StableHouse Review, Notes, and Referral Benefits

Company

StableHouse was created to empower everyone to invest, learn and earn from sustained, high interest returns on digital currencies. As a regulated and intuitive platform with industry-leading security, we make financial growth easier for everyone.

Founded in 2018, StableHouse is XBTO’s Bermuda based crypto deposit platform.

StableHouse is licensed to conduct digital asset business under the Digital Business Act 2018 by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Business model

StableHouse generates returns mainly through the two strategies elaborated below. Both are market neutral investment strategies which do not depend on cryptocurrency prices.

The in-house team of experts also make strategic, considered investments to create greater value on investor holdings.

Strategy 1: Extending credit

Assets are lent out for earning interest. Assets are only lent out to a panel of credit-committee approved, fully vetted counterparties. Complete transparency is maintained with the regulators (Bermuda Monetary Authority).

These counterparties may require working capital in crypto or in fiat, and can be found in both crypto and traditional industries. All loans are currently over-collateralized.

Strategy 2: Providing liquidity

StableHouse enables people to trade in cryptocurrencies through the platform. In doing so, StableHouse acts as a marketplace, charging a spread on trades and hedging net market exposures.

“To be clear, we are not taking any directional positions. We are not exposed to either the upward or downward price movements of those assets.”

Earning Rates

StableHouse offers up to 12% interest on fiat-based Stablecoin deposits and 6% APY on Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits on up to $100,000 in USD or equivalent.

Latest earning rates can be found here.

Investors

• StableHouse closed a seed funding round of $12 million USD [Oct 2021]
  • Investors include
    • Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange
    • Dragonfly Capital, the VC focussing on crypto asset investment
    • Liberty City Ventures, the New York based, technology-focused venture capital firm.
• Raised $2.18 million in seed funding [Oct 2020]
  • Top-tier investors include Coinbase Ventures, DragonFly Capital and XBTO Ventures

Notable developments

• StableHouse partners with global Financial Services Provider Apex Group [Nov 2022]
  • The Apex Group is the fifth largest fund administrator globally, with over $1 trillion in assets.
  • Apex delivers a range of services to asset managers, financial institutions and family offices, including fund services, digital onboarding and bank accounts.
  • Apex Group is the first partner to sign on to StableHouse’s white label institutional products
• announced the early access launch of the regulated and licensed digital assets platform [Nov 2021]

Presence in Singapore

Unknown

Regulatory compliance

Regulation by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Unknown

Other regions

StableHouse is licensed to conduct digital asset business under the Digital Business Act 2018 by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Bermuda is a jurisdiction dedicated to the growth of the Digital Asset space. It has dedicated legislation (the Digital Assets Business Act) designed to provide regulatory clarity to companies operating and servicing the global crypto markets.

Risk disclosure

Stablehouse faces many of the same risks associated with a traditional financial institution.

Information gathered from StableHouse’s article: “How Stablehouse manages risk and generates returns in all market conditions” [Jul 2022]

Market Risk (Trading Risk)

This refers to losses experienced due to price changes in the financial markets. In the crypto markets, this may be compounded by the liberal use of leverage.

“Stablehouse does not engage in any directional trading, leveraged or otherwise. We are net neutral to market movements.”

Concentration Risk

This refers to the loss in value of an investment or to a financial institution when exposures move together in an unfavorable direction.

“While we cannot fully eliminate systemic risks such as this, we are market neutral and do not undertake any form of directional bets. In addition, we diversify our lending exposures by continuously working to grow the number of counterparties, diversified across both industries and physical geographies.”

Credit & Counterparty Risk

This relates to the risk that borrowers would not repay their loans.

“At Stablehouse, all our counterparties are rigorously pre-approved using a credit-scoring model developed from the CAMELs rating system. This is the same system used by institutions such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).”

“This risk-based model determines how much exposure we take. All our loans are currently over-collateralized, and we accept only highly liquid collateral.”

Liquidity Risk (including Asset/Liability Risk)

This refers to the inability to meet liabilities as they fall due. It could include instances where an entity has assets that are not easily converted to cash nor readily fungible.

“Our asset-liability management is tailored such that funds are accessible at all times with minimal duration mismatching. This means our investments have the same daily liquidity as your deposits, because a majority of our portfolio is allocated to overnight lending that is repayable on demand. Positions that have longer terms will be staggered based on our liquidity position.”

Regulatory Risk

This refers to the risk that changes in the law will adversely affect a company.

“Well conceived legislation generates consistent guidelines and sets the bar for risk management practices. We chose Bermuda as our regulatory partner based upon their advanced regulatory framework regarding digital assets, where the Digital Assets Business Act (DABA) is the statutory basis.”

“To provide the highest levels of investor protection, we require a regulatory framework that regulates all our offerings. This distinction matters: unlike in many other jurisdictions, the Bermuda Monetary Authority has oversight and supervision on every product we bring to market.”

Social media

• Facebook: @stablehouse.io
• LinkedIn: StableHouse
  • 31 employees listed [Mar 2022]
  • employees are located mainly in Bermuda, US and Europe
• Telegram: StableHouse
• Twitter: @stablehouse

Ecosystem

Access to platform

• Mobile app (Android and iOS) [Launched in Oct 2022]
• Web

Learning hub

Extensive crypto knowledge hub educating users with:

• expert articles on the latest trends and predictions
• ongoing community tips
• case studies
• interactive tools

✔️ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Isolated Assets

StableHouse partnered with Fireblocks to store 95% of digital assets using hardware isolated MPC wallets so investors' crypto remains completely protected.

Usage Notes and Tips

KYC via Onfido

[Mar 2022] Onfido supports the KYC process for StableHouse. I noted that you cannot upload scans of your identity card on your desktop computer and take the verification selfie on your mobile. Both actions have to be performed on the same device.

Receiving my referral bonus and deposit bonus

I deposited 1000 USDC on 1 April 2022 and received two emails moments later:

Email 1: Thanks for making your first StableHouse deposit

Thank you for making your first StableHouse deposit. Don’t forget, our referral bonus is all yours when you keep your deposit in your account for 30 days. That’s 40 USDC paid straight into your StableHouse account. Plus, [referrer name] gets their bonus too.

Email 2: StableHouse is rewarding you

Thank you for making your deposit of 1,000.00 USDC.

You’re now eligible to earn 100 USDC

Now you have made your first deposit, all you have to do is keep it in your account for 30 days. Once this period is over, we will pay your deposit reward straight into your StableHouse account.

Would update again when I receive the actual bonuses in my account.

Supported blockchains

[Mar 2022] StableHouse supports both the Bitcoin and the Ethereum blockchain. They are working on supporting other blockchains which would help bring down the cost of depositing assets into the platform.

Withdrawal fees

Crypto withdrawal fees can be found here. As of March 2022, the withdrawal fees for USDC is 10 USDC which is pretty competitive.