Frequently Asked Questions

Crescent is a finance app making high yield interest accessible to all. We offer higher interest on your money, no minimums, no hidden fees, and no nonsense. Crescent for Business is available only to verified accredited investors.

Crescent is not an FDIC insured financial institution. Crescent is a registered Money Services Business. Your funds with Crescent are not insured by FDIC, Crescent, or any other entity. There are risks associated with this product, including loss of the total amount transferred via Crescent.

Accounts are typically verified within minutes. During periods of increased onboarding demand, this may take up to 7 days.

If you are applying for a business account, verification will take 3-5 buss days after all info has been submitted.

Your deposits are instantly converted to US Dollar Coin (USDC). 1 USDC = $1 Dollar. We build on top of USDC technology that enables higher interest rates, faster transfers, and no fees.

All deposits in Crescent are converted into US Dollar Coin (USDC) and lent out to regulated institutions. Because of significant borrowing demand for USDC, institutions are willing to pay higher interest rates for access. Crescent converts that demand into higher interest for our users.

You can withdraw your funds at any time from the home screen. Withdrawals take 1-5 days before your funds arrive in your bank account. Most arrive within 3 days.

While many institutions make money from charging account fees, we do not. Instead, Crescent takes a small percentage of the earnings from our lending partners, and passes the rest on to you. This means our Crescent members get access to 100x higher interest rates without fees. Or more simply put — we earn, when you earn.

All deposits are converted to USDC (fully backed by cash reserves in bank accounts). We cut out banking middlemen to earn you higher interest rates directly from borrowers.

All loans are to well-vetted institutions with 150% collateral and strict credit requirements. Since our loans are conducted outside of bank accounts and brokerage accounts, they are not FDIC or SIPC insured and therefore not risk-free. However, Crescent’s lending partners maintain coverage and collateral on all actively lent assets (similar to the securities lending industry).

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Safety and security is our top priority for customers. Our team works hard to make sure all information and transactions are as secure as possible.

At the account level, we encrypt all user data using the AES-256 standard and protect accounts at the highest level with a personal PIN number and two-factor authentication (2FA). This ensures that access to your account is as secure as other finance and payment apps such as Venmo or Robinhood. For additional user safety, we stick to stringent KYC standards to avoid fraudulent users and regularly audit activity on the app to flag suspicious behavior.

On the account side, we manage all bank connections securely with Plaid, the industry leader in bank integrations. Whenever you add a bank account or card to Crescent, Plaid facilitates the connection through its secure servers. This is the same banking integration used by hundreds of financial services including Venmo and American Express.

Complete Missions within the app to unlock Boosts and earn more interest for free. By completing steps such as referring friends, surpassing a deposit milestone, or automating your deposits, you can temporarily boost your interest rate.

Tip: Boosts can be stacked and activated at the same time.

Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is the amount of interest you earn per year by simply depositing funds on Crescent.

Social Impact is a feature that allocates a portion of Crescent's earnings to the cause of your choice, designated by our users. All Crescent members can activate social impact within the app by selecting an organization and tapping the "activate" button.

Join the waitlist here : https://www.crescent.app/

‍Once signed up, waitlist members can complete the Founder's Series Missions to gain early access to the app, and unlock limited edition rewards like a 6% APY Boost once they gain access to the app, Crescent merch, and other rewards.

Crescent will launch in later summer 2022.

As a regulated financial company, Crescent must comply with all Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) best practices. All data submitted during this process is processed securely.

While finance fundamentals tell us that low financial and liquidity risk translates to low yield, economics also plays a role in how the required rate of return for digital dollars is calculated. USDC is built on blockchain technology that allows for fast, cheap, and secure global transactions. By providing a solution to traditional fiat transmitting, institutions have created significant demand for USDC loans. This demand economically increases the required interest from borrowers, despite the low financial and liquidity risk.

Our partners specifically engage in short-term loans for institutional borrowers. We maintain open-term loan agreements to ensure our customers have full liquidity.

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USDC is pegged to the dollar, meaning it can be exchanged for a 1:1 ratio of USD. Pegging policy has been used by national governments for decades to stabilize the exchange rate between countries. The value of the USDC reserve is not affected by changes in the crypto market, since it is backed by the U.S. Dollar. Changes in the value of the dollar are what impact the value of the USDC.

Our lending partners receive 150% loan collateral in the form of digital assets. Our lending partners actively manage margin calls on the digital assets to reduce collateral risk. Therefore, if the markets crash 50%, borrowers will be required to deposit more capital to meet collateral requirements; those unable to meet these obligations will automatically have their loans liquidated according to risk mitigation protocols.

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Crescent and our partners lend to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, exchanges, and digital asset institutions that capitalize on the inefficiencies in the digital currency industry. Over 70% of the lending portfolio is for very low-risk market making to provide liquidity to exchanges. There is significant borrowing demand from these institutions for short-term loans.

Financial institutions borrow against their portfolios to avoid capital gains tax, increase their trading leverage, or provide liquidity to exchanges, commonly known as market-making. There are inefficiencies in the emerging crypto markets and larger price spreads across exchanges, which creates a significant opportunity for institutions to profit. This is similar to how institutional borrowers utilize securities lending.

Interest paid is categorized as ordinary income. Crescent issues 1099s to all customers at the end of each year for tax documentation and filing. Crescent accrues interest every second and automatically retains it in your Crescent account for compounding.

Fixed-income assets and securities, such as bonds, are typically low-risk and require you to invest a principal amount for a specified term in return for a dividend or interest payment. Crescent acts similarly in the sense that you invest money in return for interest (earned every second) with relatively low risk. The difference lies in the term and liquidity, as you are able to withdraw your Crescent funds at any time with zero fees.

Our platform is built on top of US Dollar Coin (USDC) technology that enables higher interest rates, faster transfers, and no fees. 1 USDC = $1 Dollar. Your deposits are instantly converted to USDC and lent in pools to well-vetted institutional borrowers.

You can withdraw your funds at any time from the dashboard home screen. Withdrawals take 1-3 business days to arrive in your bank account. In practice, funds often arrive by the next business day.