Alfacash

Alfacash Review

What is Alfacash?

Alfacash is a crypto platform registered in Estonia. It was previously known as AlfaCashier, a platform that has been operational since 2012.

The platform has a straight-forward and easy feeling and you can buy and sell crypto here (but there's no advanced order book or charting tools or anything like that, if that would be something you need).

Alfacash Advantages

As main advantages with the platform, the platform itself states, among other things, that you can buy crypto with bank card (VISA, MasterCard and Qiwi virtual wallet), but more fiat on and off ramps are coming soon), that it is "fully automatic" (meaning that it is an intstant "one-click exchange"), that it is an instant non-custodial crypto exchange (meaning that the exchange itself never holds user assets) and that they offer APIs for crypto exchange integration.

Trading Volume

On the date of first writing this review (25 November 2020), the platform showed on their website that they had exchanged crypto in an aggregate amount of USD 337.31 million thus far. This is an impressive amount for sure, regardless of whether or not the platform has been around for a long time. The platform further stated that they had processed 590,000 exchange orders and supported 28 cryptos, as of that date.

Alfacash Trading View

Different exchanges have different trading views. And there is no “this overview is the best”-view. You should yourself determine which trading view that suits you the best. What the views normally have in common is that they all show the order book or at least part of the order book, a price chart of the chosen cryptocurrency and order history. They normally also have buy and sell-boxes. Before you choose an exchange, try to have a look at the trading view so that you can ascertain that it feels right to you.

The purchase interface at Alfacash is in our opinion very easy to understand if you’re new to crypto, yet it might not offer all the advanced buy/sell features more experienced traders might look for. It is, however, effective and intuitive. Here’s a peek at Alfacash’s interface:

Alfacash Fees

Alfacash Trading fees

This particular platform is offers you the opportunity to swiftly and securely buy or sell crypto. This means that there are no charting tools, no order books, or anything like that. The trading view is the purchase interface included above in this review. 

The fees charged vary a lot dependent upon what crypto you want to buy or sell and in which way you want to buy or sell it. For crypto to crypto purchases or sales, you have to pay between 1.00% and 5.00%. The following picture shows some of the different options available and what the trading fee is for such option:

It is difficult to compare the fees charged by Alfacash with the industry average trading fee at a regular centralized exchange (0.213% for takers and 0.16% for makers), seeing as they offer another type of service than most centralized exchanges do. But to conclude on the trading fees, there are definitely cheaper ways to obtain crypto than through using the Alfacash platform. Alfacash's advantages are speed and convenience, rather than price.

Alfacash Withdrawal fees

Alfacash doesn’t charge any additional fees to withdraw coins. However, there are always network fees involved with transferring crypto, which is why we have listed the network fees under the withdrawal fee section of this exchange.

Deposit Methods and US-investors

US-investors

Why do so many exchanges not allow US citizens to open accounts with them? The answer has only three letters. S, E and C (the Securities Exchange Commission). The reason the SEC is so scary is because the US does not allow foreign companies to solicit US investors, unless those foreign companies are also registered in the US (with the SEC). If foreign companies solicit US investors anyway, the SEC can sue them. There are many examples of when the SEC has sued crypto exchanges, one of which being when they sued EtherDelta for operating an unregistered exchange. Another example was when they sued Bitfinex and claimed that the stablecoin Tether (USDT) was misleading investors. It is very likely that more cases will follow.

Alfacash does not allow US-investors on its exchange. So if you’re from the US and would like to engage in crypto trading, you will have to look elsewhere. Luckily for you, if you go to the Exchange List and use our exchange filters, you can sort the exchanges based on whether or not they accept US-investors.

Deposit Methods

This platform is a proper entry-level exchange. VISA and MasterCard are available payment options, but you can apparently also pay with wire transfer or other cryptos (as long as such cryptos are supported by the platform of course). This makes Alfacash one alternative for people who would like to enter the cryptocurrency market and does not have any cryptocurrency assets to begin with.