# Lending ## What is Lending? Lending is the process of depositing (i.e. supplying) tokens to a pool. In exchange for providing liquidity to this pool, users receive interest on the tokens they have deposited. The interest that lenders receive comes from other users who are paying interest to borrow tokens. **Lenders are able to withdraw their tokens at any time** (as long as they aren't being used as collateral to borrow tokens and not all the tokens are being borrowed). There is no time lock or withdrawal penalty. ## Selecting a Lending Network Ola Finance is a gateway to numerous lending networks across different blockchains. To get started, you must first decide which lending network you want to participate in. Some things to consider before interacting with a given lending network: * **The Creator:** make sure you trust the entity behind this lending network * **The Blockchain:** gas fees (inherent cost of doing transactions on a blockchain) vary, so make sure you're willing to pay the current fee * **The Tokens:** each lending network supports lending/borrowing for different tokens, so familiarize yourself with all the listed tokens * **The Interest Rates:** each lending network has different interest rates and incentives; make sure you understand the costs/returns that apply to your position and are happy with them ## Earning Interest After depositing your tokens, the pool will mint oTokens - or "receipt tokens" - and credit you. These oTokens show that you have supplied assets to one of Ola’s lending networks. When you go to withdraw your tokens from the supply side, the system will ask for those oTokens back - so make sure you hold on to them! The conversion rate from oTokens to the deposited token absorbs the interest that borrowers pay. This means that when you withdraw your tokens, you will receive more than you started with, proportional to the token's APY. It is important to note that APYs in Ola's MMs are **floating** and not fixed. Rates get updated on a per-block basis and can fluctuate significantly within relatively short time spans. Rates that lenders receive are determined by the rates that borrowers pay (see [Borrowing](/ola-finance/for-users/borrowing.md#paying-interest) for more details). Let's walk through an example. Say you deposit 10 ETH with an average APY of 5%. First, you will notice that your wallet now has 10 ETH worth of oETH in it - these are your receipt tokens. When you go to withdraw your ETH after 1 year, you will trade back the oETH and receive 10.5 ETH in return (your original 10 ETH plus the 5% APY). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://olafinance.gitbook.io/ola-finance/for-users/lending.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.