Japanese bitcoin exchange Coincheck has resumed registrations for its interest-paying lending service and is now including other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple and Monero, among others, alongside Bitcoin.
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Launched in May, the Tokyo-based platform announced ‘Coincheck Lending’, a service that enables users to lend their cryptocurrencies to Coincheck upon agreement of a loan contract. When the agreement expires or is terminated, Coincheck returns the cryptocurrency with an added interest. Annual interest rates vary from 1% over a fortnight to 5% for a year’s deposit into the interest-paying accounts.
At launch, Coincheck enabled the interest-payout service to account holders with bitcoin alone, pointing to support for altcoins in the future. Furthermore, new registrations for these interest accounts were disabled. “We do not accept any new registration temporarily due to the quality assurance of the service,” Coincheck wrote, explaining its decision to disable a service while launching it.
The Japanese exchange has now resumed offering its interest-paying service on Friday, June 16, with registrants required to apply and go through a screening processes before lending to the exchange. The feature now includes all cryptocurrencies supported by the exchange. They are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ether Classic, Lisk, Factom, Monero, Augur, Ripple, Zcash, NEM, Litecoin and Dash.
However, there are a few notable takeaways from the fine-print. First, Coincheck confirms that the lending service isn’t subject to the Payment Services Act, which would mean that cryptocurrencies deposited into the exchange will not be managed as segregated funds. Deposited funds will not be subject to deposit insurance either.