EarnPark publishes up to 15% APY on USDT as of October 2026, and an account holding zero PARK, EarnPark's own token, can reach that figure. Nexo's stablecoin headline sits nearby, up to 11.5% on a USDT fixed term as advertised on its international site in October 2026. The short answer to this review's title is that Nexo's top rate can be worth it for someone who already holds NEXO, borrows on the platform and keeps well above $5,000 there, and it rarely is for a saver who would have to buy the token, lock the funds and stay above that threshold to get there.
The reason lies in what stands between you and the number. On Nexo the top rate stacks several conditions, one of which is holding its NEXO token. On EarnPark the top of the range is a choice of strategy, with its own risk and withdrawal terms. This review prices both, then covers Nexo's regulatory record and who it genuinely suits.
Updated 25 October 2026
What Nexo is in 2026
Nexo launched in 2018 and is one of the few lenders from that era still operating. Its two best known rivals at the time did not make it. Celsius froze withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy a month later, and BlockFi followed that November. Surviving that period counts for something, and it is the main reason Nexo still gets serious consideration.
Today Nexo is an all in one app offering Flexible and Fixed-term Savings, crypto-backed Credit Lines, an exchange, Dual Investment, futures and the Nexo Card, all organised around a loyalty program built on the NEXO token. Per its own security page, client yields are funded by Credit Line interest spreads, exchange and payment fees, and what it calls market-neutral treasury strategies. The same page names its custody partners as Ledger Vault and Fireblocks globally, Bakkt in the US and Tangany in the EEA.
What the advertised rate actually requires
Read off Nexo's international earn pages in October 2026, flexible savings, which you can withdraw on any day, advertised up to 13% a year across all assets, with that top figure on Polkadot, and up to 9.5% on USDT, 8.5% on USDC and 4.5% on Bitcoin. Fixed terms, which lock funds for one to twelve months, advertised more, as high as 15% on Polkadot and up to 11.5% on USDT, 10.5% on USDC and 5.5% on Bitcoin. Nexo's US site, run with Bakkt, advertises higher figures, up to 12.5% on a USDT fixed term, and calls its top loyalty tier Signature rather than Platinum. Nexo's footer is candid about what "up to" means, saying that reaching those thresholds "may be conditional on additional actions or fulfilment of certain criteria and requirements that may not be attainable by all clients."
Those criteria are spelled out across its pages, and they stack.
| Condition | What Nexo's own pages say | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum balance | Interest starts accruing only once the account holds more than $5,000 in digital assets | A smaller account cannot start earning |
| Loyalty tier | Base needs no NEXO, then Silver from 1%, Gold from 5% and Platinum from 10%, each measured as NEXO against the rest of your portfolio, and only NEXO kept in your Nexo account counts | For Platinum, keeping a volatile token worth a tenth of everything else you hold there |
| Interest paid in NEXO | Taking interest in NEXO instead of the asset you deposited adds up to 2 percentage points, which Nexo calls a bonus | Your return arrives in the same volatile token |
| Fixed term | Terms of 1, 3, 6 or 12 months pay the highest rates, with all interest paid in one payout at the end | Funds cannot be withdrawn before the term ends or serve as loan collateral |
| Balance bands | For some assets the rate steps down on very large balances, above $4 million for BTC | Matters only for very large accounts |
One exception sits in Nexo's own terms. If an account drops below $5,000 during a fixed term already running, the term keeps accruing, but at the Base tier and without the NEXO bonus, so a market drop that shrinks your balance can also cut your rate. Nexo's own examples also put a Platinum client with Bitcoin in flexible savings at 3.5% when interest is paid in kind, below the 4.5% flexible headline for BTC, a gap consistent with the extra for taking interest in NEXO.
No Nexo product advertises exactly 12% in October 2026. The nearest figures are 11.5% on a USDT fixed term and 13% on Polkadot in flexible savings, and each sits at the top of a ladder that most depositors never climb in full.
