AQRU Crypto Platform

AQRU has some of the worst instant access saving rates for Ethereum (2%) and USD Coin (3%)

AQRU does not offer loan products to regular users.

AQRU was founded in 2021 which makes it 2 years old. That's very young for a crypto business. The oldest crypto platforms are 16 years old. Whilst many young crypto businesses are highly innovative and are bringing great value to the sector, their relative experience is limited and they will not have ridden out as many of the crypto highs and lows that more experienced platforms have.

AQRU has a total of approximately 50 million USD of assets under management. AQRU is one of the smaller crypto platforms measured by assets held. The biggest crypto platforms are managing up to 21 billion USD of assets.

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AQRU has an average expert rating of 79%, and an average user rating of 82%. Expert reviews include Finder.com (80%), Captain Altcoin (79%), Inside Bitcoins (92%) and Bit Compare (80%).

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AQRU stores its uninvested crypto with a third party custodian, Fireblocks, which ensures that these funds are well protected against loss due to hacking and fraud. In addition AQRU has insurance of $30 million against crypto losses.

AQRU has implemented two factor authentication within it's app to increase security levels.

What remains unclear is AQRU's investment strategy that is uses to generate yield. AQRU launched with market leading interest rates on its savings accounts which suggests that a higher level of risk was being taken with its internal investment strategy. Having said this, AQRU has now significantly reduced its savings rates and AQRU has never frozen withdrawls or suffered any outage or loss of customer funds.

AQRU have stated that they lend funds to institutions in return for yield. AQRU states that they usually demand collateralisation on thse loans. The level of collateralisation is not stated, and it is concerning if some of their loans are not fully collateralised. Ideally they would be requiring well over 100% over-collateralisation on all loans so that in all circumstances AQRU holds sufficient assets to repay the loan in the event of a default by the borrower.

AQRU offers a blended stablecoin investment product. This product invests in USDC, DAI and some other stablecoins which are not stated. Diversifying the fund across a number of stablecoins reduces risk, but the lack of full transparancy means there could be some high risk coins included.

AQRU offers enhanced savings ratings on USDC deposits when locked up for a 90 day term. This is through a deal with Maple Finance. AQRU provide a detailed run down of this deal here. The article discusses Maple Finance's risk management strategy, including the diversification and overcollateralisation of loans made by Maple. However, the managed underwriting of some loans is also discussed, which presumably adjusts collateral requirements depending on the credit status of the borrower. There is a separate fund that can be called upon in the case of borrower defaults. Overall AQRU and Maple are offering a good level of transparency on how their lending strategy works. However in the event of large number of depositors making withdrawal requests, it is possible that liquidity could still be an issue.

Some crypto platforms can provide proof of reserves prepared by a third party. This proof of reserves proves that the platform holds more assets than customer liabilities. AQRU does not currently provide proof of reserves, but hopefully this is something that they will look to implement in the future.

Overall, AQRU is a young platform backed by a solid, experienced team. They have a simple model and appear to be aiming for transparency. As the platform continues to grow we expect further reasurances on their investment strategy will be provided.

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Crypto withdrawls on AQRU are not instant. They are processed daily at 2pm UTC. This means that if you make a withdrawl request at 3pm UTC you will have to wait until 2pm UTC the next day before it is processed. Once withdrawl requests begin processed at 2pm UTC they normally seem to complete by 3pm UTC in our experience.

If you have yoru funds invested in one of AQRU's investment products you will first need to withdraw your funds back in to your AQRU crypot wallet by selling the investment product. Only then can you make a withdrawl request to an external wallet.

Crypto withdrawls also attract fees. There is a $10 USD fee for Bitcoin withdrawls and a $20 USD fee for all other crypto withdrawls. There is no fee for fiat withdrawls.

There is no record of AQRU undertaking a blanket freeze of withdrawls across the platform. Some users have experienced delays in withdrawls as AQRU has been obliged to to ask further questions about the transfer to comply with its regulatory obligations.

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AQRU supports 5 different cryptocurrencies and 2 fiat currencies. Key supported cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin and Dai. AQRU support for fiat currencies includes Pounds Sterling and Euros. The biggest crypto platforms offer support for over 33 different cryptocurrencies.

Support for a larger number of cryptocurrencies is helpful if you are looking for trading opportunities, but may be less important if your priority is long term investment in one of the major cryptos.

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AQRU offers support by email and online chat, however they do not offer support by phone and do not offer 24 hour support.

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