Coinmama vs Coinbase | Learn Why Coinbase Is Much Better
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
10 min read
Fact checked
Coinmama vs Coinbase: We looked at KYC requirements, country availability, product offerings, trading fees, deposit methods and more to help you make the best decision. Keep reading to find out which exchange is right for you!
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.
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, there are plenty to choose from. Two popular well known options are Coinmama and Coinbase. Let's take a closer look at each of these exchanges based on the data provided.
Coinmama was founded in 2013 by Asaph Schulman and is registered in Ireland. The company has over 60 employees and is available in 188 countries. However, there are eight prohibited jurisdictions, including Israel, Japan, Nigeria, and residents of Hawaii and New York.
Coinmama offers support for a very limited range of 20 cryptocurrencies and has over 3 million users. For those that prefer buying and selling cryptocurrencies on mobile, Coinmama is also available on Android and IOS where it has a few thousand downloads.
On the other hand, Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsa and is a leading US-based exchange and wallet service. The company is registered in the District of Columbia and has over 5000 employees.
Coinbase is available in 100 countries and offers a decent range of services such as spot trading, recurring buys, staking, learn and earn, it's own Visa card and much more.
Coinbase is of course also available on Android and IOS with millions of downloads on each platform and great reviews.
Coinmama vs Coinbase Signup & KYC
Now let's move on to find out how Coinmama and Coinbase deals with signup and KYC procedures.
When it comes to Coinmama, KYC is required for everything. The signup process can be a bit tedious as users are required to upload KYC documents before they can even see the interface. Once the documents are submitted, the verification process takes 30 minutes to an hour to be verified.
On the other hand, Coinbase has a much smoother signup process. Creating an account takes about a minute as users only need to enter their email, full name and a password. Once the email address has been verified the account has been created and users can move on to KYC.
To unlock account privileges such as trading, users must verify their account through the KYC process. This involves submitting all the necessary information and documents such as country of residence and a valid government ID. The process to complete KYC takes a few minutes tops.
The verification process on Coinbase can then take a few minutes to a few hours before an account gets verified.
In summary, while both Coinmama and Coinbase require KYC verification, Coinbase has the much smoother signup process while Coinmama's is frankly one of the most annoying one that we have seen so far.
Coinmama vs Coinbase Products & Services
Moving on to services offered, Coinmama is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers a very limited range of products and services. The only services offered by Coinmama is the ability to buy and sell a limited range of 20 cryptocurrencies with card or fiat.
The user experience on Coinmama is poor, with a long signup process that forces all documents up-front and a website that does not work properly. Coinmama looks and feels like a cryptocurrency exchange that someone started years ago and has now abandoned.
No care has been put in to either extending the range of cryptocurrencies, product range or improving the user experience.
On the other hand, Coinbase is a giant in the world of cryptocurrency exchanges that offers a variety of products that are primarily designed for beginners and large institutional clients.
In the United States where financial rules are quite strict, Coinbase has steered clear of offering riskier trading options like 100X leverage which are common on offshore exchanges.
This means that while some professional traders might find fewer reasons to use Coinbase, it's actually a boon for beginners because the platform is less cluttered and easier to navigate.
At Coinbase, users can choose between two different types of interfaces. The first, simply called 'Coinbase', is perfect for beginners. It's straightforward and user-friendly, making the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies less intimidating.
The second, known as 'Advanced', is more suited for experienced traders. It comes with a range of more complex tools and features for in-depth trading.
For those interested in trading, Coinbase offers a wide selection of over 240 cryptocurrencies. Users can easily buy or sell these cryptocurrencies using a simple and intuitive buy-and-sell feature or engage in spot trading in the Advanced section.
Additionally, for people who want to invest in crypto gradually over time, Coinbase has a handy recurring buy feature. This is great for a strategy called Dollar Cost Averaging where users invest a fixed amount regularly regardless of the market price.
Coinbase has also ventured into more advanced trading options like BTC and ETH futures, along with perpetual contracts for several other cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XRP, and AVAX, with leverage capped at 5X.
While Coinbase is often among the top three exchanges globally in terms of its 24/7 spot trading volumes, it faces more competition in the futures market.
For those looking to earn some interest on their digital assets, Coinbase offers an attractive option with a 5% interest rate on USDC, a stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar.
In addition, Coinbase has a unique learn-and-earn program that's perfect for beginners. In this program, users can learn about various blockchain projects and earn tokens as rewards for their learning.
Expanding into the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), Coinbase has developed its own NFT platform. This platform allows users to create, discover, buy, and sell NFTs on popular blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.
