Investment Platforms

Coinbase review

7

(our review)

Coinbase is one of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and also has a strong position in Europe. It is popular in several countries, especially Germany, France and the Netherlands. In the latest review by Investmentplatforms.eu, Coinbase scored a 7.

Content:

Please note: investing in cryptocurrencies like bitcoins carries risks. You may lose (some of) your deposit.

What characterizes Coinbase?

coinbaseCoinbase is an American crypto exchange. It was founded in 2012. It is listed on the NASDAQ and has become one of the largest crypto platforms in the world. Major investors also use the platform to store crypto currencies in a secured way.

But of course, people mostly use the platform to invest in crypto. The daily trading volume is often well over a billion dollars. Bitcoin is by far the most popular product, but the platform currently offers 236 different cryptocurrencies.

Other crypto exchanges that are similar to Coinbase are Binance, Kraken and Bitstamp.

Usability

Coinbase’s platform is user-friendly. If you are getting started, it is easy to buy cryptocurrencies and sell through the Coinbase Commerce dashboard. It offers several payment methods for European users to transfer money with, such as PayPal, Sofort, iDeal, credit cards and SEPA transfers. It also has its own mobile app and proprietary wallets, for its various cryptocurrencies.

Transferring money, staking, periodic purchases and crypto transfers to external wallets are all possible through Coinbase’s mobile app or standard desktop dashboard. It is also (partly) available in several languages, though we see that as a disadvantage instead of an advantage.

Automated translations and advertising

The Coinbase platform supports several languages, such as English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Dutch. This makes it easier to navigate the platform. Additionally, transactions can be completed in a language that the user is most comfortable with.

However, not all parts of the website are (completely) translated. This means that sometimes, some words in English may still appear, even if you have selected a different language. We have also noticed that the translations seem to have been made by software, which means that some of them are not correct or contrived.

Coinbase also comes with a lot of advertisements. For example, it has ‘study rewards’ which are fees that you receive after watching or reading certain advertisements. This is great if you want to test the platform, or if you could use some dummy coins to trade with. For more serious investors, it mostly creates a lot of noise and distraction on the platform.

coinbase

Negative user reviews

On review platforms, Coinbase often receives very low scores from users. After reading many of these experiences, we tried to get in touch with some of these users. We have come to the conclusion that the reviews are mostly abused by people who have never been customers. Often, they are people who hope you will ask them for help if you cannot access your account.
example of review of coinbase

Great offer

Coinbase offers more than 200 different cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it has services like staking, transferring to external wallets, periodic purchases and virtually any trading option you could want as an investor.

The platform has several dashboards, a standard solution and its Advanced Trade option. With the latter, you get a complete exchange with more comprehensive features (and lower costs). For large institutional investors, it offers Coinbase Prime. It also has API capabilities, like accepting payments in bitcoin or other currencies.

Staking cryptocurrencies

It is possible to start staking cryptocurrencies on Coinbase. Rewards for this service depend on your subscription and the type of currency. Some coins are blocked from trading when you sign them up for staking, at Coinbase. There can also be a waiting period for the staking or unstaking to start. With Ethereum, for example, the waiting period is 12 days.

Staking rewards that Coinbase offered us (with a normal account) are:

  • Ethereum: 2.89 percent
  • USD Coin: 5.10 percent
  • Cosmos: 9.22 percent
  • Polkadot: 6.92 percent
  • Solana: 5.01 percent
  • Tezos: 4.62 percent
  • Polygon: 2.39 percent
  • Cardano: 2.04 percent

Coinbase Commerce: accepting payments in cryptocurrencies

Are you an entrepreneur and are you interested in accepting payments in cryptocurrencies, in addition to investing (in crypto)? Through Coinbase Commerce, it is fairly easy to do so. In it, you can enter your Ethereum address (or create it there within a few seconds). After that, you can create your own payment link and test it.

Through the platform, digital currencies are immediately exchanged into USDC, a stablecoin based on the U.S. dollar value. Because of this, you will not have any price fluctuations. You can also require users to enter certain details, like their name, occupation or an email address.

