Top 5 Legal and safest sites to buy and sell cryptocurrency
The rise of bitcoin and other digital coins has led to hundreds of exchanges worldwide. Picking a cryptocurrency exchange can be a challenging task especially for newbie crypto users.
We have all seen or heard stories of how individuals lost their fortune to hackers who target exchanges with poor security (an example is kucoin and poly network).
Several factors go into selecting a cryptocurrency exchange to carry out transactions and I have listed out my personal top five exchanges that I have found to be very safe.
1. Coinbase
Coinbase is at the top of my list and is also the favorite exchange for a lot of persons for obvious reasons.
They started in 2012 and have grown to have approximately 68M verified users spread across 100+ countries.
It might interest you to know that coinbase has never been hacked and has managed to stay above the controversies surrounding hacked exchanges. This is one of the reasons why they are at the top of my list.
Some features and what you should know about coinbase
- Allows users to invest directly with USD
- Offers interest on USDT
- $5 bonus for new users
- user-friendly interface
- Over 100 different types of cryptocurrency and altcoins
- Most of their cryptos are stored in cold wallets
- Ability to withdraw cryptocurrency to Paypal account and hotwallet
- Opportunity to earn crypto by taking their online courses
- Two-step verification for an additional layer of security
- High transaction fees (as high as 4%)
In all ramifications, coinbase has been voted as the best overall exchange by a lot of users, but that is if you can look past its high transaction fees.
The transaction fee can be as high as 4% when using credit and debit cards which can be a turnoff for a lot of persons but advanced traders can make use of coinbase pro which has slightly lower fees and no additional cost.
Read the full review on coinbase here.
2. Binance
Binance was founded in 2017 and has grown to become the largest exchange in the world by trade.
They have a separate platform for US-based users (binance.us) that conforms with the US trade regulations but doesn't have a lot of features compared to the global version.
Some features and what you should know about Binance
- They have their own native asset know as BNB
- They support over 200 digital coins
- One of the largest and fastest exchanges
- Transactions are easy to make
- More than 1m transactions per second
- P2P feature
- Very low transaction fees, ranging from 0.012% to 0.1%
- Insurance policy to cover any losses
- Two-factor authentication
Binance has been hacked in the past (back in 2019) which resulted in the loss of over 7000 bitcoins but the losses were covered by their insurance policy, according to Binance.
Read the full review on Binance here
3. Kraken
Kraken is a US-based crypto exchange service founded by Jesse Powell back in 2011 that also has never been hacked. They are one of the oldest and most secured crypto exchanges.
Some features and what you should know about Kraken
- Exchange USD and other supported currencies into cryptocurrency
- offers over 50 cryptocurrencies
- Credit and debit cards deposit are supported
- Users can earn rewards on coins by staking
- You can get started with as low as $10
- Most of their cryptos are held in cold wallets
- They have mobile apps available for android and iOS devices
- Very low transaction fees
- Available online guides to help new users better understand cryptocurrency
- Kraken Pro is available with more advanced tools and features
- They offer margin and futures trading for advanced users
- Two-factor Authenticator is available
- They are available in over 100 countries
Read the full review on Kraken here.
4. Bisq
Bisq is a completely decentralized exchange that requires no identity verification before you can use it.
Trading takes place on a global peer to peer network, which generally means there is no central server and it can't be taken down.
Some features and what you should know about Bisq
- Supports over 30 fiat payment methods
- Low transaction fee
- Funds are held in 2-of-2 multi-sig escrow wallets
- Requires a security deposit in BTC (around 0.01BTC)
- A decentralized platform which means all users are responsible for securing their accounts
- Fairly easy to use
- Apps can be downloaded for android and iOS devices. You can also build the app from their source code if you are an app developer
Bisq is ideal for users that value privacy and doesn't want their funds to be at the mercy of centralized exchanges but it isn't recommended for active trading as transaction speeds can be slow and trading volumes are sometimes low.
Read more about Bisq on their wiki page.
5. Robinhood
Robinhood started off as a stock trading platform but got into cryptocurrency as well in 2018.
It is a brokerage platform that facilitates transactions but doesn't allow users to move their coins to an external wallet. You can't interact with your coins in any way and you just have to sell them on their site and withdraw fiat.
Some features and what you should know about Robinhood
- Offers only seven digital currencies
- Accepts only USD as means of deposit
- User-friendly interface
- Offers options, stock, and ETF trades
- Charges no commission on transactions
- Two-factor Authentication is available
Read more about Robinhood in this article that compares it to Coinbase.
Notable mentions
- Cashapp
- Bittrex
- Voyager
- eToro
- Uphold
- Gemini
Conclusion
Choosing the most appropriate exchange depends on your personal goals and what exactly you want.
If you want a completely decentralized exchange where you can transact in privacy, go for Bisq. If you aim to trade crypto as well as stocks and ETF all in one place, then Robinhood is your best bet.
Personally, I prefer using Binance, but I use other exchanges from time to time. All I am saying is you are not limited to using one exchange and are welcome to use all of them for different purposes and conditions.
While all these exchanges I mentioned have pretty good security, it is still better to move your coins to an offline wallet, as nothing is certain in the crypto world.
Which of these mentioned exchanges is your favorite or do you have others I didn't mention? Do let me know.
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