Beginners guide to Xend Finance
Xend finance is a Defi platform aimed at credit unions, cooperatives and pretty much anyone trying to save capital and earn interests in stable currencies.
It is built on the binance smart chain, for several reasons including cheap transaction and gas fees, high performance and EVM compatibility. More on this here.
Xend finance is currently running on testnet, which is what we’ll be going through, so we have a glimpse of what to expect once it is released on the main net. An incentive has also been added so users can earn $XEND token ahead of its release.
The main goal of this post is to give users who are not familiar with working with the xend finance dashboard, a step by step guide to using it, so they can start enjoying the benefits the platform has to offer. We’ll be making references to the official xend finance docs here for some of the necessary protocols we’ll need.
So lets get started…
Setup
First thing you’ll do is get meta mask. Meta mask is a crypto wallet address holder and can be enabled in your chrome extension. You can get it here.
Once installed, we‘ll need to add the Binance Smart Chain Network which is what this version of xend finance us running.
To add this navigate from meta mask setting > Networks > Add Network
Fill the form with the following details
Network Name: Binance Smart Chain
New RPC URL: https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.binance.org:8545/
Chain ID: 97
Symbol: BNB
Block Explorer URL: https://testnet.bscscan.com
Once you’re done filling the form, click save and you’ll be connected to the Binance Smart Chain network.
Head over to https://testnet.xend.finance/, where you’ll see a page like the one below
Please make sure you’re on the Binance Smart Chain network or else you’ll be get a network error on the xend finance dashboard like the one below.
And we’re done, see that wasn’t difficult at all 😃😃😃. Now lets fund our account.
Funding
Xend Finance uses BNB(Binance Coin) to handle gas and transaction fees while BUSD(Binance USD) is the stable currency which can be saved/deposited into any of the available saving options being Personal, Esusu or Cooperative Savings.
Since this is testnet, every new wallet address is entitled to 100BUSD to run tests in the environment. But first let’s get some test BNB.
Copy your wallet address from meta mask and click on Add Token. Then paste the contract wallet address and click on next, you should have BUSD now.
Go to this link or click on the Get BNB link at the top right of the dashboard. Paste your wallet address in the provided field and click on Give me BNB to get BNB in the wallet address.
To add the BUSD token, head over to this link and copy the token contract address. Head overto meta mask and
Get BUSD tokens by clicking Get BUSD in the top bar. A modal showing the amount + gas fee that’ll be charged on that transaction will be shown. Click confirm to complete the transaction and your account will be credited with 100BUSD. Note that the 100 BUSD is assigned once only per wallet address.
Saving is great!!!
Now we can deposit some BUSD. There are currently 3 saving categories:
- Personal Savings
- Esusu
- Cooperative Savings
Each category works differently, so we’ll be handling it one at a time. For a full breakdown of the ROI on each category as well as rewards and the entire architecture of Xend Finance, please view the litepaper.
Personal Savings
Just as the name suggests, you deposit some BUSD from your wallet address balance and after a period of time, you gain interest on the amount deposited(up to 15%). A small transaction fee is also included.
You can then withdraw your BUSD for a small transaction fee.
Esusu
This will sound familiar to most NIgerians as the esusu saving system is one of the oldest forms of savings in the country and is still being practiced.
To get started select Esusu on the dashboard. You’ll see cycles which have been created by others, as well as My Esusu Group where you can create your own group.
Clicking on My Esusu Group shows all esusu groups you’ve created, as well an option to create a new one. A small fee is BNB will also be charged to the account creating the new group.
To create a new esusu group, you’ll need to give it a name as well as a symbol. Then you’ll be able to create various settings for your group like max number of members, amount each member can get and more.
When you click the share button, others can also join your esusu group and earn ROI on each cycle. Interest earned on each cycle is about 15%.
Cooperative Savings
This is similar to esusu, in that it involves working in a group. A small fee is charged in BNB when the group is created.
Click on cooperative savings on your dashboard, here you can view all cooperative savings cycles as well as Add a new one.
Click on My Cooperatve, you’ll see cooperatives you’ve created, to create a new one, create a new cooperative group.
Although, unlike Esusu where amounts are fixed that must be deposited, here an individual can stake a different amount of BUSD.
The amount of 1 stake can be set and users can then stake as many at they can. The process for for withdrawing capital and interest is the same as Esusu. Once the cycle period is reached, the option for withdrawal will be seen.
Xend Finance is bringing a lot of positive change to Africa with this ground breaking technology, so users can enjoy great interests on their savings in stable currencies.
I do hope this article has explained how you can best use xend Finance while it is still on testnet.
I’ll be adding a link to a video tutorial on this. I’ll also be referencing the necessary links below.
Youtube tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6lbuYt6FrcnYijb6QW_mil1BcBihy14t
Join the telegram channel -https://t.me/xendFinance