Coinbase has also introduced a Visa Card for users who want to spend their crypto like regular money and earn rewards. This card lets users spend USD or crypto (like USDC) and earn rewards on their everyday purchases, merging the crypto and traditional financial worlds.
For those who prefer more control over their crypto assets, Coinbase offers the Web 3 Coinbase Wallet. This is a non-custodial wallet, meaning users have complete control over their crypto.
The wallet supports thousands of coins and tokens and provides easy access to decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms on several blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
Recently, Coinbase launched the Coinbase One Membership priced at $29.99 per month. This membership gives users access to zero-fee trades, increased staking rewards, and priority customer support.
Being a publicly-traded company in the U.S., Coinbase adheres to strict regulations and standards, making it one of the safest exchanges for trading cryptocurrencies.
This is also why Coinbase is the preferred platform for major institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale, which trade or manage a vast array of over 240 crypto assets.
Through Coinbase Prime, high-net-worth individuals and institutions have access to advanced trading tools, financing solutions, secure storage, staking services, and much more, providing a secure and comprehensive solution for managing large-scale cryptocurrency investments.
When it comes to trading fees, Coinmama and Coinbase couldn't be more different. Let's start with Coinmama, which unfortunately doesn't offer traditional spot trading.
Instead, users are limited to buying cryptocurrencies with a card or third-party provider, which comes with a hefty 5% fee. Ouch.
In contrast, Coinbase does offer spot trading and charges a maker fee of 0.40% and a taker fee of 0.60%. While these fees are higher than some other exchanges, Coinbase does offer the opportunity to lower fees by exceeding monthly trade volumes of $10,000.
Overall, if you're looking for a traditional spot trading experience and lower trading fees, Coinbase is the clear winner over Coinmama.
When it comes to buying and selling cryptocurrencies, one of the most important factors to consider is the deposit methods that an exchange offers
Starting with Coinmama, the exchange supports three fiat currencies which includes SD, GBP, and EUR. Fiat deposits are available for USD via Swift, SEPA for EUR deposits, and Faster Payments (FSP) for GBP deposits.
The good news is that SEPA and FSP deposits are free of charge, while Swift deposits come with a fee of $20. However, credit/debit card deposits on Coinmama incur a high fee of 5%.
Similar to Coinmama, Coinbase also supports the same three fiat currencies in USD, EUR, and GBP. The exchange allows fiat deposits via ACH, Wire (USD), SEPA (EUR), and Swift (GBP).
While ACH deposits are free of charge, wire deposits come with a fee of $10 USD, SEPA deposits with a fee of 0.15 EUR, and Swift deposits are free.
Coinmama does not offer any fiat withdrawal methods but users can withdraw their cryptocurrencies from the exchange with varying fees.
On the other hand, Coinbase offers multiple fiat withdrawal methods, including ACH, Wire, SEPA, and Swift. ACH withdrawals are free, while wire withdrawals cost $25 USD. SEPA withdrawals cost 0.15 EUR, and Swift withdrawals cost 1 GBP.
For cryptocurrency withdrawals, users on Coinbase can transfer their crypto from the Coinbase platform to their Coinbase Wallet. However, there are varying fees for each cryptocurrency withdrawal. For example, the fee for Bitcoin withdrawals is 0.0002 BTC, for Ethereum it is 0.000768 ETH, and for Solana, it is 0.008 SOL.
Coinbase has done a great job both in terms of supporting great deposit and withdrawal options for USD, EUR and GBP. And in terms of cryptocurrencies, Coinbase keeps withdrawal fees low across the board.
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase is the clear winner compared to Coinmama, by a landslide.
Coinmama only supports a limited 20 cryptocurrencies that users can buy and sell with a very expensive 5% commission fee. The user experience on Coinmama is frankly terrible and the exchange looks like it was abandoned years ago.
The exchange barely offers any products and the website does not work many times. Just an overall terrible user experience and not something that we can recommend to our users.
Coinbase on the other hand is the much better exchange compared to Coinmama with a wide range of over 200 cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase also offers additional products such as spot trading, lending and borrowing, staking, NFTs, learn and earn, Visa card and custody solutions for institutions.
Coinbase fees for spot trading are higher than some other exchanges, with a maker fee of 0.40% and a taker fee of 0.60%.
However, Coinbase does offer the opportunity to lower fees by exceeding monthly trade volumes of $10,000 and is still much cheaper than Coinmama that charges 5%.
Overall, Coinbase is the clear winner in this comparison and is the much better exchange compared to Coinmama.
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.