What the token condition costs
The loyalty tier is the condition that is easiest to underestimate, because it turns a savings decision into a token position. Take a depositor with $10,000 in USDT who wants Platinum. Nexo measures the tier as NEXO against the rest of the portfolio, so they need about $1,000 of NEXO alongside the stablecoins. New clients are currently offered Platinum for their first 30 days, after which the tier follows their NEXO holdings.
NEXO traded at about $0.81 on 25 October 2026, down about 29% over twelve months and roughly 80% below its May 2021 high of $4.07, per CoinGecko. That window starts on the year's highest daily price, so it is the worst case, a loss of about $290 on $1,000 of NEXO. Bought a month later, in late November 2025, the holding would be down about 16%, or $160, and bought at the year's average price about 8%, or $80. Against the roughly $1,150 a year that the 11.5% fixed headline pays on $10,000, the token's fall took between about 7% and a quarter of the interest, depending on when the NEXO was bought. NEXO kept on Nexo can itself earn up to 9% a year on a fixed term as advertised, about $90 on $1,000, which cuts the worst case to about $200 and roughly cancels the loss at the average price.
In fairness, the past year is not a forecast, and a holder who expects the token to rise may see the tier as a bonus rather than a cost. The point is narrower. A Platinum rate is a stablecoin yield plus a NEXO position, and in a bad year for the token the second part can take back a real share of what the first part pays. The same test applies to EarnPark's top figure, whose market exposure is to the broad crypto market rather than to one platform's token.
Safety, custody and the regulatory record
Nexo is custodial, and its terms are specific about what that means. Per its own terms of service, opting into Earn transfers title to the deposited assets to the Earn provider, the Nexo entity that runs the product. In plain words, the coins become the company's, and a client holds a contractual claim on it rather than ownership of specific coins. The terms also state that the typical investor protections associated with securities do not apply. None of this is unusual for a centralised yield platform, EarnPark included, and what a company may do with assets it holds is the question our guide to rehypothecation works through.
The regulatory record runs both ways. In January 2023 the SEC charged Nexo with failing to register its Earn Interest Product, and Nexo agreed to pay $45 million in total to the SEC and state regulators and to stop offering that product to US investors, having already announced its US exit in late 2022. That same month Bulgarian prosecutors raided its Sofia offices, and in December 2023 they closed the case, finding no evidence of money laundering, tax crimes or other criminal activity. In February 2026 Nexo returned to the US through a partnership with Bakkt, offering yield, credit lines and exchange services. Its security page lists licences and registrations in several jurisdictions, from a California financing law licence to an AUSTRAC registration in Australia, alongside security certifications (SOC 2 Type 2 and CCSS Level 3). Custodians and certifications cover how securely coins are stored, which lowers the risk of a hack or an operational failure, but they do not change who owns the coins or where a client stands if the company itself fails.
How EarnPark's range works, and what it costs instead
EarnPark's "up to" also describes a range and deserves the same scrutiny. On Nexo the range runs across loyalty tiers, payout currency and lock length. On EarnPark it runs across strategies, each published with a payout cadence, withdrawal terms and a Risk Label, which names the kind of risk a strategy takes rather than grading it. Every published rate is what an account receives with zero PARK, and yield is paid in kind, in the coin you deposited, so there is no payout currency condition either. On Nexo the token share is the price of the top rate. On EarnPark holding PARK adds a small boost on Maker Core and Liquidity Providing only, and the top Alpha Vault rate is not boosted at all, so the token never stands between a depositor and the advertised number, as our token gating page sets out.
