Usually these platforms only pay 12% apy when you fully fulfill their requirements which involve holding a determined amount of native tokens from the company on your portfolio while also receiving interest on this native currency. If you don't accomplish with any requirements, the interest rates may stay up to 8% apy or similar. At least in NEXO that is how it works. Crypto.com I'm not familiar with yet. I have an account there, but didn't invest on the platform.
What I like about NEXO is that you can access the website through desktop and their frequent, fair and accessible promotions they launch from times to times. It's possible to earn some nice extra money by referring active investors to the site.
I have read of the terms for nexo and it's really going to require everyone who wants to earn interest into their platform to hold nexo tokens. It's also based on tier or levels per account based on how many you hold it. I've thought of this platform as a good way to earn passively especially if you've got larger funds. But still, it's an exchange and you don't hold the keys and you should know that risk upon depositing there even if they are guaranteeing that they've got insurance and backed by other legitimate companies.
Yes, and interest rates have been changed recently. The base level (tier 4) was heavily impacted. Now investors with $25,000 invested or more will earn only 1,5% APY. To earn more interest investors are forced to reach higher tier levels accordingly to how much they have held on the platform. Moreover, extra 2% APY when choosing to receive income in NEXO is only available now for Planitum users, which is the tier 1 status of the platform for investors who hold at least 10% of their portfolio in NEXO tokens. These are huge changes which will prejudice users a lot in an attempt to boost NEXO's volume and price at crypto market.
To earn 5% APY, investors have to sacrifice 10% of their funds for NEXO tokens in order to reach Platinum level. That means it can take up to 2 years until they will recover the investment, unless the platform makes another update during this time period, what is likely, taking the volatility of crypto world and how things here change fast in consideration.