A bank lends on trust: pay stubs, credit history, calls to your employer, three weeks of waiting. A protocol lends on collateral: you put bitcoin into a smart contract, and the contract itself pays you USDT up to its value. Nothing to underwrite - if the loan is never repaid, collateral covers the debt. So the loan lands in a minute, at night, for anyone who holds bitcoin.
Deposit interest comes from the same place. Your USDT in the protocol is borrowed by people like you against their own bitcoin at 4-5% APR; most of that flows to you. One system, two sides: who needs cash now - borrows; who has idle dollars - supplies.
No term. The loan stays open until you close it: take it today, repay in a week or in three years - you only pay interest for the time that passed. Early repayment is just the Repay button - no penalties, no paperwork, no “revised terms”.
Supply USDT to a protocol - interest accrues every second, withdraw anytime. A dollar savings account at many banks pays near zero. Here the rate floats with how many people are borrowing right now.
Protocols lend up to 73-80% of collateral value. Half is a convenient figure not because more is impossible, but because at half bitcoin has to drop 36-38% before collateral even becomes a conversation. In that time you will see the number in the wallet a hundred times and press one button.
Deposits and loans are not a wallet product and not someone’s company. They are open programs on the blockchain that have run for years, passed dozens of audits, and hold money for hundreds of thousands of people. Mitilena only opens the door - without taking the key.



Other users of the protocol. They deposited USDT to earn interest; you borrowed against bitcoin collateral. The contract matches both sides and accrues interest. Neither Aave, Venus, nor Mitilena keeps a cash till that pays out loans.
It sits in the protocol contract on your address and moves with the market - same as holding. Nobody can sell it while collateral value stays above the liquidation threshold. Repay the loan - bitcoin is free again, that same second.
Borrow interest is 4-5% APR in USDT as of 26.09.2026, accruing every second. Plus network fees for three transactions (supply collateral, borrow, repay): cents on BSC and TON, a few dollars on Ethereum. Aave and Venus charge no origination, servicing, or early-repayment fees; EVAA charges 0.3% on borrow.
Protocols pay only crypto - USDT, USDC, ETH. Fiat from USDT is a separate step: OTC desk, P2P, or an exchange. How to cash out without getting burned - on the USDT page.
In many places crypto is treated as property; lending protocols are often not licensed like banks; gains and interest may be taxable. Using Aave or Venus is not itself a crime in most jurisdictions - but local rules differ, and this is not legal advice. Check with a lawyer where you live.
That is the real risk, and it is not zero: Euler lost $197M in 2023 (all returned), Cream - $130M in 2021. Aave over six years and $4.4B of liquidations - zero bad debt; Compound since 2018 - no deposit losses from code. That is why Mitilena Wallet opens only these four protocols, not hundreds of yield farms.