Bitfinex vs Coinbase | Reasons Why Coinbase Is Safer & Better
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
If you're considering Bitfinex vs Coinbase as your top exchanges for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, you've come to the right place. We've analysed various factors, including product range, security, trading fees, customer support, and available cryptocurrencies. Keep reading to see which of the two exchanges is the ideal fit for your needs!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Bitfinex and Coinbase are two well-known cryptocurrency exchanges with distinct features and services.
Bitfinex was founded in 2012 by Raphael Nicolle and Giancarlo Devasini and is registered as Ifinex inc in the British Virgin Islands.
The exchange has over 300 employees and is available in only 52 countries. Bitfinex is known for its extensive range of trading options and features, which cater to experienced traders.
Bitfinex exchange
These include spot trading, margin trading, derivatives trading, and up to 100X leverage. Bitfinex also boasts a customizable user interface, advanced charting tools, and an API for algorithmic trading, making it popular among sophisticated users.
Bitfinex supports over 180 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, USD, and ATOM. The exchange is estimated to have over 1 million registered users and has over 1 million app downloads for both Android and IOS users.
Bitfinex app
Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsa and registered in the United States. The company has over 5,000 employees and is available in 100 countries. Coinbase is known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance.
Coinbase exchange
The exchange offers a range of services, such as spot trading, recurring buys, staking, and Coinbase Learn & Earn, which rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies. Coinbase also provides institutional-grade custody services for institutional investors.
Coinbase is one of the biggest exchanges in the world, with over 100 million users mainly based in the US and Europe. The exchange has 10 million downloads for both Android and IOS users and supports over 200 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, and Cosmos.
Coinbase app
While both Bitfinex and Coinbase have their strengths, they cater to different types of cryptocurrency investors. Bitfinex is a better fit for experienced traders who value advanced trading options and features. Coinbaseis a better fit for beginners who value user-friendliness, security and regulatory compliance.
Bitfinex vs Coinbase Signup & KYC
When it comes to signing up for Bitfinex, the process is quick and easy. Users can complete the signup process in just 30 seconds to open an account. In terms of KYC requirements, Bitfinex requires users to complete KYC verification before they can trade.
KYC verification typically takes 2-3 working days on Bitfinex once the user has submitted their personal information along with a government ID. Users will then receive an email from Bitfinex when the account is successfully verified.
Coinbase signup
On the other hand, the signup process for Coinbase takes less than one minute to complete. The KYC verification process itself then takes a few more minutes to submit the required documents.
It then takes Coinbase a few minutes to a couple of hours to verify an account. KYC is required for all users on Coinbase an no type of buying and selling is possible without being verified.
Bitfinex vs Coinbase Crypto Products
Bitfinex offers trading services such as spot, futures, and margin trading. The exchange also offers additional services such as lending and borrowing, staking securities trading, and finally an OTC desk.
Bitfinex spot trading
The user experience on Bitfinex is not great, and the average daily spot trading volume is between $50-100 million. Bitfinex offers a max leverage of up to 100 on futures, and 10X on margin leverage.
Bitfinex crypto products
On the other hand, Coinbase is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges and has a range of products and services that cater to beginners and institutional clients.
Coinbase Products
The exchange's offerings are shaped by stringent U.S. regulations which have restricted it from launching high-risk products like 100X leverage trading as available on Bitfinex.
This limitation has however made Coinbase more beginner-friendly as the platform is simpler and easier to navigate with fewer products.
Coinbase provides two distinct user interfaces. The standard Coinbase interface is designed for beginners, and the Advanced interface caters to more experienced traders.
Coinbase Buy & Sell
The exchange allows trading for over 240 cryptocurrencies and users can buy and sell through a user-friendly buy-and-sell feature or opt for spot trading in the Advanced section.
Coinbase Spot Trading
For those looking to invest in cryptocurrencies gradually, Coinbase offers a recurring buy feature enabling users to consistently invest over time, also known as Dollar Cost Averaging.
Coinbase Cryptocurrencies
Recently, Coinbase expanded its offerings to include BTC and ETH futures, along with perpetual contracts with up to 5X leverage for several other cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XRP, and AVAX.
Coinbase Futures
And while Coinbase is a major player in spot trading volumes with billions of trading volumes, it faces more competition in the futures market where it has yet to make a dent.
An attractive feature for users looking to earn passive income is Coinbase's interest earning program on USDC, offering a lucrative 5% interest.
Additionally, the platform offers staking rewards for various cryptocurrencies, including ETH, SOL, ATOM, AVAX, and more, allowing users to earn rewards by holding certain cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase Staking
A unique aspect of Coinbase is its learn-and-earn program tailored to beginners that allows beginners to learn about blockchain projects and earn tokens as rewards.
The exchange has also ventured into the NFT space with its platform, allowing users to mint, explore, buy, and sell NFTs on blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.
Coinbase NFTs
For those looking to use their cryptocurrency for everyday purchases, Coinbase offers a Visa Card that lets card holders spend cash (USD) or crypto (USDC) and earn rewards on their spending.
