Which type of crypto investor are you, and which exchange/platform/wallet should you choose (in Singapore)?

Hi there, if you happened to stumble upon my article, welcome! I’m a dentist from Singapore who became fascinated by the world of cryptocurrencies in 2020. I delved deeper and deeper into the scene and became reasonably proficient with the different approaches, if I may say so myself.

Hence, I’ve decided to document my journey here on Medium; to share my experiences in this new frontier of investing; to recommend the good practices and warn about the pitfalls; to help newcomers get on board faster so we can all grow and prosper as a community.

What kind of crypto investor are you?

Now, before you rush to pour your hard-earned income into crypto, ask yourself this: What kind of crypto investor do you want to be?

I took the liberty of generalizing the majority of the crypto investors into three categories:

1. HODLers. You subscribe to the traditional wisdom of Warren Buffett; you buy a crypto token and only check back in no less than four years; your hands are made of diamond.
2. Traders. You leverage yourself 125x on perp futures positions based on elusive patterns on 1min charts; you are obsessed with stop losses and have a candle fetish.
3. DeFi/NFT investors. You are attracted to the idea of yield/liquidity farming; you prefer AMM to XMM; also, your profile pic is probably a comical animal that costs 0.04 ETH to mint.

So which kind are you? I will now share which exchanges/platforms I personally use and why I chose them over their competitors.

Choice of exchanges for HODLers

For the HODLers, any safe and reputable exchanges would work very well for your purpose, but those that offer interest payments on your crypto holdings would be more favorable. Your primary consideration is the transactions fees that add up with each DCA purchase. Getting the best forex rate is also super important for investors not in the US (i.e., in Singapore like myself). With all that in mind, here are the three exchanges I use to HODL.

1. Binance.sg
2. Blockfi
3. Gemini

Binance.sg

The first one is a no-brainer for any Singaporean starting to buy crypto, Binance.sg is the easiest, most hassle-free option out there.

Binance.sg is a subsidiary of Binance.com; the platform operates separately and differently from its parent exchange Binance.com, per MAS regulation. It has limited functionality and only offers several of the most mainstream crypto tokens. For any new SG investor, this is THE place to start.

What I like about Binance.sg:

1. Allows users to purchase crypto tokens with SGD directly, without the hassle of converting to USD first.
2. Low transaction cost of 0.6% flat. (Details)
3. Binance.sg is licensed by MAS, which allows it to be integrated with local payment gateway Xfers and Singpass.
4. Fast funding process: bank transfer funds-> Xfers -> available for purchase on Binance.sg.
5. Streamlined KYC (know-your-customer) onboarding, able to retrieve pertinent personal information from Singpass directly.

What I dislike about Binance.sg:

1. Annual purchase limit of 30k SGD, which to be fair, is plenty for new users.
2. A limited selection of crypto token offerings.
3. Limited functionality, can only buy/sell crypto at spot price, does not support limit orders.
4. Crypto holdings do not generate any yield or interest.
5. No automated recurring purchase option is available.
6. Does not have a mobile app.

TLDR: A basic entry-level platform that only supports simple buy/sell/withdraw/deposit orders. I would recommend Binance.sg to any new crypto investors in Singapore. It’s what I started with before moving on to other exchanges.

Blockfi

I moved on to Blockfi after I exhausted the annual buying limit on Binance.sg. Blockfi is a US-based crypto startup founded in 2017; it’s backed by many deep-pocketed VCs and institutions in the crypto space, which speaks to its legitimacy. It has quickly grown to become one of the most popular choices for HODLers around the world.

What I like about Blockfi:

1. Blockfi pays its clients a decent yield in its Blockfi-Interest-Account (BIA). For example, the first 0.25 BTC holding pays an interest of 4% APY. (Details)
2. Supports automated recurring purchases, very very convenient for DCA-style investors.
3. A broader selection of cryptocurrency offerings than Binance.sg
4. Free withdrawal for 1x crypto and 1x stablecoin per month
5. Offers loans against clients’ crypto holdings, I have not tried it.

What I dislike about Blockfi:

1. Charges a ~1% premium to spot price for all purchases, including automated recurring purchases.
2. You’d have to convert SGD to USD and wire transfer to Blockfi to fund your account; this adds to the total cost of your crypto purchases.
3. Similarly to Binance.sg, Blockfi only offers buy/sell/trade crypto at spot price, does not support limit orders. Edit: See next point
4. As of July 2021, Blockfi has modified its ToS to Singapore users due to regulatory pressure. Users can ONLY deposit/withdraw their crypto holdings; they can no longer buy/sell/trade any crypto tokens.

TLDR: Under the new ToS, you can pretty much only deposit your crypto to Blockfi to earn the interest. I’ve stopped using Blockfi as my primary exchange.

