There are many facets you’ve to contemplate when choosing your crypto investing platform, crucial of which can be:

• Security
• Popularity
• Trading fees
• User experience
• Supported cryptocurrencies

While every platform has its own pros and cons, Coinbase is the one platform which ranks in the very best 1-3 in all of the above categories.

Most importantly, Coinbase has essentially probably the most sophisticated set of safety features and, because it’s a public company, is regulated way more closely than every one among its competitors.

For these reasons, Coinbase is my most really useful brokerage for brand recent and casual crypto investors. Keep reading for an entire breakdown of its feature set, pros and cons, security measures, and fee structure.

Review: At-a-Glance

Our rating: [4.5 stars]

Account minimum: $0

Fees: 0 – 3.99%, depending on form of transaction

Primary profit: Easy-to-use and secure platform

Primary drawback: Higher fees than a number of of its competitors

Promotion: 

Get up to $200 free in any crypto when you join Coinbase today

About Coinbase

Greater than $76 billion was traded on the platform last quarter, making Coinbase the largest crypto exchange within the USA. How did it get here?

Brian Armstrong (an ex-Airbnb engineer) and Fred Ehrsam (a former Goldman Sachs trader) co-founded Airbnb in 2012. The two met over Reddit and formed the company out of a two-bedroom apartment when Bitcoin was trading for $6.

Their founding mission was to “make crypto easy to utilize.”

The company had its initial public offering (IPO) on April 14, 2021. It listed its shares at $250, but its stock opened trading at $381 per share. This valued the company at $99.6 billion.

Today, Coinbase is valued at (a way more reasonable) $30 billion. It has:

• 100+ million users
• $114 billion invested on the platform
• 248 cryptocurrencies available for trading

It’s one in every of the vital popular, most secure, and easiest-to-use crypto exchanges on the planet.

Get up to $200 free in any crypto when you join Coinbase today

Pros and Cons of Coinbase

As you’ll give you the chance to inform from the numbers listed above, Coinbase is one in every of the vital popular crypto investing platforms on the planet.

Obviously, for tens of thousands and thousands of crypto investors, Coinbase is probably the most effective available option.

Pros

1. User experience – Coinbase makes buying and selling cryptocurrencies incredibly easy, even for complete beginners. Each its mobile app and web-based platform are exceptionally well designed. Furthermore, users can easily link their bank accounts and make quick deposits and withdrawals.
2. Security – Coinbase places an emphasis on security and uses industry-leading practices harking back to advanced two-factor authentication (2FA), offline (cold) storage, and bank-level encryption. I cover its safety features in additional depth below (and in my article on Is Coinbase Secure?).
3. Popularity – While it has been the goal of several attacks and the positioning has experienced outages, Coinbase is taken into consideration one in every of the vital trustworthy exchanges inside the crypto landscape.
4. Additional regulation – Coinbase is the one publicly-traded crypto exchange on the planet. This brings with it additional reporting regulations, including SEC oversight, quarterly reports, and independent audits conducted annually.
5. Educational resources – Coinbase also has a library of resources to deepen its users’ knowledge of the crypto space and might reward you for completing courses.

Cons

1. High fees – A very powerful criticism against Coinbase is its relatively high fees relative to a number of of its lower cost competitors. Fees can include trading fees, withdrawal fees, and transaction fees. I cover all of those in additional detail below.
2. Lacks area of interest coins – While Coinbase currently offers 248 coins, it lacks a superb portion of altcoins that other exchanges could have.
3. Geographical restrictions – Coinbase shouldn’t be licensed to operate in or has restrictions in several countries. Furthermore, there are several countries banned from using Coinbase including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Crimea.

Products

Coinbase is obtainable to every retail and institutional-level investors.

It has 3 primary offerings:

1. Coinbase platform – The website and mobile app where you’ll give you the chance to purchase, sell, store, and stake cryptocurrencies.
2. Coinbase Pro – A more sophisticated version of the platform for day traders.
3. Coinbase Wallet – A spot for users to store their crypto investments.

Furthermore, it offers Coinbase Prime (a trading platform) and Coinbase Custody (a custody solution) for institutional clients.

Cryptocurrencies Available on Coinbase

Coinbase is on a regular basis adding more cryptocurrencies to its platform. As of the time of this writing, it supports 248 coins.

Quite a few the most well liked are: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether USD (USDT), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), USD Coin (USDC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Uniswap (UNI), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Polygon (MATIC), amongst others.

While it doesn’t post exact listing requirements, it’s speculated Coinbase adds coins based on trading volume and recognition.

