On August 19, 2021, Celsius added Cardano (ADA) to the platform. ADA has been gaining a lot of momentum lately with its value in USD rising to around $2.80 after hovering around the low $1.00's after the May crypto crash.
Why the Large Rise?
A lot of people see ADA as a viable cryptocurrency for its light-weightiness, fast speeds, and scalability. However, what has been getting ADA holders extremely excited is the upcoming smart contract launch. In mid-August, Cardano's founder, Charles Hoskinson, set the date to September 12 and the price of ADA has risen since the announcement.
The upcoming Alonzo launch is important as smart contracts make DeFi applications, NFTs, and gaming applications possible, giving ADA far more versatility than it currently offers. As Ethereum continues to struggle with high gas fees, other networks have popped up to address such issues like Polygon (MATIC) and BINANCE Smart Chain (BSC). ADA's smart contract launch will be particularly interesting as it is currently #3 in terms of market cap at lover $91 trillion.
ADA on Celsius
Going back to the main topic, you can now receive, borrow, and lend ADA on the Celsius platform. Currently, Celsius offers a 4.06% APY if you hold any ADA on the wallet and a 1% APY for the ADA you borrow. In addition, right now you can enter the promo code, ADA40, to receive $40 in ADA if you deposit $400 worth of ADA and hold it for 30 days. (You can find more Celsius promo codes here.)
Something to note is that Celsius is meant more for people new to crypto or those who just want to get some passive income without much thought. On top of that, Celsius is centralized and you do not own the private keys to your wallet. While Celsius has not been hacked, the risk is still there. If you run into issues, the company's customer service is excruciatingly slow and unresponsive as chronicled by PVMihalache and others. Heck, on the Celsius subreddit, some had trouble transferring their ADA from their Celsius wallet to Yoroi because the Celsius app would somehow automatically remove the last 3 characters when you paste the address.
In addition, you can get better yields (~5%) from staking ADA with a wallet that you do own the private keys for. There are many options including Guarda, Atomic, Yoroi, and Daedalus. And as long as you keep your private keys in a safe place, your ADA will be far more secure than on Celsius. Personally, the only reason why I put my ADA on Celsius is to take advantage of the promo code. Once the 30 days are done, I'm going to transfer them to my Guarda wallet (referral link if you're interested) and stake them at a higher rate.
With all of the cautionary tales out of the way, if you are still interested in putting your ADA on Celsius, then you can use this referral link to earn $50 in BTC if you deposit an equivalent value $400 or more.
