What is the Bitbond exchange?
The Bitbond exchange is different to other cryptocurrency exchanges. This is not a site that primarily offers the peer-2-peer buying and selling of virtual currency. Instead, the Bitbond exchange is essentially a lending platform, where small business owners can secure loans to build online businesses. The loans come in the form of Bitcoin and the interest rate depends on the amount borrowed.
The Bitbond exchange was founded by Radoslav Albretcht and was established in Germany. It has been around for a while and has managed to use the blockchain technology to facilitate loans that can be processed quickly. The site offers different types of loans – including private loans, prosper loans, and lending club loans. The reason why Bitbond is so exciting is that it honours the ideals of blockchain in its business pursuits. It allows anybody, from anywhere, whether in the US or Kenya or India, to secure the money needed to drive forward enterprise. It democratises finance and includes those who have previously been excluded.
The site has over 100,000 users and nearly 2000 loans have been funded to date. The loan volume is over $3 million. The numbers show that the site is well-established and enjoys a lot of success. Although based in Germany, this is a global company. It has serviced loans in more than 120 countries across the world.
How Bitbond works?
You can use the Bitbond exchange as an investor or as a borrower. If you choose to loan out your Bitcoin to companies, then you could earn 13% in interest. This allows investors to make a passive income from Bitcoin, which would otherwise sit passively in a digital wallet. When Bitcoin sits in a wallet, the only way to ensure a profit on your Bitcoin is in the hope that the price rises. By offering your coins as loans, you are certain of a return on your virtual currency.
There are no restrictions on the loans that you can choose to fund. The investor has freedom to search through the loan requests and find the one that suits their portfolio. If you are not certain what loan you would like to fulfil, it is also possible to click Autoinvest – and it will come up with a diverse portfolio for you to choose from.
To be a lender you need to complete the video verification online – and verify your identity with a valid ID card or a passport. You will then be able to fund your Bitbond account and begin to search the listings for borrowers.
If you are a borrower, you have the chance of borrowing up to $25k – with repayment windows between 6 weeks and 3 years. The fee for this could be as little as 1% per month. Applying for the loan is simple – you merely need to enter the company’s official website, your personal details, connect your business account and enter a place of residence, proof of income and ID.
It is worth knowing that you can neither receive or pay back funds early on 6-week loans. The blockchain technology sets up the agreement in such a way as the funds must be transferred as per the contract that has been agreed. On longer term loans it is possible to make early repayments – but only after the first loan payment has been made.
Key information about Bitbond
Before giving you our conclusions in our Bitbond review, it is important to offer key information. The most important question: is it safe to loan money on the site? Bitbond’s reputation is reliant on the reliability of the borrowers in making repayments. If this reliability is not there, then nobody would choose to invest on the site. This means that the borrowers are thoroughly checked – to make sure they can make payments. A member of the Bitbond team is also responsible for reminding the borrower of the payment schedule and chasing this up if the payment is not available.
Another useful feature on the Bitbond site is the rating system for borrowers. If the borrower fails to honour any part of an agreement, then the rating drops and their chance of getting a further loan is reduced. It is in the borrower’s best interest to keep up a positive borrowing record.
If no payments are made for over 90 days, then the loan is in default and the amount is passed to debt collectors. The site makes sure that the borrower suffers from the full legal and economic negative effect of defaulting on the loan.
To further offer confidence to investors, Bitbond is regulated by BaFin – which is Germany’s financial regulator. It is considered a financial service provider and therefore must fulfil stringent conditions to secure data and funds.
Your Bitbond Review
Positives
- this is a place where anybody with an eCommerce or online business idea can seek funding. This opens the world of global finance to anyone with a sound idea and a good work ethic – location is no longer a limiting factor.
- it allows people with Bitcoin to create a means of passive income – earning 13% per annum on any loan made
- the process of loaning is made simple and safe – the site is organised on a simple search basis – but also offers an Autoinvest option for those wishing to save time.
- the ratings system makes it easy to judge if an investment is safe or not.
Negatives
- the site only offers Bitcoin – and is not available for users of other virtual currencies
- once loaned, your Bitcoin is tied up for a period of time, and repayment may come slowly – with limited option for early repayment.
Overall
The proof of the success of the Bitbond exchange is in the amount of money already invested through the site. It has a loyal customer base, who use the site for passive income or for funding their next big idea.