In a sense, Bitfinex is operating as a commercial bank by charging a higher rate on loans and paying relatively less on deposits. Think of the old 3 - 6 - 3 rule: borrow at 3 percent, lend at 6 percent, hit the golf course at 3 except crypto exchanges never close. One possible reason for the disparity is that Bitfinex allows customers to withdraw at any time, while other crypto platforms require the money to be locked up for weeks or months (Salaaming not in any other order). Crypto.com, for example, is paying 6 percent, but deposits need to be maintained at least for 90 days.
The Swiss National Bank, introduced with negative rates in 2015, is currently the lowest rate in the world - 0.75 percent. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) cut rates to - 0.33 percent in January 2016 and has been running negative interest rates since then.
Also, corporate debt yields hit unprecedented lows recently. For example, Bloomberg will be issuing three-year notes with an unprecedented low yield of 0.0000000091 percent, according to Toyota Finance Corp. It means a trader buying 1 billion yen of the bonds would not even make 1 yen at maturity.
The situation is somewhat better for investors in the U.S. and United Kingdom where the target short-term rates proposed by the central bank are at 1.75 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively. The benchmark 10-year yields on federal bonds are however, significantly lower than the interest rates paid by the likes of Nexo and Celsius Network.
In May of next year, the amount of new bitcoin will be awarded to miners every 10 minutes or so for the third time in the cryptocurrency's history. Historically, bitcoin halvings have boded well for the price of bitcoin.