On USDT as of October 2026, the 15% comes from USDT Alpha Vault, labelled Market-Exposed, which holds roughly half its position in stablecoins and half in crypto, so a USDT deposit can come back worth less as well as more. It pays monthly and processes withdrawals at a monthly settlement, with a one day freeze after opening a position and before each settlement. USDT Maker Core pays 10% and is labelled Market-Neutral, hedged so that price moves largely cancel out, the mechanics of which our funding rate explainer walks through. A withdrawal from it arrives after a 30 day bonding period, with yield accruing in the meantime. USDT DeFi, labelled Cross-Venue because it runs a hedged arbitrage across several venues, also pays 10%, pays daily and withdraws instantly for a fee of 0.30% plus about $3. USDT Liquidity Providing, labelled On-Chain, pays 5% with instant withdrawal. On Bitcoin the range tops out at 10% on BTC Alpha Vault, with BTC DeFi at 6.5% and BTC Maker Core at 5%.
That makes the honest trade clear. EarnPark's 15% is a variable return with roughly half the position exposed to the market, a larger market leg than the tenth Nexo asks you to hold in NEXO, so it is not the fair match for a saver who wants a stablecoin rate. The closer match is USDT DeFi at 10%, instant and needing zero PARK, against Nexo's flexible USDT rate of up to 9.5%, the top of its own ladder and behind the $5,000 minimum. EarnPark does not ask you to buy a token to reach its headline, but it does ask you to accept a strategy's risk and terms, and those deserve the same reading as Nexo's tier table.
EarnPark is custodial too, and at the level that matters it works much like Nexo. Assets are held by the EarnPark group, and under its Terms of Use an account balance is an accounting record rather than ownership of specific coins, so a client holds a contractual claim on the company. Some strategies use leverage, which magnifies losses as well as gains, and no insurance, compensation scheme or deposit guarantee stands behind them. EarnPark publishes a monthly proof of reserves report, with on-chain addresses for the part held in wallets, and it is self-attested by the EarnPark group rather than an independent audit, a distinction our reserves explainer covers in full. The risk statement is the document to read before depositing anything.
Nexo vs EarnPark at a glance
The comparison below uses the figures advertised on Nexo's international site and EarnPark's published rates, both as of October 2026.
| Nexo | EarnPark | |
|---|---|---|
| Top USDT rate | Up to 11.5% on a fixed term, up to 9.5% flexible, as advertised | Up to 15% on USDT Alpha Vault, a variable Market-Exposed return with roughly half the position in crypto, settled monthly |
| Closest like-for-like USDT option | Flexible savings, up to 9.5% at the top of the ladder, withdrawable any day | USDT DeFi at 10%, Cross-Venue, daily payouts, instant withdrawal for 0.30% plus about $3, zero PARK |
| What the top rate takes | A balance over $5,000, Platinum tier with NEXO worth 10% of the rest of the portfolio, interest paid in NEXO and a fixed term | Choosing the Market-Exposed Alpha Vault strategy, with zero PARK needed |
| Role of the platform token | NEXO holdings set your loyalty tier and therefore your rate | Optional. Published rates need zero PARK, holding PARK adds a small boost on Maker Core and Liquidity Providing, and the top rate is not boosted |
| Minimum to start earning | $5,000 portfolio balance | Around $15 per deposit, varying by asset and strategy |
| Getting money out | Flexible savings any time, fixed terms not withdrawable until the end | Alpha Vault settles monthly, Maker Core has a 30 day bonding period, DeFi and Liquidity Providing withdraw instantly |
| Custody | Custodial, title passes to the Nexo entity running Earn and you hold a contractual claim on it | Custodial, assets are held by the EarnPark group and your balance is a contractual claim on it |
| Deposit protection | Its terms exclude typical investor protections | No insurance, compensation scheme or deposit guarantee |
| Corporate standing | Licences and registrations in several jurisdictions, 2023 US settlement | A UK-registered LLP and a BVI operating company, company registrations rather than financial licences |
| Product range | Savings, credit lines, exchange, card and futures in one app | A yield platform built around named strategies |
Who Nexo is best for
Nexo genuinely suits borrowers. A Credit Line against Bitcoin or Ether lets a long-term holder raise cash without selling, at advertised rates from 1.9%, with the lowest reserved for its top loyalty tier. It also suits people who want one app to buy, hold, spend and save, since the card, exchange and savings share a single balance. For an existing NEXO holder who believes in the token, the loyalty tier is close to free, and the flexible savings rate with daily payouts and access at any time is a reasonable home for funds they may need soon. Eight years of operation, through the 2022 collapses, is a record that counts.
