Independent research desk — we are not a broker, exchange or adviser
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The catalogue
Fourteen venues across three categories — centralised exchanges, specialist lenders and DeFi protocols — measured on the same five criteria. Sorted by overall score, not by what anyone pays us.
Rankings are editorial. Commercial relationships do not move a platform up this list.
CEX.IO Earn leads at 4.6 on transparency and risk controls — no lock-up on staking, daily savings accrual, and a clearly stated licence position across four jurisdictions.
Nexo and Ledn pay the most among CeFi venues, at up to 9.5% and 8.5% on stablecoins respectively, both with tier conditions that materially change the effective rate.
Aave scores 5.0 on transparency — the only platform in our database where you can verify every loan, every collateral ratio and the exact rate formula yourself.
The widest gap between advertised and effective rate belongs to Bybit: 8.2–11% on roughly the first $200, then about 3.2%.
Custodial, KYC, broad asset menus
Higher rates, narrower focus
Non-custodial, fully auditable
Out of a possible 5.0
Category one
Custodial venues that bolt an earn product onto a trading business. Broadest asset coverage, simplest onboarding, and the widest variation in how honestly rates are presented.
Highest overall score
Two clearly separated products — proof-of-stake staking with no lock-up, and flexible savings paid daily — run by a group that holds registrations in the UK, Gibraltar, the US and Spain.
Best for: People who want a regulated venue and will not chase double-digit promos
A Nasdaq-listed operator with modest but dependable rates. USDC rewards and protocol staking are the core; the trade-off is a commission of roughly a quarter to a third of gross staking rewards.
Best for: US savers who value a listed, audited counterparty over the top rate
Splits staking into flexible and on-chain bonded terms. Bonded pays more and locks longer; flexible pays on only part of your balance. The distinction is the whole story here.
Best for: Stakers who understand bonding periods and want network-native exposure
Simple Earn, dual investment, launchpool and on-chain yields under one roof. Real-time APRs float minute to minute and the eye-catching bonus rates apply only to a small first tranche.
Best for: Experienced users who will read the tiered-APR small print
Rates scale with how much CRO you stake and how long you lock. That makes the top advertised figure a bundle of interest plus token exposure rather than a clean yield.
Best for: Existing CRO holders already inside the ecosystem
Lower flexible rates than its rivals, paired with one of the better bridges into on-chain yield. OKX is honest about the base rate instead of leading with a promo number.
Best for: Traders who want idle balances to earn something without leaving the exchange
Advertises some of the highest stablecoin APRs in the category, then applies them to roughly the first $200. Past that, the rate falls to a much more ordinary number.
Best for: Small balances that fit inside the promotional tier
Where smaller-cap tokens actually have an earn product. That breadth is the draw, and it comes with thinner liquidity and a more complicated compliance history.
Best for: Holders of mid-cap tokens that no major venue supports
Leans into fixed-term and structured yield rather than flexible savings, with headline stablecoin rates up to about 11% on committed terms.
Best for: Savers comfortable committing capital for a defined term
Category two
Businesses whose entire product is lending your crypto out. They pay the highest rates in the market, and they are the category that produced the 2022 failures. Underwriting discipline is everything here.
The highest published CeFi rates on major assets, but they are gated behind a loyalty ladder that rewards holding NEXO tokens and keeping a five-figure balance.
Best for: Larger balances willing to hold NEXO tokens for the top tier
Deliberately narrow: BTC and USDC, a growth account and a Bitcoin-backed loan. Publishes proof-of-reserves attestations, which almost nobody else in CeFi lending does.
Best for: Bitcoin holders who want yield or liquidity without selling
Rates at the aggressive end of the market across 50+ assets, backed by a Swiss operating base. The higher the advertised APR, the more of it comes from lending into leverage demand.
Best for: Yield-seekers who accept materially higher counterparty risk
Category three
No custodian, no KYC, no support desk. Every loan and every collateral ratio is public and verifiable. These two scored highest of any platform in our database on transparency, and lowest on usability.
Deposit ETH, receive stETH, keep the position liquid while it accrues consensus and MEV rewards. No counterparty holds your coins — but a smart contract does.
Best for: ETH holders who want staking rewards without giving up liquidity
The reference on-chain money market. Supply rates are a public function of utilisation, so you can see exactly why a rate is what it is — something no CeFi lender offers.
Best for: Users comfortable with a wallet who want visible, over-collateralised yield
Head to head
Stripped to the properties that actually differ. Rates move; these structural facts mostly do not.
| Property | CEX.IO | Nexo | Coinbase | Ledn | Aave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 4.6 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 4.3 |
| Stablecoin rate | 4% | 9.5% | 4.1% | 8.5% | 5.2% |
| Bitcoin rate | 0.25% | 4.7% | none | 5.25% | 2.5% |
| Lock-up on staking | No | Partial | Partial | No | No |
| Rate applies to full balance | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Self-custody | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Serves US retail | Partial | No | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Proof of reserves | Partial | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes |
Highest overall score in our database, driven by transparency rather than by a headline number: staking and lending kept as separate products, no lock-up on staked balances, savings interest paid daily with no minimum transfer, and a licence position stated entity by entity.
Rates, terms and regulatory details on this page were checked against the following sources on . Variable figures move constantly — always confirm with the provider before depositing.
Headline against effective rate, every platform and asset.
Read moreThe five criteria in full, including what we refuse to score.
Read moreWhat to check before trusting any of these with capital.
Read moreWhy the two categories cannot be ranked against each other directly.
Read moreThe product most of these platforms are actually selling.
Read moreThe one category where no borrower is involved.
Read moreThe widest long-tail coverage, and the weakest risk controls.
Read moreAn asset with no staking, and the fake-staking sites that target it.
Read more