Crypto.com is a Hong Kong based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2016 by Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Kris Marszalek, and Rafael Melo. Their mission is to transition users into using cryptocurrency services in order to control one’s finances, data, and identity.
Compared to other cryptocurrency exchanges, Crypto.com is best for people who already know a decent amount about crypto and just want all-in-one access to an affordable selection of digital currencies and services.
Especially if you are willing to ‘stake’ a few thousand dollars worth of their native cryptocurrency, the Crypto.com coin, the exchange has many competitive, sleek services it can offer. However, the site is not easy to navigate for new users, and the customer service is lacking.
Therefore, Crypto.com is best for those already deep in the crypto game because the more you invest with them, the better the offers they provide.
You can think of Crypto.com as a value-building banking ecosystem for your cryptocurrencies. It is more functional than just a cryptocurrency exchange. In fact, Crypto.com started as a digital currency payment platform before it expanded into a fully-fledged cryptocurrency exchange.
Not only will the platform securely hold all your various crypto coins for you in their built-in crypto wallet, but they provide many other services that banks offer, except with cryptocurrencies instead of fiat money. They have a sleek and useful prepaid Visa card service. The card has significant potential cashback rewards. You can earn interest on all cryptocurrencies held in your account, and in some countries, you can even get loans valued at 50% of the crypto you have stored. Let’s dig deeper into each of these.
The leading advanced features for Crypto.com consist in their many options for advanced trading on their exchange. Margin accounts and derivatives trading are available, and detailed candlestick graphs; high frequency, real-time updates on exchange prices; and most other features expected of a serious crypto exchange.
For many crypto fans, DeFi is an essential form of support. DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, starts on Crypto.com with a DeFi crypto wallet, that is, one in which the user possesses and fully controls the crypto keys. You can also earn interest on your crypto through staking your DeFi coins.
Crypto.com also hosts a DeFi Swap, which allows you to swap participating cryptocurrencies with other users for a 0.3% swap fee. The main incentive of such a swap is for users who don’t want to use an exchange, which can have tax and tracking implications. DeFi allows users to swap their coins outside a central point of exchange in a kind of slush of decentralized coins.
For many crypto users, this kind of thing is its very purpose for existing as a medium of exchange, and Crypto.com is in tune with meeting the needs of this kind of crypto user.
Recently, Crypto.com also released a new NFT (Non-Fungible Token) section, where they host a marketplace of collectible NFTs for sale at the prices set by the creators, with 10% of every future resale going to the original creator. It conveniently tracks the purchase and price history of each NFT as well.
NFT’s are a complicated but creative use of blockchain technology that allows creators to buy and sell links to digital artwork, which are non-fungible tokens, which means unique ‘coins’ that contain a link to the original art that the buyer now owns. It’s not quite like owning the digital art itself, but it’s almost like owning the first edition of a book – the book can still be endlessly copied, but you own a special kind of copy, or in this case, a link to a copy.
One of Crypto.com’s coolest features is its sleek metal prepaid Visa card with no annual fees and 1-8% cashback, depending on the amount of crypto you have staked on it.
Here’s how it works: first, you apply for the prepaid visa card with the appropriate amount of cryptocurrency in your wallet on Crypto.com for approval. Then, when approved and the card is shipped, you’ll have to stake the proper amount of CRO, Crypto.com’s native cryptocurrency. For example, with a 3% cashback on all purchases and other bonuses such as a 100% rebate on one Spotify premium and one Netflix account, the Royal Indigo card will require a $4000 USD CRO stake of 180 days (6 months).
Your $4000 USD of CRO will be locked in your wallet for that period of time to gain access to all the benefits the card offers. After 6 months, you’ll have the opportunity to unstake your CRO, but if you do so, you’ll lose access to some of your card privileges.
Staking is a way for Crypto.com to make more CRO off of its customer’s CRO using the blockchain. Essentially, by locking away a ‘stake’ of cryptocurrency for a certain timeframe, the blockchain validates the release of more cryptocurrency. The price is determined based on the conditions of the stake.
Proof of stake (POS) is an alternative to Bitcoin’s method of producing more cryptocurrency through mining, which is much more energy intensive.
Crypto.com is almost like an ecosystem of banking services, and it is built to encourage staking CRO, the native cryptocurrency. Staking CRO can work to earn you more cryptocurrencies.
For example, by staking 4000 CRO for 3 months, you’ll be able to earn 6.5% on your Bitcoin and 5.5% on your Ethereum per year if you’re willing to stake those cryptocurrencies for 3 months as well. The options for this are very flexible. You can choose to stake any portion of your chosen crypto for a flexible time, any portion at a 1 month time stake, and any portion at a 3 month. The whole thing can be a little confusing at first, and there is a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it, the rewards can be pretty substantial.
