Mark Weaden
From established financial investment firms to everyday household investors, we are seeing an increasing rate of adoption of cryptocurrency across all sectors. Coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum are becoming household names, with some labelling them the gold and silver standard for the market.
The demand for access to digital assets has led to the development of innovative crypto exchanges. But, with many trying to climb to the top of the pile, it’s difficult to know which trading platforms offer the best value to Stateside crypto enthusiasts.
We want to streamline that process for you, by highlighting the top 7 exchanges available to U.S. investors, detailing the specific aspects of each exchange that makes it stand out from the crowd.
Binance
Binance has been in operation since 2017 and leads the industry in terms of trading volume at an exchange. The company had faced setbacks at the end of the year regarding regulation but has since dedicated itself to ironing out any regulatory mismatches, including hiring ex U.S. government officials to improve the company’s regulatory standards.
The company reported 90 million registered users as of March 2022. With an array of trading options, including futures, spot, and NFT assets to access; users at Binance have a comprehensive trading package.
The Binance lending product has been an instant hit with customers, allowing them to borrow various cryptocurrencies in order to invest. The low fees at Binance are one of its most appealing qualities, as customers carry out a high volume of trades daily without incurring high fees. We should mention, that during the registration process, we did encounter issues with the account verification, which made the whole process take longer.
Coinbase
Another giant in the U.S. and a platform that many American investors prefer, given that it’s based on their soil and the customer service is focused on serving those customers. Coinbase is keen to provide a quality service to all kinds of investors, offering two trading platforms Coinbase and Coinbase Pro.
On top of that, Coinbase users can rest assured they are working with a trusted provider, as the network is regulated in the United States, by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Coinbase offers a range of major cryptocurrencies to invest in, including some more niche coins. With an easy-to-use interface, navigating through the various trading options is a seamless experience. The company regularly launches competitions and promotions for new coin listings and ways to entice new and existing customers.
While Coinbase has made a name for itself by providing quick and easy trades with some of the most popular cryptocurrencies, it still hasn’t managed to offer as competitive fees as other major exchanges, such as the aforementioned Binance.
Kraken
Possibly not as well known as the previous two, Kraken still has a lot of clout in the industry as it’s been in operation now since 2011. The company is also regulated in the United States, with FinCEN overseeing operations and ensuring everything is above board.
Kraken offers a first-rate user interface, which streamlines the trading process and really makes the experience a lot more palatable for novices. One thing that we loved about Kraken is the FX trading option, allowing users to trade non-digital assets.
All of this is supported by the Kraken mobile trading app, which offers an on-the-go trading option for those very active traders. Having said that, the navigation of the app doesn’t provide the same quality of service as other exchange’s mobile betting apps on this list.
KuCoin
Within the industry and for those that know, KuCoin has become the go-to exchange for people interested in small to medium-sized market cap coins, allowing those investors to potentially gain a huge upside on investment.
KuCoin is a Seychelles-based company and has been in operation since 2017, boasting an impressive 540 supported coins and 960+ trading pairs, with that number rising all the time. The company was recently valued at around $10 billion following a successful funding round.
This platform’s customer support has been criticized for a long time, as there have been some isolated cases where customers have lost out and not received a response for almost 2 weeks. x
Crypto.com
What makes Crypto.com stand out? The core features of Crypto.com are the fact it’s a brokerage and an exchange, a one-stop-shop for customers looking to get involved in crypto trading and investing.
The low fees and broad range of coins make it a favorite pick for many experienced traders. The site is also enticing new customers, as they gain huge global exposure with their sports advertising campaigns, notably with the UFC.
It’s quick and easy to convert your money, allowing you to get access to your digital assets quickly and easily. The company also offers some other unique features, such as gift cards, cashback cards, and “Earn” options on many of the major coins. One criticism we do have of the Crypto.com service is the high fees for credit and debit transactions, which can be as high as 2.99%.
FTX
Led by one of the youngest and most brilliant minds in the industry, Sam Bankman-Fried, who has become one of the voices of the industry, FTX makes it easy to quickly and easily trade or swap one coin or currency for another.
By streamlining the process, users are able to carry out trades seamlessly, using the FTX mobile app. The platform currently supports some 275+ different cryptocurrencies.
As was the case for Binance, low trading fees are one of the big draws for FTX—where users can also get discounts on trading certain coins. The earn feature is also highly popular among users, allowing them to stake coins and earn interest on various cryptocurrencies. Users can also hold and stake FTX’s token (FTT), giving them various additional benefits. However, compared to native tokens at other major exchanges (BNB, CRO, KCS), FTX is still playing catchup.
Pancakeswap
Pancakeswap is one of the leading DEXs, offering access to the market through various crypto wallets, including MetaMask, Binance Smart, and the Pancakeswap trust wallet. Users are able to transfer their funds from their wallets and trade them on the DEX with ease.
Another great feature of the Pancakeswap DEX is its liquidity pools, which allow users to “earn”. By transferring tokens into the liquidity pools, users will earn LP (liquidity provider) tokens corresponding to the pair initially provided by the user. This extends to farms, which allow users to specify a “farm” in which they want to earn LP tokens.
Not only does this DEX offer these unique features, but also offers trading pairs on major coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), among many others. DEXs are appealing to many crypto enthusiasts, as they aren’t connected to any centralized owners. Though the industry is still evolving, for now, Pancakeswap has a limited userbase compared to others, this may change as we see an increase in decentralized currency.
Closing Thoughts
On balance, we would have to point out Binance and Coinbase as the most comprehensive cryptocurrency exchanges currently available to U.S. investors. With well-established platforms like these, they have the capital to give back to customers; through low fees, promotions, and competitions, among other things.
While the others have their own merits, they do not match up to the aforementioned two. Note, that for exchanges like KuCoin and Kraken, a big part of their appeal is the fact they list many small to medium-sized coins, which offer users the opportunity to see much bigger returns than that of large market cap coins.
