Nexo
Nexo is a crypto exchange and credit platform where you can manage your cryptocurrencies and earn cashback for crypto purchases and trades. The platform also offers debit cards and lines of credit with competitive rates, but you must agree to hold a certain amount of Nexo currency NEXO in your portfolio to get the best rates.
Nexo was founded in 2017 by Antoni Trenchev, Georgi Shulev, and Kosta Kantchev.
At the Nexo platform you can manage a range of cryptocurrency needs, including:
- Borrowing
- Spending
- Purchasing
- Trading
There is no FDIC insurance offered by Nexo to protect the crypto assets. Instead the platform only offers a $375 million insurance policy to protect assets – but that’s cumulative for all customers.
On February 2022, Nexo had announced it would stop paying interest on new deposits from U.S. customers while it develops a new earning account that complies with SEC regulations. U.S. residents are not currently eligible to use Nexo Earn, but you can use Nexo’s other products and services.
At Nexo, customer service is not the most responsive. It can take several days to get a response to a support ticket, and you will probably have to wait several minutes or even hours to get help via chat.
In October 2022, it became known that 5 US states had launched an official investigation against Nexo. This is because the financial product offered by Nexo under the heading “Earn” is, in their opinion, an unregistered security. Investors can earn up to 36% p.a. with it. As a result, Nexo has to pay hefty fines. Washington demands 1 million US dollars, in South Carolina it is 625,000 US dollars and in Maryland they want 5,000 US dollars per violation.
Eventually, however, it could not only be a question of whether and where Nexo should have been allowed to offer its financial products, but also how the company’s finances are doing. This is because the authorities have doubts about an audit that Nexo commissioned through Armanino LLP in 2021.
Due to the company’s questionable solvency and allegations of unauthorized financial transactions, we place Nexo on our “Red Compliance” list and put it on our watchlist.