Additionally, for users who prefer non-custodial access to their crypto assets, Coinbase has developed the Web 3 Coinbase Wallet.
Coinbase Wallet
This wallet supports the storage and management of thousands of coins and tokens, and provides easy access to DeFi across various blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and more.
Coinbase recently introduced the Coinbase One Membership which they priced at $29.99 per month and that offers benefits such as zero-fee trades, enhanced staking rewards, and priority support.
Being a publicly-listed company in the U.S., Coinbase adheres to strict regulatory and accountability standards, positioning it as one of the safest exchanges for users.
Coinbase Institutions
This reliability makes it the platform of choice for major institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale, which trade or custody a wide range of cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime is a service designed for high-net-worth individuals and institutions, offering access to advanced trading tools, financing solutions, cold storage, staking services, and more.
When it comes to trading fees, Bitfinex and Coinbase offer vastly different options. Bitfinex charges a low spot maker fee of 0.1% and a taker fee of 0.2%. When it comes to futures fees, Bitfinex charges 0.02% for makers and 0.065% for takers.
Bitfinex spot fees
Moving on to Coinbase's trading fees, they offer a spot maker fee of 0.4% and a taker fee of 0.6%. Similar to Bitfinex, Coinbase also offers trading rebates for users who trading volumes exceed $10,000 during a 30-day period.
Coinbase trading fees
When comparing the fees offered by Bitfinex and Coinbase, it's clear that Bitfinex has the lower trading fee structure with much more competitive fees than Coinbase. Having said that, Coinbase does offer the more user friendly platform that makes it easier to buy and sell digital assets.
Moving on to fiat deposit options, while both exchanges offer a limited selection of fiat currencies, their deposit methods vary greatly.
Bitfinex supports five fiat currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and CNH. The available deposit methods are deposits via bank wire and OpenPayd. The deposit fee on Bitfinex is 0.1% (min $60 USD) for wire deposits or 0.5 EUR fee per transaction with OpenPayd.
On the other hand, Coinbase supports three fiat currencies including USD, EUR and GBP. Fiat deposits can be made via ACH, wire (USD), SEPA (EUR) and Swift (GBP).
Coinbase fiat deposit
ACH deposit is free, wire deposit costs $10 USD, SEPA deposit is 0.15 EUR and Swift deposit is free. Coinbase thus offers some really great and cheap deposit options for the three biggest fiat currencies in the world.
Bitfinex and Coinbase offer a range of withdrawal methods for their users. Bitfinex offers fiat currency withdrawals via Bank Wire and OpenPayd for five supported currencies.
The exchange charges a 0.1% withdrawal fee with a minimum fee of $20. Bitfinex also supports BTC, ETH, and USDT withdrawals with fees of 0.0004 BTC, 0.0017 ETH and 3.2$ USDT fee for ERC-20 withdrawals.
In contrast, Coinbase allows users to withdraw fiat currencies via ACH, Wire, SEPA, and Swift. The exchange does not charge any fees for ACH withdrawals but wire withdrawals incur a $25 USD fee. SEPA withdrawals attract a fee of 0.15 EUR while Swift withdrawals cost 1 GBP.
Coinbase fiat withdrawal options
Cryptocurrency withdrawals are also cheap on Coinbase. Bitcoin withdrawals incur a small withdrawal fee of 0.0001 BTC while Ethereum and SOL withdrawals have fees of 0.04 ETH and 0.005 SOL respectively. Coinbase charges a $3 fee when withdrawing USDT.
In summary, Bitfinex and Coinbase both offer a variety of withdrawal methods for their users, with Bitfinex charging a percentage-based fee and Coinbase charging flat fees for some methods.
While Coinbase is one of the largest exchanges in the world, Bitfinex is the much smaller and lesser known trading focused exchange.
Bitfinex is known for its extensive range of trading options and features, which cater to experienced traders, while Coinbase is known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance.
When it comes to signup and KYC verification, both Coinbase and Bitfinex has a quick signup process but KYC verification is required for trading on both exchanges. In terms of user experience, Coinbase is much more beginner friendly and easy to use than Bitfinex.
While Coinbase offers some products not available on Bitfinex like NFTs, Visa Card and learn and earn, Bitfinex is more focused on offering trading services such as spot, futures, margin trading, lending and borrowing, staking and an OTC desk.
When it comes to trading fees, Bitfinex is the cheaper option with spot fees for makers and takers of 0.1% and 0.2% compared to Coinbase's 0.4% and 0.6%.
Lastly, both exchanges offer a variety of fiat deposit and withdrawal methods,. Bitfinex has a higher deposit fee but supports more fiat currencies for deposits while Coinbase charges a lower fee for deposits of USD, EUR and GBP.
So which exchange should you use? It depends on whether you are a beginner or a more experienced trader. Bitfinex is not suitable for beginners while traders looking for 100X leverage won't find those services on Coinbase.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.
