With cryptocurrency evolving, one of the most important factors is making sure that you choose a safe exchange/broker to keep your assets as safe as possible when trading your crypto assets. We have put together enough research to ensure that you are in the correct hands. Many investors make the mistake of not doing enough research before they hop onto an exchange and end up losing potential profits due to lack of understanding, but let’s jump into this to make sure you do not make those same mistakes! We will cover the Top 4 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges that we know of in 2022. Considering Fees, security, Pros and Cons.

1. FTX – ‘ An exchange built by traders for traders ’

What is FTX?

FTX is an exchange founded in May 2019, sitting at the #3 spot on Coinmarketcap. It offers futures, stocks, 300+ crypto assets, leveraged tokens, options and it even has its own NFT marketplace. FTX also has launched its own utility token FTT, which saw massive upside through 2021. At the time of writing this FTT is currently sitting at a sturdy $43 after seeing highs of $80+ later on last year. Over the past couple of years, FTX has grown considerably and can now be considered as one of the biggest crypto exchanges with an estimated value of 18 billion and 1 million+ users.

Built for professional traders/institutions but anyone can sign up and trade crypto freely you just have to complete a quick KYC, however, as soon as you wish to get involved with fiat withdrawals/deposits FTX requires LVL 2 KYC. After LVL 2 verification you will have access to unlimited crypto withdrawals and unlimited fiat withdrawals/deposits. FTX is a fairly easy platform to navigate your way around and It has a few cool features, one of our personal favourites is the Sub Accounts option, which allows you to create multiple accounts to trade with. Making it easier to execute multiple margin trades or split up your spot portfolio into sub-accounts.

Security

As we all know security is important when it comes to exchanges and securing your funds is undoubtedly at the top, luckily FTX uses two-factor authentication which is highly recommended. You can use things such as SMS verification, Google Authentication, or Authy. 

 It is only when you begin to dig a little deeper it has one of the greatest teams behind them with excellent customer service (you can personally take my word for it). If you ever have a problem/issue regarding your account you can start by opening a ticket within FTX’s support section you can speak directly with one of their Support Team, which is normally a super quick response making it rather impressive and very comforting. 

Pros

  • Low fees
  • Free fiat deposits
  • NFT marketplace
  • Variety of assets on the exchange
  • Easy to navigate
  • Mobile app for IOS/Android 
  • Guarantees liquidity 

Cons

  • High USD withdrawal fees ($75)
  • FTX is a relatively new platform
  • No live chat support 
  • Not available in the USA

Unfortunately, FTX doesn’t allow US investors on its exchange, due to restrictions with the SEC. Nevertheless, FTX does have an alternative branch FTX US, which allows certain states in the US to trade. If you are in a state which is accepted, that’s great!

2. Crypto.com – Biggest Growing Exchange 2021

What is Crypto.com?

Crypto.com is a worldwide cryptocurrency exchange, currently on a marketing rampage with no sign of slowing down! with over 10 million users, founded in 2016 in Hong Kong but are now mainly based in Singapore. With over 165 crypto assets on the exchange, you are not short of variety. It also offers features such as NFT marketplace, DeFi, and staking. They have a separate wallet for DeFi (Crypto.com DeFi wallet, available in the App Store). Both spot and margin trading can be used and also additional features such as Lending and OTC trading, if you are interested in earning additional gains for your investments. 

Crypto.com is also widely known for having their crypto visa card which gives you great discounts on products such as Netflix, Airbnb, Amazon Prime, Expedia, and Spotify. However to receive these luxuries we have found it currently is a very high staking requirement just to receive these rewards.

It has also released its cryptocurrency called CRO which just like the exchange has been growing intensely, it doesn’t seem like it is going to be slowing down either. Seeing highs of $0.90 late on in 2021. 

Fees and Sponsorship

With crypto.com you can enjoy relatively low trading fees when trading Bitcoin or Ethereum on the platform, for example, there is a limited fee of 0.40% and a decrease with high trading volume or a significant holding of its cryptocurrency CRO. But you will have to plan accordingly when buying from a Visa Debit / Credit card as there is a 3.9% fee, alternatively, it is simple enough to set up deposits through bank transfer which are free with your local exchange. US residents can deposit USD with a bank transfer via the ACH network and EU residents can deposit EUR with SEPA bank transfer. 

