If you access Aloe software directly, like through Etherscan or a self-hosted node, you can choose to receive 100% of earned interest or donate a portion to charity. The only fees would be the gas cost of Ethereum transactions. However, if you're accessing the protocol through our (Aloe Labs) web app, we reserve the right to take a portion of earned interest as a fee. This fee is visible on-chain and is "locked in" (cannot be increased) as long as you maintain a non-zero balance.

TLDR: Withdrawals would be delayed, but usually wouldn't take more than 24 hours.

Aloe software targets 80% pool utilization, which would mean 80% of funds are loaned out, and 20% are available for withdrawal. When this gets skewed (ex: 90% loaned out + 10% withdrawable), interest rates go up: borrowers will pay more and lenders will earn more. In the extreme case where everybody tries to withdraw at once, borrowers will have to repay their loans or face absurdly high interest (100% per day). This helps stabilize the pool.

Every borrower has an Aloe smart wallet which holds their assets and keeps track of their liabilities (debt). As long as the value of assets > liabilities + wiggle room, the borrower is free to HODL, trade, or market-make with the funds in their smart wallet. However, if Aloe software detects that the wiggle room is shrinking too much, it seizes control of the smart wallet and allows other people (liquidators) to close out the borrower’s positions and repay lenders. Liquidators get a small reward for their trouble.

Ultimately there are no guarantees here, but since Ethereum is a public blockchain, you yourself could keep an eye on borrowers' activity and liquidate them if necessary.

Anyone! You don't need permission to use the core Aloe software. That said, certain features on our (Aloe Labs') web app may not be available in certain jurisdictions. Always check local regulations before dealing with magic internet money!

Interest rates change over time, based on supply and demand. If many people lend and few borrow, interest rates will be low. If few people lend and many borrow, interest rates will be high.

There are two big differences:

1. On other platforms, you're forced to deposit into one big pool containing 10+ cryptocurrencies. If even one asset fails, the entire pool suffers. Worse yet, they can add/remove assets from the group without your consent. Aloe solves this by letting you pick exactly which assets you trust, and it'll never override your decision.

2. When borrowers ask for money, other platforms give it to them outright. This sounds great, but it means that to borrow $50 of ETH, you'd have to post $100 of collateral. Sometimes useful, but kinda silly! Aloe solves this by giving borrowers smart wallets. If they do reckless things, Aloe can veto them. This means Aloe can safely give out much larger loans, opening up new use-cases like leveraged market-making.