Staking is Lending - (Why you should just Buy and HODL Bitcoin)

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The term poker staking, or simply staking, refers to the act of putting cash up on behalf of a poker player in the hopes that he or she wins.

staking is lending

 

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What are the people offering you interest payments doing?  They are probably doing something risker to get a return so they can get profit and then give you interest (or you think the interest comes out of nowhere?)

Don't be stupid with money.

You'll just be making some "smart" person rich:

You lend to X. X turns around and lends to Mr. Shorter, for a higher rate. X makes money from your Bitcoins. You take all the risks. X has plenty of his own bitcoins, but, like me, he knows better than to lend them to Mr. Shorter.

Meanwhile:

‘Billions’ lost through hacks of crypto lending platforms

New research by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic showed that fraud and theft at decentralized finance platforms have led to $10.5 billion in losses so far this year.

. . .

However, the explosive DeFi growth came along with booming crime in the mostly unregulated sector, Elliptic said. Users have suffered over $12 billion in losses through crime at DeFi apps, lending platforms and exchanges since 2020, with the majority of losses coming in 2021 alone.

Those losses were mainly attributed to bug and code flaws, as well as a hacking technique that involves exploiting loopholes in how the DeFi service operates.

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So the returns on Bitcoin are assymetric. That means that while you can only lose your initial investment, the upside potential on it could be 100x for instance.

When you loan out your Bitcoin you actually flip that assymetry against you because of counterparty risk. Essentially, for an added 4 to 6% you’re taking on the risk that the borrower could default (or in most cases with crypto lending - the platform itself could go under). When you assume those risks you’re taking on the chance that you could lose all of your Bitcoin for a 4 - 6% added return when you could have had 170% (the average return so far - likely to be a little lower going forward as the market grows) annually by just holding it.

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"BTC is not a Proof of Stake coin so I assume they convert my BTC to another coin, stake that for higher than 6.5%, convert back after 3 months and pocket the difference?"
This is basically it. You don't stake your BTC, BTC cannot be staked. You can lend it to earn interest.
Is it safe? Maybe. Maybe not. A few exchanges have been closed down over the years, as well as lending services. Read up on Cred. It was one of the big crypto lending programs, like Nexo/Cryptocom/Celcius. It didn't stand the test of time, so anyone who lent their precious BTC was screwed over.
While if you kept your BTC in your wallet with proper backups and measures in place, you still have the same amount of BTC.

 

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Bitcoin appreicates at 200%/year on average. Are you comfortable getting 206.5% while giving up custody of your wealth?