Crypto.com is sponsored by some of the biggest in the sports industry such as UFC, Formula One, Paris Saint-German (PSG Football Club), and NHL’s Montreal Canadians, each being big sponsorship deals. Many of you may already be aware that Crypto.com recently made a sponsorship deal with the NBA’s Los Angles Staples Centre, and it has since been renamed the Crypto.com arena following a 19-year sponsorship deal worth over a whopping $700 million.

Security

Crypto.com just like many other exchanges uses multiple security features to ensure your funds are kept as safe as possible. Including two-factor authentication and whitelisting. Of course with cryptocurrencies you have always got to be cautious keeping funds on exchanges as most exchanges do not insure any losses of crypto assets. However, Crypto.com do insure any cash funds of USD up to $250,000 as it works with local banks in the US. We advise as always to ensure you have a strong password and always set up 2FA.

Crypto.com uses robust compliance monitoring and stores all of users deposits offline in cold storages to help prevents hacks. But all of this and still the other week Crypto.com suffered a security breach which they soon released a document to announce that at the time of losses, the theft was totalled at $33 million. But since the hack they have improved their service even more with implementing an additional layer of security by when setting up a withdrawal address. You now have to wait 24hrs before you can withdraw to the address, to prevent suspiscious/fradualant activity.

Pros

  • Competitive fees with discounts holding CRO.
  • Separate Defi wallet.
  • A lot of marketing, showing positive signs for future.
  • Great for buying/selling.
  • Fairly quick withdrawals of cryptocurrencies (2-3hrs)
  • Crypto visa card.
  • KYC Verification very simple.

Cons

  • Trading fee discounts can be hard to navigate
  • Higher fees unless you hold CRO
  • Extremely high staking rewards to receive high tier Visa Card

Overview

Overall, FTX is the best platform to use for traders with good experience, although beginners can use FTX. It is personally not very beginner enticing. Great platform to use for those who enjoy trading Futures as you may open multiple subaccounts to ensure you can enter multiple margin trades at once. FTX has very competitive fees and deposits/withdrawals are fairly quick. KYC can be a little confusing to set up but any issues, and you can open up support tickets in the Support tab. It is probably the best well-rounded exchange out of all of them, guaranteeing liquidity always and with some of the best teams working behind them.

3. Kucoin – ‘The peoples exchange’.

What is Kucoin?

Kucoin was launched in Hong Kong in 2017, Kucoin has rapidly become one of the biggest exchanges in the world also by having over 8 million users on the exchange. Sitting at #5 spot on Coinmarketcap with a stomping $2.4B in volume (24hrs). Kucoin is stacked with over 580+ crypto coins. It allows 48 different fiat currencies and has 0 – 0.1% trading fees!

You may use Futures and margin trading with leverage of up to 100x. They also have a Futures Lite for a simpler experience, perfect for any quick trades you have to jump into, alternatively, you can use Futures Pro for more professional use, which has full trading tools and leverage of up to 100x. Kucoin has some really interesting features an example being their trading bot which you can set to automatically enter you in trades meaning you can trade while you sleep.

Unlike many exchanges Kucoin has a really simple KYC verification which is only a partial verification, full verification will be needed if any suspicious activity happens or you want to withdraw more than 5BTC in 24hrs. They also have crypto lending and borrowing for anyone interested in lending your USDT for a short term for a little interest.

Kucoin has some pricey fees when buying crypto through seeing some fees as high as 13% to deposit via Visa debit or Mastercard which is crazy. Kucoin unfortunately does not allow withdrawals of fiat, but you can freely withdraw crypto. They have also recently announced they are creating a trading bot for NFT’s also which is super interesting.

Security

As some of you may know already, Kucoin was hacked earlier in 2020 but rest assured, they were able to retrieve a large portion of the funds and covered the rest with their insurance so no users managed to suffer a loss of capital due to this security breach. Since then Kucoin has only improved its service with the hope that it won’t happen again. As you all already know hacking has become very common within the crypto space but it now has bank-level security implementing many measures such as micro withdrawal wallets, industry-level multiplayer encryption, and dynamic multi-factor authentication.

Apart from registering with your email as you do with every exchange, Kucoin utilizes Google 2FA which is highly recommended to protect your crypto assets. Kucoin also has recently added a trading password which can also be applied via settings, to help maximize protecting any transactions in and out of your account.

