Coinbase alternative
The cryptocurrency market is becoming more and more popular. Few people heard about its existence before. But now the situation has cardinally changed. People are not only concerned with this topic. They try to understand how can earn money on it. And many people choose cryptocurrency exchanges. You can keep your savings there (as a deposit), trade trying to make a market of cryptocurrency volatility or just make exchange transactions. Today one of the most famous cryptocurrency exchanges is Coinbase. The number of users has already exceeded 10 million. Usability, wide functionality, visibility and advanced security level make the exchange attractive for most of market participants. But is Coinbase really so good and outclass the competition? Or are there good, but less known alternatives to general public users? Let us get all this straightened out. Let’s undertake the brief comparative analysis with several exchanges.
Gemini
Year of creation — 2015
Founders — Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
Headquarters — New York, the USA
Usability
Undoubtedly, Coinbase seems like the most convenient option for buying and selling digital tokens for beginners. You can pass the simplest registration and start buying and selling coins at the declared value, whereas you need to get verified in Gemini (need some documents, photo, mobile phone confirmation). The whole process can take up to a couple of days. Furthermore, there are no such complicated for beginners terms like as, for instance, «stop limit» or «market order» in Coinbase. However wide functionality catch fancy experienced market actors. A huge toolkit breaks new ground for them.
Security
Both exchanges are especially picky about security matters. Customer funds are separated from company funds that they use for work. Two-factor authentication is used everywhere (password and mobile phone). It significantly reduces likelihood of a hacking. Both exchanges have its own security features (for instance, Coinbase — the site’s informational flow traverse through encrypted SSL — HTTPS, Gemini — two levels of cold storage).
Adding funds
The users can choose some ways to add funds. However the Coinbase’s choice is a bit wider. Coinbase gives an opportunity to replenish account using a credit/debit card or a bank payment. Gemini offers us to use exceptionally bank payment.
Commission
Coinbase fixed fee for all transactions — up to 200$. If user makes purchase using credit/debit card, the exchange will take 3,99% in commission fee. For other buyings or sellings — 1,49%.
It should be noted that bank payments are free (however debiting 0,15$). Some governments impose fractional limitations (for example, you can buy something only using credit/debit card in Canada).
There is no deposit fee for Gemini. Also there is a six-level commission system. The percentage is floating. It depends on how much BTC and ETH the user has sold and bought for the last month (starting from 1% and ending even 0%).
Gemini is much more profitable for traders due to low commissions.
Besides, It should be noted that the choice of cryptocurrencies in Coinbase is slightly wider than in Gemini (4 vs 2). It gives a definite advantage. However, as compared to other exchanges, both Coinbase and Gemini have no coin diversity.
Binance
Year of creation — 2017
Founder — Changpeng Zhao
Headquarters — Malta
Binance — worthy alternative to Coinbase. The exchange is actively developing now, so there are a lot of people who have already heard about it.
Coins selection
As articulated earlier, the choice of cryptocurrencies in Coinbase isn’t impressive. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin и Bitcoin Cash are represented there. The choice in Binance is much more wider. You can find hundreds of different coins there (for example, Monero, Cardano, Ark, Ripple).
Security
Coinbase greatly attends to security. User funds are well protected. 98% of them are stored in offline storage, the remaining 2% are insured. FDIC insurance guarantees users that funds in the amount of up to 250 thousand dollars will be recompensed in casе of unforeseen consequences.
Commission
Depending on the method of buying coins, commission fee on Coinbase ranges from 1,49% to 3,99%. If the investment amount is less than 200$, the commission can be higher. Binance has one of the lowest commissions among all exchanges — only 0,1% per trade. If the user uses Binance Coin, the commision will be reduced by half.
The situation with the interface and usability is similar to Gemini. Coinbase was made for beginners, Binance — for active traders, that’s why the toolkit of Binance is much more wider.
Summarizing all above-mentioned information, it should be noted that Coinbase has some differences from other exchanges. Firstly, a high commision. Secondly, not the largest coin selection. However it is the best option for beginners. It is really the right choice to enter this sphere. A good reputation and a high level of security will not make you doubt.
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