Maple Finance Review 2023: Features, Fees, Pros, and Cons

The decentralized finance “DeFi” sector is relatively new, yet has spawned many examples of innovative platforms that let users move money outside the traditional banking system. Maple Finance is an example of such a platform, and we’re reviewing it in detail to help you decide if it’s a good one to adopt.

Maple Finance is a corporate credit market built on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. It lets you lend out tokens hosted on these two blockchains to institutions that invest and repay the tokens with interest.

Lending assets to institutional traders is a viable way to earn interest on assets, but most everyday users are locked out of the traditional platforms due to high capital requirements. However, Maple Finance makes it easy to lend with as little capital as you have.

To use Maple, you must first connect your crypto wallet to the app. You can connect directly to your MetaMask wallet or use the WalletConnect protocol to link Maple with other types of crypto wallets. After connecting your wallet, you’ll see a list of lending pools with specific interest rates. You can add funds from your wallet to the pool you want and sit back to earn interest.

If you want to borrow, you must first provide personal details such as your institution’s name, email address, website, and social media handles. Then, you can submit a request to borrow from a lending pool. The person managing that pool will review your application and reach out to arrange the next steps, which include credit assessments and know-your-customer checks. If you're approved, you'll negotiate the terms of the loan and receive it on Maple. The minimum you can borrow is $1,000,000, meaning this platform is designed for institutional and corporate borrowers.

To become a pool delegate, you must get in touch with the Maple team and go through a thorough vetting process. As a delegate, you'll be responsible for managing the operations of your pool for participating lenders. You'll receive 10% of accrued interest to your pool for your work.

Maple Finance has three main features: staking, lending, and borrowing. Staking lets you earn interest on your MPL tokens by supporting the operations of the platform. Lending lets you earn interest by adding your assets to pools that investors borrow from.

Staking

This is a process that lets you earn rewards for holding certain cryptocurrencies. Stakers use their tokens to help verify transactions on a blockchain and earn a percentage of the fees collected by the blockchain as a reward.

Maple Finance supports staking for only its native token, MPL. You can access the staking menu by clicking “XMPL” at the top-right corner of your dashboard. When you stake MPL tokens, you receive an equivalent of what you staked in xMPL tokens — xMPL is pegged 1:1 with the price of MPL.

Maple distributes MPL tokens proportionally to all holders of xMPL tokens each month, so you'll earn interest whenever you hold xMPL. You can also use your xMPL tokens to vote on key decisions concerning the Maple platform, such as buybacks and revenue allocation.

If you want to unstake, you can simply convert all your xMPL tokens to MPL tokens on the same webpage.

Lending

Maple Finance gives users access to different lending pools where they can add assets and earn interest. This platform gives out loans with only tokens hosted on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, mostly USDC and wETH. You must have the relevant token in your wallet to participate in any lending pool.

Click on any lending pool you want, and you can deposit the relevant token from your wallet to start accruing interest. Before that, you can see detailed performance reports for each pool to help you decide if it’s a viable investment. Different pools have different interest rates, but the final rate may vary from what’s listed, depending on market conditions.

Note that lenders also earn rewards in MPL tokens each month just like stakers.

Borrowing

Maple lets crypto investors borrow funds from the lending pools on its platform and repay with interest. The tokens that lenders deposit into a pool are what you’ll borrow to invest in the hopes of earning enough profit to pay back interest and have additional funds left over. The minimum loan amount you can borrow on Maple is $1,000,000.

To borrow from a lending pool, you must provide identifying information including your name, Twitter handle, Telegram handle, and email address. Afterward, the delegate of the pool you want to lend from will review your application and conduct due diligence, including know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks. If your request is approved, you can negotiate the terms of your loan and receive it on the wallet you connected to Maple. You’ll make interest payments when due via the Maple web platform.

Maple Finance's website doesn't list any unsupported countries, so we assume it works in any country where the internet is available. However, delegates will likely use discretion towards borrowers from countries sanctioned by Australia, where Maple is based, and those sanctioned by regions like the U.S. and Europe.

The team behind Maple Finance needs revenue to sustain their platform, and they get it by charging a 0.99% fee annually on every loan originating on the platform. 66% of these fees go to the Maple treasury and 33% goes to the lenders. If the terms of the loan change, Maple will recalculate the annual origination fee.

Maple doesn’t charge any fees on the interest paid by borrowers. Fees all go to the lenders, delegates, and pool cover providers that stake tokens as first-loss capital — their tokens will be liquidated if a borrower defaults.

MPL is the governing token of Maple Finance, and it's hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. MPL holders can stake their tokens on Maple Finance to earn rewards or vote on changes to the platform, such as adjusting fees and burning or minting new tokens.

There are over 4.4 million MPL tokens currently in circulation out of a maximum supply of 10 million.

MAPLE Tokenomics

The MPL token has three main roles: governance, providing Pool Cover, and sharing in network fees collected by the Maple Treasury. There are over 4.4 million MPL tokens in circulation currently out of a maximum of 10 million, and that number increases gradually every day.

The distribution structure for new MPL tokens goes like this: 30% Liquidity Mining; 25% Seed and Advisor; 26% Seed; 5% Public Sale, and 14% Treasury. The utility of the MPL token is heavily tied to Maple Finance. The more people who use the platform, the more people need MPL tokens to stake or vote on governance decisions, which is bound to increase the price of the token. Similarly, the value of the MPL token will fall if users migrate from Maple Finance in droves.

How to Buy MPL

You can buy MPL tokens from various centralized or decentralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Uniswap. Note that you can’t buy MPL directly with fiat — you must first buy ETH tokens and convert them into MPL.

Staking MPL

You can stake your MPL tokens to earn rewards by heading to the “xMPL” menu on your Maple Finance dashboard. There’s no lock-up period when staking on Maple, unlike many other platforms, so you can redeem your staked assets at any time. Staking is a relatively easy way to earn passive income on your crypto assets instead of having them do nothing.

Maple supports MetaMask and any other wallet compatible with the WalletConnect open-source protocol.

Step 1: Head to maple.finance. Click Launch App on the top-right corner and select the blockchain for your wallet (Ethereum or Solana).

Step 2: You’ll be redirected to the app. Click Connect Wallet at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose your type of wallet and authorize the connection.

Step 4: You’ll be signed in automatically with your wallet address as the credential. Bravo! You can start using Maple Finance.

How to Stake on Maple

Step 1: Visit Maple.finance and click on the “xMPL” menu at the top of your dashboard and connect the wallet with your MPL balance.

Step 2: Enter the amount of MPL you want to stake and deposit it. You’ll receive an equivalent amount in xMPL in your wallet.

Step 3: Sit back and watch your tokens accrue interest. You can return to the same page to see how much interest your MPL has earned or to unstake your position at any time.

How to Lend on Maple

Step 1: Visit Maple.finance and click the “Earn” menu at the top of your dashboard.

Step 2: Check the list of available lending pools. Click on View Pool once you've decided on a pool to lend into.

Step 3: Deposit the relevant cryptocurrency for the lending pool you picked.

Step 4: Follow the instructions to complete the deposit process.

Step 4: You’ll see a confirmation once you’ve successfully deposited.

How to Borrow on Maple

Step 1: Head to Maple.finance and click the “Borrow” menu at the top of your dashboard.

Step 2: Fill out and submit the borrower’s form. A delegate will get back to you if you’re qualified and walk you through the next steps. Approved borrowers can return to the same page to submit a new loan request.

Security is paramount for every platform that involves moving funds, and Maple Finance offers various security features, including:

SSL Encryption

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is a protocol that encrypts the communication between your web browser and the server hosting Maple Finance's website. Therefore, hackers can’t intercept your information on Maple Finance to use it for malicious purposes.

Bug Bounty

Maple Finance offers a reward of up to $50,000 for any person that finds and reports security flaws in its platform. This initiative encourages users to be alert to report any security bugs and claim rewards, giving Maple what’s comparable to an outsourced security testing team.

Maple Finance makes it easy to lend or stake your crypto assets to earn interest. It lends primarily to institutional investors who have lower rates of default than individual investors, meaning your funds are more secure than those on many rival platforms.

The main drawback of Maple is that it only supports tokens hosted on the Ethereum or Solana blockchain. You can't stake well-known coins hosted on other blockchains like Bitcoin and XRP. Maple also had a recent liquidity crisis stemming from the bankruptcies of two major crypto borrowers, Celsius and Babel Finance, but it appears to have recovered and toughened its borrower vetting process.

• What is Maple Finance crypto?

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  MPL is the native token of the Maple Finance platform, and it’s hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, with a market capitalization of over $60 million.

• Is Maple coin a good investment?

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  DeFi platforms that facilitate lending and borrowing are bound to grow in general, meaning Maple Finance will likely draw more users in the future and boost the value of its token as a result.

• Does Maple Finance report to the IRS?

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  Mape Finance is an Australian company, so it doesn’t report to the American IRS. However, income earned from staking or lending is taxable, and you should report that yourself.
  

• Where is Maple Finance located?

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  The team behind Maple Finance is based in Melbourne, Australia.

• How does Maple Finance make money?

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  Maple Finance makes money by charging a 0.99% fee on every loan originating on its platform.

• Where can I buy Maple crypto?

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  You can buy MPL tokens from various centralized or decentralized exchanges, such as Coinbase, Binance, and UniSwap.