Gemini

The revised Blockfi ToS had led me to explore other exchanges and find Gemini.

Gemini is a primary strategic partner of Blockfi, which provides the backend exchange services that Blockfi uses to conduct its transactions. It was founded in 2014 by the famous Winklevoss twins, and it is one of the most reputable crypto exchanges in the world. It’s a full-fledged exchange with the complete set of functionality, which I find useful.

What I like about Gemini:

1. Gemini is also licensed by MAS to operate in Singapore, similar to Binance.sg; users can also purchase crypto with SGD directly via Xfers.
2. Offers Gemini Earn, an interest account, but the interest rates are lower than Blockfi. (Details)
3. Able to set up automated recurring purchases just like Blockfi, but it charges a higher fee at ~1.5%. (Details)
4. Advanced order types, such as limit orders, come with lower transaction fees at 0.35% taker / 0.25% maker. To enjoy the maker/taker fee, you’d need to convert your account type to Active Trader. (Details)
5. Offers many more types of crypto tokens for purchase.
6. Offers up to 10x free withdrawals per month. (Details)
7. Streamlined KYC (know-your-customer) onboarding, able to retrieve pertinent personal information from Singpass directly.

What I dislike about Gemini:

1. ̶S̶h̶a̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶3̶0̶k̶ ̶a̶n̶n̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶c̶h̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶m̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶B̶i̶n̶a̶n̶c̶e̶.̶s̶g̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶v̶i̶a̶ ̶X̶f̶e̶r̶s̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶t̶e̶r̶n̶a̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶t̶h̶o̶d̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶f̶u̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶t̶i̶c̶l̶e̶s̶.̶ EDIT: Check out the new article for new information.
2. Automated recurring purchases charge a higher fee at ~1.5%, though users must manually key in orders to enjoy the lower taker/maker fee structure.
3. Offers a lower interest rate than Blockfi, e.g., Gemini offers 1.65% APY for all BTC holdings, while Blockfi offers a tiered system of 4% for 0–0.25 BTC, 1.5% for 0.25–5%, and 0.25% for anything more than 5 BTC.

TLDR: An all-rounded exchange with the full suite of services and relatively lower fees, my current go-to for all(almost) crypto trading needs, will explain my current funding process in future articles.

A quick infographic I whipped up to help with comparison

Conclusion for HODLers

In conclusion, for the first category of crypto investors who prefer to buy and hold, I would recommend looking at Binance.sg, Blockfi, and Gemini, depending on your level of experience.

Below is my current practice to buying crypto; it is also what I would recommend to crypto investors in Singaporean:

1. Use Binance.sg to buy your first 30k SGD worth of crypto every year to max out the annual limit.
2. Transfer a portion of crypto to Blockfi to earn the highest tier interest rate, e.g., 0.25 BTC or 5 ETH for that sweet sweet 4% APY.
3. Transfer the remaining crypto to Gemini to earn the less-but-still-decent interest rate.
4. Use Gemini as your main exchange of choice to buy/sell/trade crypto, if you’re rich and lazy, set up automated recurring purchases, you pay a 1.5% fee but it’s hella convenient. If you’re a pleb like me, just key in your order manually to trade at a much lower fee of 0.25% (maker fee).

Choice of exchanges for traders

Now let’s move on to the traders. Depending if futures or options is your preferred way to make/lose money, I would recommend the following:

If you’re a futures trader looking for the ability to leverage up your trades, I would suggest that Binance.com (different from Binance.sg) is the best exchange for you.

For those who aren’t aware, Binance.com is one of the earliest crypto exchanges with the largest trading volume and liquidity depth, both of which are incredibly important for traders. More on how to fund your Binance.com account in the following article.

If you prefer options trading, you might want to consider Deribit. It is a UK-based crypto derivatives exchange founded in 2016, with the best options liquidity AFAIK.

Its UI may not be as sleek and intuitive as other exchanges, but its tighter bid/ask spread more than makes up for it. It also has an active Telegram chat group with a very mature and helpful crowd to help you with your trading experience.

Choice of wallet for DeFi NFT enthusiasts

If you wish to participate in the DeFi and NFT craze, the web wallet I use is Metamask.

MetaMask supports all the mainstream blockchains, and it’s pretty easy to switch between the different main-nets. It also supports an extensive range of tokens and even NFTs.

Metamask also has a very well-designed mobile app with built-in DAPP functionality, which means I can check on my yield farming, claim rewards, or perform urgent trades on DEXs even if I don’t have my laptop with me.

I hope as someone relatively new to the world of crypto; this article is somewhat helpful to you. Feel free to ask any questions you might have, and I will try my best to answer them. See you in the next article!

Please also give my Twitter @SingaporeHODL a follow if you find the content useful!