It fits less well for balances under $5,000, which cannot start earning interest there, and for anyone who does not want a tenth of their portfolio in a single platform token. For a broader view of where else yield is published and on what terms, our roundup of earning platforms compares the field.
Verdict on Nexo vs EarnPark
Is Nexo's headline worth it? For a NEXO holder who also borrows and keeps well above $5,000 on the platform, it can be, because the token position the top tier demands is one that depositor already holds. For a typical saver it usually is not, because the advertised figure is the top of a ladder that requires a token position, a lock and payment in that token, and in our $10,000 example the token's fall over the past year cost a real share of the interest, up to about a quarter depending on when the NEXO was bought.
EarnPark answers a different question. Its published rate is what any account receives with zero PARK, and the price of the top of the range is paid in strategy risk and withdrawal terms rather than token exposure. For a saver below Nexo's $5,000 threshold the gap is wider still, because that balance cannot start earning there, while on EarnPark it earns the published rate of the chosen strategy from the first deposit. The 15% on USDT settles monthly and carries market exposure, so if that trade suits you, you can start earning and compare each strategy's Risk Label and withdrawal terms in the app before you deposit anything.
FAQ
Is Nexo safe and legit?
Nexo is a legitimate company that has operated since 2018 and outlived the 2022 lender collapses, but it is custodial and its savings carry counterparty risk. Per its own terms, assets in its Earn product pass to the Nexo entity that runs it, and a client holds a contractual claim on that company rather than ownership of specific coins, which is common to centralised yield platforms. It settled with the SEC and state regulators in 2023 over its unregistered Earn Interest Product and returned to the US in 2026.
Can US citizens use Nexo?
Nexo serves US clients again after relaunching there in February 2026 through a partnership with Bakkt. It had left the US market in late 2022, and its 2023 settlement required it to stop offering its original Earn Interest Product to US investors. Its US site advertises its own rates, higher than the international ones in October 2026, and calls the top loyalty tier Signature rather than Platinum.
Is my money safe in Nexo?
Money in Nexo savings is a claim on a company, not a protected deposit. Per its own terms, title to assets in Earn passes to the Nexo entity that runs it, and the typical investor protections associated with securities do not apply. Its custody partners and security certifications lower the risk of a hack or operational failure without changing where a client stands if the company itself fails.
How do I get my money out of Nexo?
Withdrawing from Nexo depends on where the funds sit. Flexible Savings can be withdrawn or traded at any time per Nexo's own pages, while funds in Fixed-term Savings cannot be withdrawn before the term ends, at which point all interest is paid at once. Assets pledged as Credit Line collateral are released once the loan is repaid.
Do you need NEXO tokens to earn interest on Nexo?
Earning interest on Nexo does not require NEXO, but it does require a portfolio above $5,000, and the higher rates require NEXO. With no NEXO you sit on the Base tier. The advertised top rates assume Platinum, which means holding NEXO worth at least 10% of the rest of your Nexo portfolio, usually with a fixed term and interest taken in NEXO. New clients are currently offered Platinum for their first 30 days.
How does EarnPark differ from Nexo?
EarnPark differs from Nexo in what its headline rate depends on. Its published rates need zero PARK, EarnPark's own token, and holding PARK only adds a small boost on some strategies, while Nexo's top rates depend on its loyalty tier, taking interest in NEXO and a fixed term. On EarnPark the price is paid in strategy terms instead. Its top USDT strategy carries market exposure and settles monthly, while USDT DeFi pays less but withdraws instantly for a fee. Both platforms are custodial.