Coinbase Review: Best Exchange for Beginners?
Coinbase Overview
Coinbase makes buying & selling crypto simple.
Earn $5 in bitcoin for getting started on Coinbase
Disclaimer: After you make your first cryptocurrency purchase, BTC will be added to your portfolio. Limited time offer. U.S. only (excluding Hawaii). Offer available to new users who have not previously created an account. See Terms and Conditions.
- User-friendly and rock-solid security
- Great customer service
- Earn $5 in free Bitcoin after completing sign-up process and making first trade
- Diverse and consistently updated choice of coins
Meet Our Reviewing Team
Keegan Francis
Mrugakshee Palwe
Arthur Crowson
Pros
- New users can earn free crypto through coinbase.com/learn
- User friendly design with simple buy/sell buttons with clearly indicated prices
- Diverse and consistently updated choice of coins
- Built their own stable coin (USDC) that allows users to protect their investments by selling volatile assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, for a stable asset like the USDC
Cons
- Fees are right in the middle of industry standards
- Your account could be shut down depending on where you send your cryptocurrency after having bought it on Coinbase
- Significant identity verification required
Setting up a Coinbase Exchange Account
Step 1: Create Your Coinbase Account
The first step is to create a Coinbase account by providing basic identity information:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Account
- Creating a secure password
- Confirming you are 18 years of age or older
Step 2: Verifying Your Email Address
Coinbase will send an email to your account and require email verification.
Step 3: Add a Phone Number
You must add a phone number immediately after validating your email address.
Providing a phone number is required for a 2-step verification. Coinbase will text a 7 digit verification code to your mobile device.
Step 4: Providing Personal Information and Selecting a Payment Method
You must then provide basic information including payment address and your name. In addition, you’ll need to prove your identity by providing a scan of one of the following:
- Passport
- Driver’s License
- Photo I.D.
There’s a little bit of processing time but you should be able to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from Coinbase as soon as you complete the aforementioned steps.
Funding Methods
Coinbase Software
The standard Coinbase offers support for desktop and mobile, which means that Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android users all get access to the site.
Interestingly Coinbase also offers a Pro version for advanced users, which is only available for desktop. The company also offers a standalone wallet, which is available for mobile users. The Coinbase mobile app is very good and a great place for new crypto users to get started.
Is Coinbase Safe?
Yes. Coinbase is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and has a sterling reputation for security. Perhaps most importantly the exchange keeps nearly 99% of its users’ digital assets in offline cold storage.
Coinbase also requires that you validate a phone number by entering a code they send you through a text message. After validating your phone number, it is recommended you set up a more secure 2FA (two-factor authentication) method. Direct text message 2FA is not as secure as they can be hijacked by hackers while your text is in transit.
Coinbase has mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account, to ensure that your account remains secure. There are other ways to further enhance your Coinbase account security. With security, more is typically better, so you may as well take advantage of all the security features that Coinbase offers.
Upon deleting your account, Coinbase has provided you with the ability to request the information you gave to them in the first place. You can also request that Coinbase deletes the information from their servers. With privacy being a large concern in the lives of individuals, Coinbase gets brownie points for properly handling, and discarding your personal information if that’s something you would like them to do.
Check out our latest Coinbase promos.
Are Coinbase Fees High?
Coinbase is one of the biggest crypto on-ramps in the world thanks to it’s easy-to-understand UI and simple sign-up process. The downside is that its fees tend to be on the high side.
Coinbase uses a “flat + percent fee” structure on all of their operations. Coinbase has a rather dynamic fee structure depending on the operation taken on the site, ( Buys / Sells / Trades ). They’ve implemented tiered fees depending on the type and volume of the operation. In can seem a little confusing at first but basically Coinbase charges a flat fee for any transactions below $200 while a percentage-based fee for anything over that amount. Here’s a little more on the fee structure directly from Coinbase.
Overall, Coinbase is transparent about their fee structures. It’s broken out with granular articulation which definitely increases the trust factor that we have for Coinbase. All in all, Coinbase runs a tight and exceptional service in the crypto industry—it’s not surprising why they are able to charge the fees that they do. Seasoned cryptocurrency traders may look for exchanges with lower fees but it’s hard to ignore the high amount of trust that Coinbase brings to the picture. For instance Coinbase pro offers a more traditional fee structure with maker and taker fees for people who do a high amount of trades.
Here’s how the flat fees breakdown on Coinbase (if you’re in the USA):
Here’s how fees breakdown for everything over $200:
Coinbase Compared
We compared Coinbase to a number of alternative options for trading crypto. Here is a look at some of our most popular Coinbase comparison articles:
What Can You Buy on Coinbase?
Coinbase enables the purchase of many different cryptocurrencies, including all the majors such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin. Coinbase is not limited to just the biggest coins, however, and there are some underrated coins on the exchange such as Stellar, DAI, BAT and more. You can even purchase Apecoin on Coinbase. Here’s a look at some of the more notable coins available on Coinbase: