What is APY in Crypto? Best APY Crypto Rates in May 2022

What does APY mean in crypto is a commonly searched question – you’re not alone in wondering. APY stands for annual percentage yield, and it means your compounded return per year, as a percentage figure. It’s more common than APR in crypto (annual percentage rate) and factors in compound interest – you also earn interest on your interest payments over time.

In this beginner’s guide we’ll explain the meaning of APY in depth, how it relates to crypto staking and earning interest on crypto, and where to find the safest and best crypto APY rates so you can profit even more from investing in crypto when market conditions are good, and lose less or break even in a bear market.

How to Earn APY on Crypto – Best Platforms

It’s common to see an unsustainably high APY in crypto of 1000% or more, that sometimes indicates a scam or a crypto project desperate to lure in investors with a high interest rate. Fortunately there are safe, reliable platforms to earn APY on crypto, of up 17%, far better than a savings account at a high street bank.

1. AQRU

AQRU aims to make it simple and flexible to accrue interest on your crypto holdings. With no lockup period or fixed terms, you can earn APY on Bitcoin, and earn APY on stablecoins, or both.

The BTC and ETH APY is 7%, and the stablecoins supported are USDT, USDC and DAI at 12% APY.

Savers can deposit via bank transfer, debit or credit card, or transfer crypto to their AQRU wallet. AQRU is a crypto lending platform that lends crypto deposits to institutions like exchanges and retail borrowers, ensuring they are fully collateralized.

Interest is paid daily, so you earn compound interest on your crypto savings balance. Funds can be withdrawn at any time, and fiat withdrawals are free. Crypto has a $20 withdrawal fee.

The minimum to earn APY on AQRU is their minimum deposit of $100, although if the value of BTC or ETH then fall after depositing, you will still earn APY.

AQRU offer a free 10 USDT sign up bonus to test out their crypto savings platform, credited instantly. There’s also a referral bonus of 75 USDT for you and each friend you refer.

AQRU is not currently available in the United States.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

2. Bitstamp

Bitstamp has a Bitstamp Earn program, currently you can earn 5% APY on ALGO (Algorand tokens) alongside one other option to earn APR on crypto – 4.45% on Ethereum 2.0. APR is a simple interest rate rather than compounding. This is due to ETH 2.0 not having fully launched yet.

Bitstamp is a crypto staking platform, so your funds aren’t given out as crypto loans but instead is used to verify and validate blocks on the blockchain, generated staking rewards. There’s no need for you to actively do anything, Bitstamp provide the nodes and other technical tools to stake crypto.

APY is paid directly into your account. As of February 27th, 2022, Algorand staking rewards are paid quarterly at the end of each governance period.

For ETH 2.0 staking rewards are distributed at the beginning of each calendar month. Due to the way Ethereum staking works however, you will only be able to cash out your ETH2 once the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade launches. The same applies to ETH staking on other crypto exchanges.

Bitstamp Earn is currently not available in the USA, but US traders can use Bitstamp to invest in crypto, and it’s one of the best platforms to buy crypto on – many use it as a fiat on-ramp to buy cryptocurrencies to then send to themselves on other crypto exchanges or crypto lending platforms.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

3. Coinbase

Coinbase staking is open to the United States, so Americans can earn APY on crypto on Coinbase.

The best Coinbase APY rate is the Cosmos APY of 5% (ATOM). Followed by Tezos (XTZ) at 4.63%, Ethereum at 3.675% (APR like on Bitstamp), Cardano at 2.6%, Algorand at 0.45%, and DAI at 0.15%.

Cardano APY on Coinbase was announced on March 24th, 2022, initially at 3.75% APY, which was then lowered to 2.6%.

The minimum to earn APY on Coinbase is $1.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

4. Crypto.com

Crypto.com offers a high APY on 50 cryptos, the highest yield is 14.5% APY on Polkadot (DOT) and Polygon (MATIC) tokens.

