Examined Sep 25, 2026 Paid in NEXO Token Three separate tasks Nexo's own two pages disagree about when your 45 days start.
Add funds, exchange and take a first Credit Line withdrawal on that same $5,000, and it pays $100 instead. The advertised ceiling is real but expensive: Nexo says the maximum per person is $600, “achieved by reaching Tier 3 across all three activities”, and Tier 3 is $100,000 on each one.
Are you actually eligible?
Four answers, checked against Nexo’s own terms. Nothing leaves your browser.
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Will you park the money you want counted in Nexo’s Flexible or Fixed-term Yield products?
Nexo’s referral page says its Flexible and Fixed-term Yield products “do not count toward any reward threshold.”
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For the exchange task, will you trade crypto-to-crypto or a stablecoin such as USDC against USD?
For US referrals, only crypto-to-USD and USD-to-crypto swaps contribute toward this task, and stablecoin-to-USD swaps are ineligible.
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Will your deposit be in by day 15 and stay above its tier floor every day to day 45?
The day-15 snapshot sets the tier, and a dip below its floor from day 16 to 45 forfeits the deposit reward.
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Will every qualifying activity still be in compliance on day 45, when Nexo actually pays?
An activity completed early is paid at the same time as all other activities and not at the time of completion, and a reward is paid only for activities that remain in compliance at the time of payout.
Your reward is three separate tasks, not one deposit
Adding funds, exchanging and taking a first Credit Line withdrawal are three separate jobs, and Nexo's referral page is clear about the consequence: “Each activity pays out independently at the tier they reach.” Read the table across, not down.
Qualifying activities are limited to adding funds, exchanging, and the first withdrawal from a Nexo Credit Line. Nexo’s Flexible and Fixed-term Yield products do not count toward any reward threshold.
| Size of that one activity | Add funds | Exchange | Borrow | All three |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1, $5,000 or more | $5 | $25 | $70 | $100 |
| Tier 2, $25,000 or more | $25 | $50 | $150 | $225 |
| Tier 3, $100,000 or more | $100 | $250 | $250 | $600 |
Borrowing is the best paid of the three at every tier and the one most people never touch.
- Adding funds and nothing else, the default most people land on$5
- Adding funds, exchanging and a first Credit Line withdrawal$100
The same $5,000, read across Nexo's own Tier 1 row instead of down it.
What quietly does not count
| Yield products. Nexo's Flexible and Fixed-term Yield accounts, the headline product almost everyone comes for | Counts for nothing |
|---|---|
| Crypto-to-crypto trades and stablecoin swaps such as USDC to USD. For US accounts only crypto-to-USD and USD-to-crypto count, though the referral page still lists crypto-to-crypto | Not toward the exchange |
| Money added after day 15, or moved in from another Nexo user | Does not raise the deposit tier |
| A balance below your tier floor on any day from 16 to 45 | Deposit reward forfeited |
| A second or third Credit Line withdrawal, and any Nexo Credit Card purchase | Excluded |
| A first Credit Line withdrawal under $5,000. The minimum is on the first draw specifically | $0 |
| Any task finished early but no longer in compliance on day 45 | $0 |
Do this, in this order
- Open a new account through a referral link and finish the identity check that day. Nexo's system counts from the registration timestamp, and nothing done before identity approval counts.
- Pick the tasks you were doing anyway. Each of the three is optional and pays on its own.
- Keep the money that has to count out of the Yield products. As the quote above says, parking it there earns nothing on this program.
- Get the deposit in by day 15, and keep it there. Dip below your tier floor on any day from 16 to 45 and the deposit reward “is immediately forfeited”. Money added after day 15 does not lift the tier.
- If you are exchanging, trade crypto against USD. “For US referrals, only crypto-to-USD and USD-to-crypto swaps contribute toward this task.”
- If you are borrowing, make the first withdrawal the large one. “A minimum first Credit Line withdrawal of $5,000 is required... Subsequent withdrawals do not count toward the threshold.” A $1,000 test draw followed by $9,000 pays nothing at all.
- Hold everything to the end, because nothing banks early. An activity completed before the end of the period “is paid at the same time as all other activities and not at the time of completion”, and a reward is paid only for activities that “remain in compliance at the time of payout”. Payment arrives within an hour of the window closing.
What can still cost you the reward
You are paid in a token, at whatever it is worth that day. Rewards “are denominated in U.S. dollars but, where paid in a Digital Asset, are converted at the prevailing rate at the time of payout; the actual value received may be more or less than the stated dollar amount”.
The amounts can change without the contract changing. Changes to the program rules, “including Qualifying Activities, thresholds, eligible and ineligible transaction types, maintenance requirements, and Reward amounts”, need no amendment to the terms. Screenshot the tier table the day you start.
The balance is checked every day. The referral page says only “maintain this average balance throughout the holding period”. The help center is exact: a snapshot “at 00:00 UTC each day” from day 16 to day 45. Keep a buffer above the floor.
New York is out. The terms bar New York residents as promoters, and the help center adds that the program “is currently unavailable to clients residing in certain jurisdictions, including Russia, Belarus, the state of New York”.
Our July fix was wrong
On July 27, 2026 we removed the day-15 snapshot and the 15-day deposit deadline because we could not read them in the terms or on the referral page. That was our error: Nexo's US help center article states both, and we read it in full on Sep 25, 2026. They are back.
Is it worth your time?
Only if the money was already going into crypto. Then knowing this is three tasks turns a $5 default into $100 for no extra capital. Depositing purely to chase the reward means $5,000 or more held for 45 days, checked daily, and paid in a token of unknown value. The borrow task is a real loan, and no $70 reward justifies a $5,000 debt you did not want.
The 60-second tax note
A crypto reward is generally taxable US income at its value on the day it lands, and Nexo may report it. Note the date and dollar value; a later sale is a separate gain or loss.
Nexo against a low-friction offer
The Binance.US referral asks far less. Nexo needs $5,000 to reach its lowest tier, pays $5 for that deposit alone, and settles in 45 days in a volatile token. If you already move real size and would use the exchange and credit line anyway, Nexo pays far more than Binance.US’s flat $10.
If Nexo does not fit
Go deeper
- Maximize it: working the three tasks and the tier cliffs on money you were moving anyway.
- Is Nexo safe?: the track record, the 2023 settlement in plain English, and a 5-minute safety checklist.
- Reward not paid?: the common causes, which are fixable, and how to write a ticket that gets resolved.
| Realistic | $5 |
|---|---|
| Ceiling | $600, which needs $100,000 three times |