Guide · Updated September 2026

How to Invest in 8lends: Step-by-Step Guide

Most of the friction in getting started on 8lends is crypto plumbing, not the platform itself. Here's the full path from zero to your first loan.

  1. Create an account and complete KYC

    Sign up with an email address and complete identity verification (KYC) — a government ID and basic personal details are typically required, similar to any regulated fintech onboarding flow.

  2. Set up a self-custody wallet

    Install MetaMask or Trust Wallet if you don't already have one. Write your seed phrase down offline and never share it — no legitimate platform will ever ask for it.

  3. Buy USDC and bridge it to the Base network

    Buy USDC on an exchange such as Coinbase, then withdraw it to your wallet on the Base network specifically — sending USDC on the wrong network is a common, often unrecoverable mistake. Double-check the network selector before confirming any withdrawal.

  4. Connect your wallet and fund your 8lends account

    Connect your wallet to 8lends and deposit USDC. The minimum per loan is around 100 USDC.

  5. Choose your first loan — and diversify

    Read the listing details (collateral type, term, target APR) before committing. Start with an amount you are fully prepared to lose, and split capital across several loans rather than concentrating in one, exactly as you would on a traditional P2P platform.

  6. Track repayments and reinvest or withdraw

    Monitor repayments in your dashboard. At maturity, funds return to your wallet as USDC, which you can reinvest or convert back to fiat via an exchange.

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Common mistakes to avoid: sending USDC on the wrong blockchain network, investing your full allocation into a single loan, and treating a stablecoin as risk-free — it removes price volatility, not borrower or platform risk.

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Understand the risks and regulatory picture before funding a wallet.

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Disclaimer. Information only, not financial advice. Investing via self-custody wallets carries additional technical risk (lost keys, wrong-network transfers) on top of ordinary P2P/DeFi lending risk.