Coinmama.com 2023 Review – Pros and Cons of Trading on Coinmama

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About the Company

Coinmama was founded in Israel in 2013 and now has customers in 188 countries. Its head office is in Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by Cmama Ltd., a subsidiary of New Bit Ventures Ltd.

There is no information about who registered it. However, the entire team is pictured on the website. It is comprised of quite a few people.

The crypto exchange is also officially registered and regulated as a Money Service Business with FinCEN.

At the moment, Coinmama has more than 3.5 million users and recorded sales volume of $130 million last year.

What makes the Platform unique?

Coinmama is a crypto broker, on which you can buy Bitcoin and a number of altcoins. This means you buy coins from the company directly. It is not a trading platform, where people purchase coins from other people.

Currently the company counts round about 3,300,000 customers.

What Transactions can you perform on the Platform?

You can buy and sell crypto. To buy crypto, you need to sign up for an account and submit identity verification documents. This article will go into that into more detail later.

If all goes to plan, you’ll sign up and go to “Buy” at the top of the screen. Choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy, the amount you want to buy, and then click on “buy now”.

You’ll be asked for a few payment details and then you get the crypto. It’s sent to you as soon as your payment clears. This is a critical feature to consider because waiting even a few hours can mean a substantial price change.

Coinmama locks the price of the asset as soon as you place an order to protect both parties from price fluctuations.

You have multiple options to choose from when buying coins on Coinmama. You can pay in one of several fiat currencies, choose different payment options, and choose the amount you want to buy. You’ll receive the coins right in your personal wallet. Coinmama does not store crypto. Fees are in the range of 2.93% to 3.9%.

You can only sell Bitcoin on Coinmama. The fee is in the same range as the above for selling it to them. The transaction is directly from wallet to wallet. You send them your Bitcoin and they send you fiat money to a wallet specified by you after they confirm they received the Bitcoin.

What Altcoins are supported?

Coinmama accepts 16 altcoins. Apart from Bitcoin, you can buy Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tezos, Cardano, Ripple, Uniswap, Dogecoin, Chainlink, Compound, etc.

Keep in mind you can only exchange Bitcoin for fiat. Coinmama can pay for it in USD, EUR, AUD, CAD, GBP, or JPY.

Coinmama accepts debit or credit cards that are issued by Mastercard or Visa. You can also make payment by bank transfer (SWIFT and SEPA) with no processing fees (SEPA, SWIFT, Fedwire and FasterPayments). Apple Pay is also accepted.

Users who want to exchange crypto for crypto won’t be happy with Coinmama. Neither will those who want to cash in other cryptocurrencies.

Shorting Altcoins?

Shorting crypto is where you sell it at a higher price with the plan to rebuy it for less later, because you expect its price to fall. It’s called ‘shorting’ because the trader doesn’t actually own the coins they want to profit from (they’re ‘short’ on the coins). This is the opposite of a long position, where you buy crypto and wait for its price to go up. For example, you buy Solana for $30 and expect it to go up to $40. When its price increases, you sell it for a profit.

Shorting is the opposite of this. You borrow a coin and sell it at the current market price, expecting it to drop. When it begins to decline, you buy the coin, profiting from the difference between your selling and buying prices.

There is nothing to indicate shorting altcoins on Coinmama is not possible.

Payment Methods

You can buy different cryptos on Coinmama using a variety of payment methods, which include Apple Pay, credit card, and wire transfer. As the leading platform doesn’t hold fiat money, you can’t make direct fiat withdrawals. You can sell Bitcoin through Coinmama, as mentioned, and they will send the funds directly to your payment destination of choice.

Coinmama Signup

How to register

According to Coinmama, verification takes between half an hour and one hour. You need to submit some form of ID to verify your account. This can include a passport, a driver’s license, or something else. Your country of residence will determine the type of ID you’re allowed to provide.

You must undergo ID verification before you can buy crypto on Coinmama. There are three verification levels in total. Each next level comes with increased account spending limits.

For level 1, the most basic level of verification, the maximum order you can place is $5,000 per bank card purchase and $15,000 per wire transfer. The total amount of crypto you can buy is capped at the equivalent of $15,000. To attain level 1 verification, you must upload a valid government-issued ID, a note saying “Coinmama” and the date of today, and a selfie of you holding the ID.

To attain level 2 verification, you’ll be asked to submit another ID document. You must also fill in a KYC form and upload a recent utility bill.

The only difference between level 3 and level 2 verification is that for the former, the user must be at or near their $50,000 account limit.

Restricted Countries

Coinmama restricts residents and/or nationals of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, the Crimea region (of Ukraine / Russia) and all other countries and territories included in UN sanctions, the US embargo, HM Treasury’s financial sanctions regime (the “Restricted Territories”), or people who intend to distribute or provide the services or the acquired digital currency to these restricted territories;

In addition, anyone whose name appears on the US Commerce Department’s Denied Persons List or the US Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List, the Unverified List, Entity List HM Treasury’s financial sanctions regime (the “Restricted Persons”) or intends to distribute or provide the services to someone living or a national of a restricted territory is banned from Coinmama.

People who are on a prescribed sanctions list are also not allowed to sign up.