Is Coinbase the Safest Crypto Exchange?

As mentioned above, Coinbase is taken into consideration one among the safer and more reputable crypto exchanges.

That’s as a consequence of a mix of its suite of safety features and the regulation and reporting requirements it faces as a consequence of being a US-based and publicly-traded company.

That said, there isn’t a exchange that is completely immune to risks. Coinbase, like every crypto exchange, has its own set of pros and cons with regards to security.

Pros of Coinbase’s Security

1. Advanced security measures – Coinbase deploys 2FA, bank-level encryption, password protection, offline (cold) storage for nearly all of assets, AI and machine-learning monitoring, and other account protections.
2. Regulatory compliance – As a publicly-traded brokerage based within the USA, Coinbase is subject to a swathe of SEC regulations. These include quarterly reporting, operational transparency, and annual audits conducted by an independent third party.
3. Insurance coverage – Coinbase provides insurance coverage for digital assets held on the platform inside the event of a security breach.
4. User base – Unlike some smaller exchanges, the dimensions of Coinbase’s user base adds liquidity and reduces the danger of market manipulation.

Cons of Coinbase’s Security

1. Centralization – While all user data is encrypted and algorithmically stored, Coinbase is a centralized exchange, meaning users’ private keys are stored in its offline databases.
2. Identity verification – As a US-based brokerage, Coinbase must require its users to verify their identities, which may be a priority for a lot of who prioritize privacy and anonymity.

While there’s no such thing as a really perfect system, Coinbase is about as secure of a crypto exchange as is possible.

You’ll give you the chance to boost the security of your investments by following several best practices, harking back to using strong passwords, enabling 2FA, and using hardware wallets for long-term storage of your crypto assets.

Start today on Coinbase

Coinbase Fees

Coinbase charges fees for quite a number of transactions and services on its platform.

These include:

• Transaction fees – Coinbase charges fees on buying, selling, and conversion transactions. These fees are calculated on the time of your order and vary depending in your payment method, order size, market conditions, location, and other costs. You’ll be able to be shown the total amount of fees you pays prior to placing your order. These fees typically range from 0.5% to 4.5%.
• Withdrawal fees – Depending in your withdrawal method, Coinbase may charge a fee for withdrawing funds out of your account.
• Deposit fees – Coinbase doesn’t typically charge fees on deposits, but may achieve this depending on the payment method.
• Other – Depending in your location and the services you utilize, there may be additional fees related to features harking back to staking, Coinbase Card usage, and other premium services.

It also charges a maker/taker fee model for Coinbase Pro, its advanced trading platform. Your fee tier relies upon total USD trading volume over the trailing 30-day period.

Here’s a take a take a look at the tiered breakdown:

https://pro.coinbase.com/fees

Ceaselessly asked questions

Can Coinbase be trusted?

Yes, Coinbase is perhaps trusted.

The platform has amongst probably the most advanced security measures available to protect your personal data and your investments including 2FA, bank-level encryption, and cold wallet (offline) storage, amongst others.

Furthermore, the company operates inside the U.S. and is under its laws and jurisdiction. Plus, the company is publicly traded, subjecting it to a bunch of other regulations which require regular reporting, annual audits, and general business transparency – something that’s severely lacking inside the crypto landscape.

Review for yourself whether Coinbase is secure enough for investors looking for to purchase bitcoin, ethereum, and over 250+ crypto’s offered on their platform. 

Is there a downside to Coinbase?

The primary drawback to Coinbase is its fees are higher than a number of of its low-cost competitors.

That said, in my view, the simple user interface, top-notch platform security, large list of tradable assets, and academic resources are well value paying marginally higher fees.

Does Coinbase really pay you?

There are only a number of ways to generate income on Coinbase, including 1) Join rewards (similar to the one through our links), 2) Coinbase’s Learn and Earn program will reward you with small amounts of cryptocurrencies for completing their educational materials, 3) Staking certain cryptocurrencies and earning rewards, and 4) Selling your investments for greater than you acquire them for.

Final word: Is Coinbase Right for You?

Coinbase should little doubt be in your list of platforms to take a position in crypto, especially do you have to’re a recent or casual investor.

Its large choice of cryptocurrencies to take a position in, its top-notch security measures, and the convenience at which you’ll give you the chance to purchase and sell mix to make it top-of-the-line all-around offerings available.

Sure, you may find an exchange with lower fees or more area of interest tokens, but do you have to’re looking for to start out investing in crypto, Coinbase is probably the most effective place to start out out.

Start today on Coinbase