However there are some extra requirements to earn the highest APY – buying and staking $40,000 worth of Cronos (CRO), the native token of the exchange, and committing to locked terms of three months.

There’s also a maximum amount that yield can be applied to – $30,000 – above which the APY rewards rate is 50% lower. That tier 1 and tier 2 rate was applied as of April 4th, 2022.

The maximum APY on BTC and ETH is 6%, and 10% on stablecoins.

Crypto.com is open to the United States, and is a spot and derivatives trading exchange as well as having its Crypto Earn program. Users can also take out crypto loans, so you can borrow against your crypto assets as collateral without needing to sell them, up to 50% of the value of your holdings.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

5. eToro

eToro pays an APY on Tron, an APY on Cardano, and like Coinbase and Bitstamp it supports ETH 2.0. The ETH 2.0 yield on eToro is 5 – 6.25%.

The Cardano APY on eToro can fluctuate and not much information is available on the website, however users on Reddit reported receiving 5.4%.

The APY on eToro is distributed automatically each month, with no input from the user. However eToro keeps a percentage to cover operating costs.

Bronze members and all US accounts receive 75% of the yield, Silver / Gold / Platinum Club members receive 85%, and Diamond / Platinum+ Club keep 90% of the yield.

eToro is a another popular fiat-on ramp to buy crypto as it supports Paypal, eWallets like Skrill and Neteller, bank wires, credit cards, and is ASIC, CySEC and FCA regulated. Operating since 2007, it’s one of the safest places to earn APY on crypto.

As an alternative to crypto yield you can also optionally copytrade on eToro, which in 2021 returned an average yearly profit of 30.4%.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

6. Nexo

Nexo pay daily interest of up to 17% APY, and are a popular crypto interest account with a desktop platform and mobile app. It is also possible to buy and exchange crypto on Nexo.

The requirements to earn the highest Nexo APY include holding at least 10% of your portfolio in NEXO tokens, committing to one month fixed terms where your funds are locked, and opting to receive your interest payouts in NEXO.

Nexo users can also take out crypto loans backed against their assets, with a loan-to-value (LTV) of 50% on Bitcoin and 90% on USDT. Earning interest on Nexo isn’t available in the US, but borrowing crypto is.

Over 40 crypto assets are supported, including stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) at up to 17% APY, an alternative to using Anchor Protocol. During some promotional periods higher than 17% APY is possible, for example Nexo offered 36% APY on Axie Infinity (AXS).

Their native token NEXO was listed on Binance in April 2022, so a low fees way of acquiring and selling NEXO (and any other coin you earn crypto interest on) is to do so on Binance.

Withdrawals from Nexo to Binance are free, platinum users receive 5 free withdrawals per month. The 0.1% maker / taker fee on Binance is cheaper than using the Nexo exchange, so transfer holdings to and from there.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.

APY Crypto Meaning & Examples

As mentioned the definition of APY is annual percentage yield, or annualized percentage yield. AQRU provide a free crypto APY calculator on their website.

For example if you choose to hold the stablecoin USDT (Tether) as the principal amount in your account balance, at 12% APY a $10,000 investment would be worth $14,332.45 after three years (USDT is pegged to the US dollar).

Annual percentage yield is applied to both the principal and the interest you earn over time, which in the case of the AQRU platform is paid in your account daily. So their calculator factors that in.

That’s why the return on investment (ROI) is higher than just adding 12% to $10000, then 12% on that result for the second year, and 12% again a third time for the final year. That would equal $14,049.28 – a simple interest rate calculation, or APR (annual percentage rate, also called annualized rate of return).

How to Earn Apy on Crypto on Aqru – Step by Step

To view these steps in screenshots check out our crypto savings accounts page.

Risks and Benefits of Earning APY in Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are more volatile than fiat money markets, bonds, and most financial assets.

For example someone that bought the Bitcoin top at $69,000 in November 2021, would have experienced a 52.5% drawdown to $32,900 at one point. The Bitcoin price has since bounced, but note you’ll have to ‘HODL’…