), or Litecoin (LTC) as collateral for a loan. As described in the BlockFi help center:

It takes less than 2 minutes to apply for a BlockFi loan. Once submitted, our BlockFi team will give you a decision and present you with loan terms within hours. After you accept and send your collateral, we will wire USD directly into your bank account. It’s as simple as that.

What coins can I borrow from BlockFi?

BlockFi’s crypto-backed loans can be withdrawn in either USD (by wire transfer) or USDC.

Loans in USDC can be withdrawn immediately, but USD loans may take several days to complete the wire transfer.