Ether.fi Summer Launches: Stocks, Precious Metals & On-Chain Loans Now Available

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This morning, Ether.fi Summer kicked off. The company held a video conference announcing their latest updates to the platform, which include the purchase of stocks, precious metals, and other cryptos. Plus, they have added more features for managing your finances on-chain such as loans and new on-ramp options.

https://x.com/ether_fi/status/2087905170738823428?s=20

Stocks

Created with Gemini

Stocks offered on Ether.fi are through Backed.fi xStocks, which are wrapped versions of actual stocks. The offerings don't include all stocks in the market. However, there is enough variety of the most popular securities to satisfy most needs.

One important detail is that most of the xStocks offered cannot be used as collateral for loans. At present, only QQQx, SPYx, and TBILLx are available as collateral. I was unable to find out the LTV ratio for borrowing against these stocks.

Another important detail is that xStocks are not available to users in the USA.

Precious Metals

Ether.fi is also offering exposure to precious metals, particularly PAXG, SLVx, GLDx, and PPLTx. Of these, only PAXG can be used as loan collateral at 75% LTV.

Cryptos

Ether.fi has also expanded the cryptos available for investing on the platform. These include Solana and Chainlink. There are other tokens that I think are DeFi tokens or governance tokens. Somehow PEPE made the cut. Perhaps there will be more options added later. As far as collateral goes, the none of the new cryptos can be used as collateral. At present, only the core offerings can be used as collateral with LTVs ranging from 20% to 90%.

Loans

The most useful update, in my opinion, is the ability to take out loans from Aave using the same collateral and line of credit available to the credit card. In other words, users are no longer limited to borrowing via credit card purchases. Now users can borrow ETH at 1.38% or USDC at 3.36%. These rates are variable.

Depending on how large your portfolio is, the ability to borrow makes it easier to manage large purchases that cannot be done with a credit card. Users could, for example, borrow USDC and transfer it to their bank. Bank transfers are automatically converted to fiat.

Like the Ether.fi credit card, loans do not have a fixed term or fixed monthly payments. It is entirely at the user's discretion to pay down the loans in whatever way is most convenient.

Transfers

Another useful upgrade added to the Ether.fi platform is the ability to deposit via CashApp, Apple Pay, or debit card. Obviously, there are transaction fees. But these options offer added convenience, allowing users to bypass crypto exchanges for quick deposits.

If speed is not essential, then the old bank transfer method is still available for users, which has been expanded to more currencies.

Other Updates

Other updates to the Ether.fi platform include minor updates to their membership plan, which include discounts on purchases from a number of categories including AI, streaming, and food. There are still no details on how this will work.

Many of the benefits of their membership program are geared towards travelers and users with large balances. However, this does not mean that users with modest budgets would not benefit from an Ether.fi Cash card. Even the Core membership offers 3% cash back on spending and 5% cash back on travel through their travel portal, which has discounted prices on hotels and flights.

According to the the Ether.fi video conference, these updates are only what was ready to release into production. There are more features in the works that will be released in the coming months.

The overall benefit for having an Ether.fi account is that they have simplified the ability to use your crypto without selling. Your portfolio serves as collateral for borrowing. In addition, your spending gets 3% cash back, which you can use as you need, either towards paying down your balance or building up more collateral.

Referrals

One compelling reason to get the Ether.fi Cash credit card is that they have a great referral program that rewards you when your referrals spend on their card, as well as their direct referrals. Additionally, there are commissions and revenue share.

My referral link is - https://www.ether.fi/@rgvmedia

It doesn't cost you anything to sign up and explore. If you do decide to try the service, your crypto portfolio is non-custodial, meaning that Ether.fi does not hold your cryptos. They are completely on-chain. Login is via Passkey.

You shouldn't take my word. Do your own research and discover if Ether.fi is right for your personal situation.