In the US, Coinmama isn’t available in Hawaii and New York. When creating an account, residents of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington are redirected to third-party provider Simplex.

Dashboard Walk-Through

Coinmama has a simple, well-designed dashboard reflecting seamless transaction flow, which involves buying and selling directly from the platform. The design is simple and intuitive. You choose the amount you want to purchase in fiat or Bitcoin. Coinmama sells fractional shares of the flagship crypto, but the minimum you can buy is $30 worth of Bitcoin depending on its current spot trading price. If you want to sell them Bitcoin, the minimum is the equivalent of $100.

As you can see, the site is simple to use. If you want to buy Bitcoin or one of the 16 altcoins they offer, you simply select your asset of choice from the drop-down menu “Buy.” If you click on Sell, you will see the following:

The page goes on to explain how to sell Bitcoin.

The blog section has a few interesting articles about altcoins, which are suitable for beginners. Under Business, you’ll be offered their so-called White Glove service offering direct assistance from professional Coinmama team members to investors in order to help build bigger long-term portfolios.

The help section, predictably, takes you to a list of common issues for you to choose from. These include verification, buying and selling crypto, account and security, and more.

Crypto Trading Costs and Transaction Fees

Coinmama’s fee on trading cryptocurrency is based on TradeBlock’s XBX Index market rate plus 2%. They also charge a commission fee of up to 0.9% to sell bitcoin and up to 3.81% on crypto purchases.

There are discounts on the fees to buy and sell crypto through its loyalty program. If you buy crypto worth $5,000 over a period of around three months, you’ll get 12.5% off on your sales fee. If you buy assets worth $18,000 over that period or buy assets worth more than $50,000 regardless of the period, you get 25% off the sales fee. Members of the highest-tier loyalty program pay just 2.86%.

Depending on your payment method, additional fees may apply. The platform charges an additional 5% on purchases made via Apple Pay, debit card, or credit card.

Your bank might have additional charges. This is because Mastercard and Visa qualify the use of credit cards to buy cryptocurrency as a type of cash advance.

Transactions via SWIFT bank transfer incur a flat fee of 20 pounds if they are for less than $1,000. If they are $1,000 or more, no fees are charged.

Minimum Trade

The minimum amount to buy on Coinmama is $30, while the minimum amount to sell is $100.

Deposit Options

• Fedwire
• Apple Pay
• Bank card
• SEPA
• SWIFT

The time it takes to make a fiat deposit on Coinmama varies depending on your payment method. The interface is easy to find. All transfers are directly between crypto wallets as there are no crypto deposits or withdrawals. You have to enter a deposit address when you make a purchase. When you sell Bitcoin, you send the asset from your wallet to an address Coinmama generated. No margin trading or leverage is offered.

Chart

Coinmama doesn’t seem to have a trading chart. The closest Coinmama comes to one is a cryptocurrency calculator that shows you live crypto prices in any currency. The exchange prompts users to check rates in USD, GBP, EUR, JPY, and more before they purchase cryptocurrency.

Do they have SMS or email trade alerts?

No, but they have several blog posts about how to protect yourself from fraud. Users are discouraged from sharing personal identity information and instructed to exercise caution when buying or selling crypto.

Mobile App

Coinmama has a mobile app, available only on Android. It has fairly good reviews. No data on the total number of mobile app users is available at this time.

Security Measures

Since the platform doesn’t store payment data or hold customer cryptocurrency funds, there is no risk of loss. Neither your financial data nor your cryptocurrency is available on the site to be hacked.

The help center has an article titled “Common scams in the crypto industry.” They write that the most common scams they encounter are romance scams, investment scams, tech support scams, social media scams, and account manager and broker scams. Coinmama warns that if you find a mining service that says all you have to do to start earning is send them some Bitcoin or other coins, it’s most likely a scam.

Any past Hacks?

In 2019, Coinmama announced a major data breach. 450,000 email addresses and hashed passwords were hacked. However, there was no financial loss or damage.

Coinmama employee impersonators

Coinmama makes their lack of affiliation with third-party investment services, ICOs, etc. explicit on its website. They do not and have never maintained or had investment portfolios for their users. Coinmama does not have sales agents, miners, brokers, or account managers.

Customer support

Coinmama has a help center, a contact form, and a number to call support on. The help center contains all the details on common issues. There is information on everything from how to buy coins to getting started with blockchain. The phone number is in California and it is not toll free. Trustpilot has positive reviews of customer service. We also found Coinmama’s support to be helpful and quick.

Coinmama Review Verdict

Pros:

• No fees for crypto deposits or withdrawals
• Access to almost 20 cryptocurrencies
• Range of payment options

Cons:

• Higher fees than some other providers.
• No crypto wallet
• Doesn’t allow crypto-to-crypto transactions.

Final Thoughts

Coinmama is best for cryptocurrency traders and Bitcoin sellers. Some users might find their asset selection limited. The platform’s fees are on the high side and you don’t get a wallet to store your assets in. The platform is not ideal for newbies as the first crypto purchase is relatively complicated.

There is no demo account.

The platform’s high fees are definitely a downside of the otherwise highly secure crypto exchange. What we like is the simple concept ans ease of use.