P2P Lending vs Cryptocurrency: What's Right For You?

I don’t know about you:

But we can’t go 5 seconds without hearing about cryptocurrencies.

Your friends keep mentioning the latest coin, the news keeps featuring high growth graphs and you’ve even heard old-school financial and investment advisors recommending crypto investing.

And now you’re thinking: should crypto be a part of my portfolio?

As two alternative investments, we thought it would be interesting to compare crypto with P2P lending. Do both assets have a place in your portfolio? And when should you invest in each one?

In this article we’ll be covering the main differences between P2P lending and cryptocurrency investing.

But first, let’s get back to basics.

What we mean by P2P lending and crypto investing

If you’re new to investing, let’s clarify what we mean:

P2P lending: P2P investing is essentially lending money online for profit. Instead of going through a bank, businesses and regular people can now borrow money from you and pay you the interest. All this happens through a P2P platform like Swaper, which means you can be sure you get a good return as well as your money back.
Crypto investing: by crypto investing, we mean purchasing cryptocurrencies with the hope that the value will go up – in other words, as an asset and not as a currency. You can buy cryptocurrencies through a broker such as Coinbase or Bitpanda, or hold your crypto in a separate hard wallet.

Let’s compare P2P lending vs cryptocurrency according to several criteria:

Returns

There is no denying that those who “gamble” with cryptocurrency investing can make huge returns, from 500% to even 1,000%+. Bitcoin, for example, went from $13.40 per coin in 2013 to more than $58,000 per coin in 2021 – that’s an increase of 410,347%.

You won’t even get that with stocks!

However, it’s also important to note that Bitcoin then went down to $7,112.73 in December 2019, a decrease of 65%. With cryptocurrency assets, you’ll make dramatic gains, but you’ll also make dramatic losses.

Throughout 2017 – 2020, people who invested in P2P loans through Swaper made a stable 12 – 16% per year. Although it’s not as dramatic as cryptocurrency investing, it’s a lot more stable and predictable all while being considerably higher than the 8% you’ll get with the stock market.

P2P investing returns are lower than cryptocurrency investing, but they are also more stable and you won’t lose all your money overnight.

Stability/risk

Just by observing the price of Bitcoin or any other coin such as Dogecoin (which recently grew by an astonishing 4,000%) you can see that cryptocurrencies are not the most stable investments.

Fluctuations are huge, so it’s hard to predict what your returns will be in the next few years. Although cryptocurrency adoption is growing every day and becoming a lot more mainstream, volatility is still high and people can lose a lot of money.

P2P lending is the age old concept of loans, with a modern twist. Instead of taking out a loan through a bank, you take it out from a fellow individual through a platform. The concept is relatively straightforward and therefore investments are not as volatile. Having said that, there are still risks when it comes to P2P investing:

Credit risk
Currency risk
Loan originator risk
Platform risk

Most P2P lending companies are not regulated by financial organisations, but they still need to comply with local rules. Additional bonus features such as buyback also help you decrease the risk of credit defaults, a feature you won’t see in the crypto space.

Considering all these factors, P2P lending is A LOT less risky and more stable than investing in cryptocurrencies.

Level of knowledge required

Many would argue that getting started with cryptocurrencies is not difficult.

However, if you are serious about investing in crypto, you will want to do your research and make sure to invest in a coin that you believe will increase in value. You’ll also need to invest in other resources, such as a hard wallet to store your coins offline.

For P2P investing, there’s very little research you need to do. The most important part is to pick the right P2P platform. Once you’ve picked one, you just need to verify your identity and deposit some money to get started.

You can choose to invest manually, but really, setting up an Auto-Invest Portfolio is the simplest and easy way to get started.

With P2P investing, you really can just set it and forget it and focus on what’s really important: your life.

Liquidity

Cryptocurrencies are highly liquid investments, even more than stocks. With some online brokers, you can sell your crypto investments and receive the proceeds the same day. That makes it easy to control and calculate your overall crypto investment return.

P2P investing is less liquid since loans have specific loan terms. This means it often depends on the P2P platform you pick as well as the types of loans you are investing in (consumer, business, real estate, etc).

You can also sell on the secondary market if you want to receive your funds immediately, although not every P2P platform offers this feature. Once you do sell at Swaper, the money will hit your account shortly.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrencies and P2P lending are both considered alternative investments.

One could argue they both have a place in your portfolio, although it ultimately depends on your goals. Let’s see how they compare with various goals:

Goal: Retire early on a monthly income: P2P lending is probably better, since it is more stable, predictable and can provide a regular income.
Goal: Make huge returns quickly: cryptocurrencies – although be prepared to lose a lot too!
Goal: Diversify portfolio: P2P lending and crypto – choose both!

If you are a crypto fan, love the industry and enjoy doing your research, then cryptocurrencies should definitely be part of your portfolio.

And if you’re looking for investments that offer stable, predictable returns (and won’t stress you out), P2P lending should also be part of your portfolio.

As usual, the answer is “it depends”!

If you’re open to P2P investing, sign up and create an account today.

You can invest for as little as €10.