Pros

  • Mobile app for android/IOS.
  • Extremely low trading fees
  • Simple KYC
  • Futures and margin trading
  • Trading bot
  • Very good security
  • 380+ Cryptocurrencies
  • Staking available

Cons

  • No fiat withdrawals
  • Unregulated exchange
  • Depositing USDT comes with pricey fees

Overview

Overall we see Kucoin as a great exchange for a quick setup and brilliant variety of cryptocurrencies, trading futures, and staking is a great way to utilize your experience more. But no fiat withdrawals can be slightly annoying to some, here at Economy Universe we advise using Kucoin as more of a Buying/Selling account and transferring to any other account after trading. Kucoin has really low fees which allow its users to freely trade without feeling like they’re getting robbed slowly with so called ‘Secret taxes’.

4. eToro – The Beginners Exchange

What is eToro?

Founded in 2007 and based in the UK, eToro is a multi-asset platform that offers Investing, in stocks and crypto-assets as well as trading CDFs. It is hands down the best exchange for beginners to grasp the ropes with. With more than 21 million users, including millions of US traders as well as globally. Traders outside of the US have access to also trade Stocks and Contracts for difference (CDFs). eToro offers over 30+ crypto assets, they don’t have a massive variety of cryptocurrencies like some other exchanges but they have the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, and Dogecoin.

When you first open up an account with eToro you will be given the option to start trading with a virtual account worth $100,000 to test your luck with trading. If you are a beginner being a ‘whale’ can be everybody’s dream. To give it a go sign up, create an account and click the option which says ‘Virtual account’ on the menu bar.

eToro has implemented a cool feature copy trading, which allows users to copy trades or trading strategies from the likes of some of the most successful traders on the platform, automatically and in real-time. Please note that copy trading in itself does not hold any guarantee for profits/losses and everything should still be managed with great risk management.

eToro amazingly has a zero commission fees policy, so you may freely enjoy no commission fees when buying stocks but can have a wide spread fee on some assets. For example, BTC has fees of 0.75%, ETH 1.90%, XRP 2.45%, and ADA 2.90%. To evade conversion fees on Etoro we advise using USD to deposit as it doesn’t charge any fees. Withdrawal fees are stamped at $5 for each time you would like to withdraw which is fairly good compared to other exchanges, there are no withdrawal fees for traders based in the US.

Security

You can be sure with eToro that your funds are kept secure, being regulated by leading regulatory agencies including FDA, FINRA, ASIC, and FinCEN. eToro takes security very seriously.

When you deposit any cash funds into an eToro account, they are kept in regulated and licensed banks in the US and are FDIC insured up to $250,000. eToro also uses a multi-tiered approach to keeping crypto assets safe including warm (online) storage wallets and also cold (offline) storage wallets. In addition, eToro also uses state-of-the-art monitoring tools to prevent any fraudulent activity or double-spending. It has very advanced encryption and masking technologies to secure your personal and financial information. You also have the option to further secure your account by ensuring two-factor authentication (2FA) is enabled, as it allows an additional layer of security.

Pros

  • Easy to navigate the website and mobile app
  • Great for beginners
  • Great community for traders
  • A low withdrawal fee of $5
  • Leverage up to x5 on CDFs and stocks
  • Top grade security

Cons

  • Withdrawals can take longer than usual
  • Minimum deposit $50
  • Not a massive variety of cryptocurrencies
  • eToro can be too basic for professional traders

Overview

Overall, eToro is a great exchange to use if you are a beginner and don’t know much but the basics. They have a really big community built around them which for the likes of traders, getting somebody else’s perspective can sometimes help massively. Also, the beginner’s virtual trading account is really good for anyone that doesn’t know how the markets quite work and want to test and see how they get on with virtual money. Because the pro’s heavily outweigh the cons this is why we have chosen eToro among our Top 4 Crypto Exchanges to use 2022.

Overview

Overall, Crypto.com with our research, is best for those who would like to do more with their cryptocurrency other than just simply buy and hold their assets. It is a great platform for active traders and anybody interested in jumping into crypto as it is very easily accessible as well as a great trading platform. Considering Crypto.com supports the likes of DeFi, staking, lending, and futures trading it is a fairly well-rounded exchange to use, that’s why we have put this among our Top 4 Best Crypto Exchanges to Use in 2022.

What exchange is the best?

Crypto.com currently takes the top spot.

What makes a good exchange?

Security, ease of use, and trading features

Is cryptocurrency safe?

Cryptocurrency is perfectly safe if you do your due-diligence.

Related Posts

By Louie

Louie is a professional cryptocurrency trader based in the UK. He has a good deal of hands on expertise in the finance space, Louie has recently been focusing on smaller cap cryptocurrencies but he also has a wide range of larger-cap tokens such as Bitcoin/Ethereum.