The payment link can be added to your website as a checkout, or shared as a link via email or social media, for example. Furthermore, you can also work with fixed rates, or give visitors several options or even let visitors choose an amount themselves (for donations, for example).

coinbase payments

NFT’s and Web3 games

In addition to the regular crypto offerings, Coinbase also offers a section for NFTs and Web3. With the latter, you can earn coins by playing online games, for example. For example, within three clicks from the dashboard, we suddenly found ourselves in the game Benji Bananas with the following description:

The transition from Benji Bananas to play-to-earn (P2E) begins with having a Benji Bananas Membership Pass-NFT. This NFT (ERC-1155) allows owners to earn PRIMATE tokens by playing Benji Bananas. PRIMATE tokens can be exchanged for APEcoin and other coins within the Animoca Brands ecosystem.

Interesting? Well, earning free coins is no doubt fun for a specific audience. Yet, for us, it was mostly unnecessary and distracting.

Fees: Coinbase is not the cheapest

Overall, Coinbase is not the cheapest platform to buy and sell cryptos on. The standard rate when you make purchases on the home screen is 1 percent. It also has a full exchange, Coinbase Advanced, which is cheaper.

Proprietary exchange with Advanced Trade

Transactions like the one above seem convenient, but they are more expensive than trading on an exchange and more expensive than other platforms, like Binance and Kraken (0.1 to 0.26 percent). It also charges spread fees, to improve the probability of a trade. In Advanced Trade, the platform works with tiered fees. Starting fees are 0.6 percent for sell orders, and 0.8 percent for buy orders.

Fees drop once your transaction value in dollars exceeds certain tiers. Above 1,000 dollars, fees drop to 0.35 percent for sell orders. Buy orders then come with a fee of 0.55 percent. Above 10,000 dollars, fees drop to 0.25 and 0.40 percent. And above 50,000 dollars, fees drop even more: to 0.15 and 0.25 percent. That seems like a steep discount, but these are standard rates that other platforms like Binance or Kraken, for example, already work with.

No transaction fees with the Coinbase One subscription

You can also subscribe to Coinbase One. This costs 24.99 per month, but you will no longer have to pay transaction fees on purchases or sales up to 10,000 euros per month. Spread fees are excluded. Coinbase One members also get higher staking rewards.

Reliability

The platform is known for its extensive security around storing crypto or protecting user accounts. The website uses encryption that is also used by banks. Many security measures in other areas also resemble those of banks.

Coinbase operates with security measures similar to those of banks.

For example, the majority of customers’ cryptocurrencies (98 percent) are stored in cold storage. The cold wallets are stored in different places around the world. Similar to banks’ gold reserves. There is no one person or system managing them.

This means that in the event of a hack on Coinbase, these cryptos will not be available. The platform thus meets maximum security standards. Coinbase’s security is good enough for big investment companies, such as U.S. ETF providers like BlackRock, who works with Coinbase.

Review score: 7

In our latest review, Coinbase scored a 7 out of 10. The platform is very secure, with a wide range of offerings. It works well and so does the mobile app. As it has been around for a while, there are many crypto investors on it from the early days and still enjoy using it.

Coinbase’s disadvantages are its high fees. Also, its staking conditions are trickier than on other platforms. Furthermore, the translations to European languages other than English are not optimal. The additional applications like study rewards, NFTs or Web3 games do not offer any added value for us.

Experiences with Coinbase review

3

Based on 120 reviews via Google Maps

T H

T H

a month ago

My experience with Coinbase has been nothing short of a nightmare. First and foremost, there is no way to speak to a real person when you need help. Their so-called customer support is limited to automated responses and generic email replies that do nothing to address the actual problem. It’s incredibly frustrating to deal with important financial matters and not have any human assistance available. Even worse, they failed to honor a trade I made. Despitelees meer

Stacey Maisel

Stacey Maisel

in the last week

I am extremely frustrated with Coinbase. Their customer service is abysmal, and they offer zero support for users with any issues. After multiple attempts to resolve a simple address verification problem, I’ve received the same repetitive responses with no resolution. They provide no direct contact method, leaving you stuck in an endless loop of unhelpful emails. It's clear they don’t value their customers. I will be looking for a more reliable platform and would notlees meer

Jason Everhart

Jason Everhart

a month ago

Coinbase is holding my CASH hostage!!!! Worst company on the planet. Worst customer service by far. I have been in contact (only online) for nearly a week. My account is restricted from me withdrawing cash money but apparently I can use it to buy or sell. No reasons have been given. I re-verified my identity several times and have also answered all questions. I have recd emails stating my funds werelees meer

View all 120 reviews on Google Maps