Coinmama vs Kraken | Why You Should Only Consider Kraken
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
Looking for the best crypto exchange? Let's compare Coinmama vs Kraken, two popular options with different strengths. We'll look at factors like fees, security, customer support, and more to help you make an informed decision. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned trader, read on to find out which platform is right for you!
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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.
Coinmama was founded in 2013 by Asaph Schulman and is registered in Ireland. The exchange has a workforce of 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 has over three million users and offers support for a limited range of only 20 cryptocurrencies. The exchange is also available on both Android and IOS, with 10,000 downloads and a 4.0-star rating.
The exchange is known for its security, reliability, and wide range of supported crypto and fiat currencies.
Kraken offers various services, such as spot trading, margin trading, futures trading, and staking, catering to both beginners and experienced traders.
On Kraken users can buy and sell over 190 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cosmos.
Kraken has over 9 million users mainly based across North America and Europe and their Android and IOS app has been downloaded 1 million times and has a strong 4.3-star rating.
Coinmama vs Kraken Signup & KYC
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, KYC is a common requirement. Coinmama and Kraken are no exception.
Coinmama has a bad signup process that requires uploading KYC documents before you can even see the interface.
The verification process takes up to 10 minutes to complete and can then take up to a few days before Coinmama verifies the documents.
Similar to Coinmama, Kraken also requires all its customers to verify their identity via KYC. Signing up for Kraken takes less than a minute, and basic verification can be achieved in less than 2 minutes.
The Kraken verification process can take a few days days if all the required documents have been correctly submitted.
So while both exchanges require KYC from their users, Kraken overall has the much smoother signup process compared to Coinmama where users can quickly verify their account and start trading.
Coinmama vs Kraken Products & Services
Coinmama is a very limited exchange that only allows users to buy cryptocurrencies with fiat or card.
The user experience on Coinmama is poor with a long and tedious signup process that requires submitting all documents upfront.
The website also frequently has issues that make it difficult to use. Coinmama does not offer any spot trading or leverage, making it unsuitable for experienced traders.
On the other hand, Kraken offers a more limited product offering than many international exchanges due to US regulations.
However, they still offer spot trading for hundreds of cryptocurrencies, cash-settled futures with various maturities, and margin trading.
They also offer staking (for non US users) and an NFT marketplace. For institutional clients, Kraken also offers an OTC desk and 24/7 account management teams.
The user experience on Kraken is designed with beginners in mind, with the goal of making buying and selling cryptocurrencies simple for everyday users.
They also offer some leveraged products for more sophisticated traders and earn products for beginners that want to earn yield on their crypto.
In terms of liquidity, Kraken frequently ranks in the top 10 with daily spot trading volumes in the range of $300 to $600 million.
The max leverage that users can take on Kraken is 50X, and 5X in terms of margin leverage. Overall, Kraken is a solid exchange for both beginners and experienced traders for a decent range of over 200 cryptocurrencies.
Let's take a look at the trading fees offered by Coinmama and Kraken.
While Coinmama doesn't offer traditional spot trading and charges a high 5% fee for buying with card and third-party providers, Kraken offers competitive fees for both spot and futures trading.
For spot trading, Kraken charges a maker fee of 0.16% and a taker fee of 0.26%. These fees can be lowered if monthly trade volumes exceed $50,000. Moving on to futures trading, Kraken charges a maker fee of 0.02% and a taker fee of 0.05%.
Once again, these fees can be lowered for high volume traders. Overall, Kraken seems to be the better option for those looking for lower trading fees and the potential for rebates based on trading volume.
Moving on to deposit methods for fiat currencies, Coinmama supports three fiat currencies in USD, GBP, and EUR and allows deposits via Swift for USD, SEPA for EUR, and Faster Payments for GBP.
While SEPA and FSP deposits are free of charge, Coinmama charges a 5% fee for credit/debit card deposits and $20 for Swift deposits.
In contrast, Kraken offers support for deposits with seven fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, GBP, CHF, and JPY.
The exchange provides a variety of deposit methods, such as Fedwire, SWIFT, ACH, SEPA, FPS, and more. Kraken even offers free ACH deposits for USD, EUR, and CAD via bank transfers and SEPA.
Compared to Coinmama, Kraken provides a wider range of fiat deposit options, including free ACH deposits. Coinmama, on the other hand, charges high fees for certain deposit methods.
Coinmama does not offer any fiat withdrawal methods. This means that users cannot withdraw any USD, EUR or GBP from the platform. However, it is possible to withdraw cryptocurrencies from Coinmama with varying fees depending on the blockchain being used.
On the other hand, Kraken offers fiat withdrawals for all the 7 currencies they support. Users can withdraw fiat currencies such as USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD and CHF. Kraken offers a variety of withdrawal methods including ACH, SEPA, SWIFT and FPS.
Kraken charges a fee for each withdrawal method with ACH being free, SEPA costing 0.9 EUR, SWIFT costing $4 and FPS costing 1.95 GBP.
As for cryptocurrency withdrawals, Kraken charges varying fees based on the blockchain being used. For example, Bitcoin withdrawals come with a fee of 0.00001 BTC while Ethereum withdrawals come with a fee of 0.0035 ETH.
Solana withdrawals come with a fee of 0.01 SOL while the ERC-20 USDT withdrawal fee is 3.55 USDT. Overall, Kraken offers a wider range of both fiat and cryptocurrency withdrawal methods compared to Coinmama.
In conclusion, Kraken is the much better exchange compared to Coinmama.
Kraken has a larger workforce and supports a wider range of cryptocurrencies. When it comes to KYC, Kraken provides a more efficient process, while Coinmama's strict requirements will likely deter some users.
Coinmama is a limited exchange that only allows users to buy cryptocurrencies with fiat or card, while Kraken offers spot trading for hundreds of cryptocurrencies, cash-settled futures, margin trading, staking, and an NFT marketplace.
Kraken's user experience is designed with beginners in mind, but also includes some leveraged products for more sophisticated traders.
When it comes to trading fees, Kraken offers competitive fees for both spot and futures trading while Coinmama is ridiculously expensive.
Ultimately, the choice between Coinmama and Kraken will depend on the individual needs and preferences of the user.
While Coinmama not really suitable for anyone besides users who don't know better, Kraken is one of the safest, most well managed exchanges in the world that offers a good range of features, over 200 cryptocurrencies and low trading fees.
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.
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