Trading fees are also substantially reduced depending on the amount of CRO you’ve staked on the site at that time.
The biggest thing to remember is that staking your CRO is the ‘gateway’ to unlocking all these other functions. Essentially, Crypto.com gets you to buy into their native cryptocurrency to give you more rewards and incentives for everything else on their platform.
Selling and using native tokens on a platform is a fairly common practice for defi projects. The more you invest at the outset, the better your opportunities with everything else on the site. It’s a fair, if risky, exchange you make with the platform and a pretty standard practice for crypto exchanges.
In addition to the Visa card and earning, you can also use your crypto as collateral for borrowing real money on credit at Crypto.com. You can borrow up to 50% of the value of your cryptocurrencies at a 12% annual interest rate, or 8% with $40,000 USD of CRO staked.
You can also send any type of cryptocurrency to anyone else on the app for free. And you can track any cryptocurrency’s movement on the platform with Price Movement Alerts.
Crypto.com takes 20+ different fiat currencies for its over 100+ different cryptocurrencies, including its own Crypto.com Coin. You can buy crypto using your chosen fiat currency through a bank transfer or with a debit/credit card. However, you cannot keep fiat currency itself on the exchange, only crypto.
First, the good news: there are no deposit fees for cryptocurrencies.
Second, ACH transfers of min $20 and wire transfers of min $5,000 are also free. However, direct debit/credit card purchases of crypto have a 2.99% fee. This fee is waived for the first 30 days of opening an account.
Withdrawal fees are more complicated. You’ll have to consult their chart to know how much it’ll cost to withdraw each of the different cryptocurrencies.
Like with everything else Crypto.com, the exchange fees vary based on your use of the platform.
The base rate for maker and taker is 0.40% each, but higher trade volumes on the platform will get you higher discounts based on a level system. For example, at level 4, with $100,000 USD of trades made, you’ll get a maker fee of 0.10% and the taker fee of 0.16%. This goes all the way to the 9th level for steeply discounted exchange rates.
Furthermore, your CRO stake also plays a role in discounting, and the more CRO staked, the greater the discount. At 10,000 CRO staked, for example, you’ll enjoy a 20% further discount for whatever level of crypto enthusiast you are.
Overall, Crypto.com’s exchange fees are excellent if you plan on trading thousands of dollars of crypto, but if you are thinking of trading smaller volumes, there may be better options for you out there.
There are both good and bad when it comes to the user experience. The good is that the website and app are sleek and always up to date. In terms of cutting-edge tech, the exchange functions smoothly and with all the data, but the most serious traders would need.
However, Crypto.com is not exactly beginner-friendly. Based on what we’ve said before, this makes sense as the site becomes much higher value the more you’re willing to invest in it. When first getting started, however, the exchange is very complicated looking from the outset. This includes terms like ‘spot,’ ‘margin,’ and ‘derivatives’ being unavoidable even at a casual glance. If you stay away from the exchange part, the site and app are relatively clean and user-friendly, with a sleek, technological yet colorful look.
The exchange offers a fairly detailed FAQ on their different services, but nothing too in-depth about cryptocurrency in general. You’ll have to go elsewhere to learn the basics.
Crypto.com’s security features are rock solid.
MFA or multi-factor authentication is required, personal identity information is required to prevent phishing and similar scams.
Crypto.com secures all its user’s cryptocurrency with Ledger in offline, cold storage. They also have USD $360M insurance with them and use corporate funds for all hot (online) wallet exchanges. They even have a hacker platform, Hacker One. It is dedicated to finding vulnerabilities in their security which users can report and then help to protect the platform.
Crypto.com offers everything you could need as a cryptocurrency exchange, with lots of exciting incentive structures. However, these incentive structures come at a cost, in that the best discounts on the site are all blocked behind necessary stakes in their native digital currency, CRO. If you’ve already learned the ropes of crypto and are willing to stake some money upfront with their CRO, the platform has a considerable amount of advantages.
This is especially true for users looking to use crypto, not simply buy, sell, and hold it. As a banking ecosystem, Crypto.com offers lots of enticing incentives that spill over into their exchange fees as well, meaning that banking with them will discount one’s exchange fees massively as well.
All in all, the site is user-friendly enough for the avid crypto user, with top-end features, but can be intimidating for the new user. They also clearly really care about the actual uses of crypto, not just as an investment property but as a means of exchange and store of value.
As long as users know that the site isn’t wholly beginner-friendly, take heed of the complicated fee structure, and are willing to stake some money on their native currency, Crypto.com is an excellent choice.