Nexo

Nexo (NEXO) is the loyalty and utility token of Nexo, a centralized crypto lending and trading platform founded in 2018. Holding NEXO unlocks tiered benefits such as higher savings rates, lower borrowing rates, and cashback; the company paid a $45 million settlement to US regulators in 2023 over its Earn Interest Product before announcing a return to the US market in 2025.

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What Is Nexo?

Nexo (ticker NEXO) is the native token of Nexo, a centralized cryptocurrency platform that offers interest-bearing savings accounts, crypto-backed credit lines, an exchange, and a payment card. Unlike tokens that power a decentralized protocol, NEXO is a company token: its main purpose is a loyalty program, where holding a larger share of your portfolio in NEXO unlocks better terms across the platform's products. Because the platform is custodial, using Nexo means trusting the company with your assets, a tradeoff worth understanding before depositing funds.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is Nexo?
Getting Started With Nexo
How To Get A Nexo Wallet?
Nexo Resources
How To Buy Nexo?
Latest Nexo News

Nexo was founded in 2018 by Antoni Trenchev and Kosta Kantchev, with backing from Credissimo, a Bulgarian online consumer-lending company that Kantchev co-founded. The platform launched in April 2018 after a private token sale that raised roughly $52.5 million, and its first product was an instant crypto-backed credit line: customers deposit Bitcoin or other assets as collateral and borrow cash or stablecoins against them without selling. The company has since expanded into flexible and fixed-term savings, spot and futures trading, dual investment products, the Nexo Card, and institutional services such as prime brokerage.

The NEXO token is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum with a fixed total supply of 1 billion, all of which is in circulation. Its utility centers on Nexo's loyalty tiers, named Base, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Your tier depends on the ratio of NEXO tokens to the rest of your portfolio on the platform; the top Platinum tier requires holding at least 10 percent of your portfolio in NEXO. Higher tiers bring higher interest rates on savings, lower rates on credit lines, more free withdrawals, and up to 2 percent cashback on Nexo Card purchases. NEXO held on the platform can also earn interest itself.

NEXO originally functioned partly like a dividend-paying instrument: the company committed to distributing 30 percent of its profits to token holders, and paid out four dividends totaling tens of millions of dollars. Following a community vote in June 2021, Nexo replaced dividends with daily interest paid on NEXO token balances, a change motivated in part by concerns that dividend payments made the token look like a security under US law. The final dividend of about $20.4 million was distributed in June 2021.

Regulators scrutinized the platform anyway. In January 2023 Nexo agreed to pay $45 million in penalties, split evenly between the US Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators coordinated through NASAA, to settle charges that its Earn Interest Product was an unregistered securities offering. Nexo neither admitted nor denied the findings, agreed to stop offering the product to US investors, and had already announced in late 2022 that it would phase out of the US market entirely, citing a lack of regulatory clarity.

Around the same time, Bulgarian authorities raided Nexo's Sofia offices in January 2023 as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and other offenses. Bulgarian prosecutors closed that investigation in December 2023, citing a lack of evidence of criminal activity. Nexo responded in January 2024 by filing a $3 billion arbitration claim against Bulgaria at the World Bank's ICSID tribunal, arguing the investigation damaged its business and derailed fundraising and IPO plans.

In April 2025 Nexo announced its return to the United States, pointing to improved regulatory clarity under the new administration. The relaunch covers yield products, crypto-backed credit, and trading for US retail and institutional clients. As with any centralized lender, the value proposition of the NEXO token is tied to the health of the company itself, so the platform's regulatory standing, custody practices, and disclosures matter as much as the token's stated benefits.

Getting Started With Nexo

Getting started with NEXO usually means either buying the token on an exchange or using the Nexo platform itself:

Step 1: Decide whether you want to use the custodial Nexo platform or simply hold the token. Platform benefits like loyalty tiers and interest require keeping NEXO in a Nexo account.
Step 2: To use the platform, create and verify an account at nexo.com or in the Nexo mobile app, then check which products are available in your jurisdiction.
Step 3: Acquire NEXO on the platform or on an external exchange. Holding a higher ratio of NEXO relative to your portfolio raises your loyalty tier.
Step 4: If you prefer self-custody, withdraw NEXO to an Ethereum wallet you control. You give up platform perks but keep control of your keys.

How to Get a Nexo Wallet?

NEXO is an ERC-20 token, so any wallet that supports Ethereum tokens can hold it. You can also keep it on the Nexo platform itself, which is custodial.

MetaMask

MetaMask is the most widely used Ethereum browser-extension and mobile wallet. Add the NEXO token contract and you can hold, send, and trade NEXO on decentralized exchanges while keeping your own keys.

Hardware Wallets

Ledger and Trezor devices support ERC-20 tokens, including NEXO, and keep private keys offline. A hardware wallet paired with MetaMask is the standard setup for larger long-term holdings.

Nexo Platform

Holding NEXO in a Nexo account is required to receive loyalty-tier benefits and interest on the token. This is custodial storage: the company controls the keys, and your assets are exposed to the platform's business and regulatory risks.

Nexo Resources

How to Buy Nexo?

NEXO trades on both centralized and decentralized exchanges, as well as on Nexo's own platform.

Centralized Exchanges

NEXO is listed on exchanges including Binance and BitMart, typically against USDT or BTC. It can also be bought directly on the Nexo platform's built-in exchange. Availability varies by jurisdiction, so check which venues serve your region.

Decentralized Exchanges

As an ERC-20 token, NEXO can be swapped on Ethereum DEXes such as Uniswap using a self-custody wallet like MetaMask.

Latest Nexo News

Nexo's biggest recent development is its return to the US market, announced in April 2025 after a roughly two-year absence that followed the $45 million SEC and state settlement and the company's late-2022 decision to wind down US operations. The relaunch brings savings yields, crypto-backed credit lines, and trading back to American clients, with the company citing a clearer regulatory environment.

Meanwhile, Nexo's $3 billion arbitration claim against Bulgaria over the dropped 2023 criminal investigation remains a notable open matter. Because product availability, interest rates, and loyalty-tier terms change frequently, and because the token's benefits depend on the company's continued standing, Nexo's official website and blog are the best sources for current terms and developments.