Paxful vs Coinbase | Why We Think Coinbase Is Best

paxful vs coinbase image
Jack Moreau
Nov 2024
7 min read
Fact checked

Paxful vs Coinbase: In this comprehensive comparison, we evaluate the key aspects of both platforms to help you decide the best one. We look into KYC verification procedures, supported countries, product and cryptocurrency variety, transaction fees, deposit options, and much more!

Bybit

+450 Cryptocurrencies

Spot, Perps, Margin, Bots

0.1% Spot Fees & 100X Leverage

Great Design & UX

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Coinbase

Trade +240 Cryptocurrencies

Earn 5% Interest On USDC

Great UX & Beginner Friendly

Safest Crypto Exchange

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Paxful vs Coinbase Comparison

Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
Founded
2015
2012
2018
Registered
Estonia
United States
Singapore
Countries N/A
OFAC countries
OFAC
US, CA, UK, CH, SG
Users
10M
120M
20M
Cryptos
4
+200
+450
Spot Fees
1%
0.4%-0.6%
0.1%
KYC Required
Yes
Yes
Yes
Best for
Peer-to-peer trading
Earning USDC Interest
Best For Traders
Rating
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk

Paxful and Coinbase are two well-known cryptocurrency exchanges that cater to different needs and audiences.

Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and is US-based exchange and wallet provider known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance.

Coinbase exchange
Coinbase exchange

Coinbase offers a range of services, including spot trading, recurring buys, staking, and Coinbase Learn & Earn, an educational program that rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies.

The platform supports more than 200 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Avalanche in addition to multiple fiat currencies.

Coinbase has over 100 million users worldwide, mainly based in countries in North America and Europe. It is available on both Android and iOS with 10 million downloads and a 4.1-star rating based on over 750,000 reviews.

Coinbase app
Coinbase app

On the other hand, Paxful was founded in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback with a focus on providing a peer-to-peer platform for buying and selling digital currencies.

Paxful peer to peer exchange
Paxful peer to peer exchange

Its mission is to empower the unbanked and underbanked population. Paxful allows users to buy cryptocurrencies and convert money with the choice of over 350 payment methods, including gift cards, debit and credit cards, bank transfers, online wallets, and more.

Paxful has headquarters in New York with offices in Estonia, the UK, Dubai, and other countries. It has over 400 employees and has bootstrapped its exchange to over 10 million global users.

Paxful App
Paxful App

Paxful is also available on both Android and iOS with over 1 million downloads and a 3.3-star rating. However, Paxful only supports the buying and selling of four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDT (Tether), and USDC (Circle).

So while Coinbase stands out for its extensive range of cryptocurrencies, features and services, Paxful focuses on providing accessibility and a wide range of payment methods, targeting the unbanked and underbanked population.

Paxful vs Coinbase KYC Requirements

When it comes to signing up for cryptocurrency exchanges like Paxful and Coinbase, the process is relatively quick and straightforward, but there are some variations in the KYC requirements.

Signing up for an account on Paxful can be done by providing either an email or a phone number.

Once the email or phone number has been verified, users are prompted to complete the KYC process in order to start buying and selling Bitcoin. KYC is mandatory on Paxful, and no transactions can occur without a verified account.

Users who conduct phone verification can buy up to $1,000 worth of Bitcoin, while those who also verify their identity with a valid government ID can buy and sell up to $10,000.

Paxful KYC
Paxful KYC

The signup process on Coinbase is also quite swift, taking about 1 minute to complete as users just need to enter full name, email and password to get started.

Coinbase signup
Coinbase signup

KYC is required on Coinbase as well. The KYC verification process for Coinbase involves submitting the required documents which usually takes a few minutes to complete, and can be approved in a few hours.

So in terms of KYC requirements, both Paxful and Coinbase have a straightforward signup process that can be completed in a matter of minutes. KYC verification is required for both exchanges in either way.

Paxful vs Coinbase Crypto Products

Paxful is a peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchange platform that primarily focuses on the buying and selling of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It provides a marketplace where users can directly connect with each other to facilitate transactions.

Buy BTC on Paxful
Buy BTC on Paxful

Paxful offers more than 300 payment methods, making it highly accessible for users around the world.

Paxful wallet
Paxful wallet

When a trade is initiated, the Bitcoin being sold is held in escrow by Paxful until both parties confirm that the transaction is complete. This P2P model allows individuals in underbanked countries to access cryptocurrencies using various local payment methods.

However, the product offering on Paxful is limited to the buying and selling of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the user experience is centered around P2P trading.

Sell BTC Paxful
Sell BTC Paxful

Moving on to Coinbase, it's one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges and offers a wide array of products and services designed mainly for beginners and institutional clients.

Coinbase USPs
Coinbase USPs

In the U.S., strict financial regulations have limited Coinbase's ability to offer high-risk products like those with 100X leverage found in many offshore exchanges.

This makes Coinbase less attractive for professional traders but more user-friendly and simpler for beginners, as there are fewer, more straightforward products to choose from.

Coinbase Dashboard
Coinbase Dashboard

To cater to different levels of expertise, Coinbase offers two types of user interfaces. The standard 'Coinbase' interface is ideal for beginners, with its easy-to-use design and straightforward functionality.

In contrast, the 'Advanced' interface is designed for experienced traders, offering more in-depth tools and features for sophisticated trading products like futures.

Coinbase supports trading for a diverse range of over 240 cryptocurrencies. Users can either utilize a user-friendly buy-and-sell feature for simple transactions or engage in more detailed spot trading in the Advanced section.

Coinbase Buy & Sell
Coinbase Buy & Sell

For those looking to invest gradually over time, the platform offers a recurring buy feature, perfect for a strategy known as Dollar Cost Averaging, where investments are spread out over time to reduce the impact of market volatility.

Recently, Coinbase has expanded its offerings to include futures trading in BTC and ETH, as well as perpetual contracts for a selection of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XRP, and AVAX, with leverage up to 5X.

Coinbase Spot Trading
Coinbase Spot Trading

While Coinbase is often one of the top three exchanges in terms of 24/7 spot trading volumes, it faces stiffer competition in the futures market.

Coinbase Trading Volume
Coinbase Trading Volume

For users interested in earning interest on their holdings, Coinbase currently offers an attractive 5% interest rate on USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Coinbase Earn
Coinbase Earn

Another beginner-friendly initiative is the learn-and-earn program, where users can learn about different blockchain projects and earn token rewards for their participation.

Coinbase Learn & Earn
Coinbase Learn & Earn

Diving into the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), Coinbase has developed its own NFT platform. This platform allows users to create (mint), discover, buy, and sell NFTs on popular blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.

Coinbase NFTs
Coinbase NFTs

Coinbase also offers a Visa Card, allowing users to spend their cryptocurrency (USDC) or cash (USD) in everyday transactions and earn rewards on their spending. This card bridges the gap between the crypto world and everyday shopping.

Coinbase Visa Card
Coinbase Visa Card

For those who prefer a non-custodial approach to handling their crypto, meaning they have full control over their crypto assets without relying on a third party, Coinbase offers the Web 3 Coinbase Wallet.

Coinbase Web 3 Wallet
Coinbase Web 3 Wallet

This wallet supports thousands of different coins and tokens and provides easy access to decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms across various blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Coinbase has recently introduced the Coinbase One Membership, priced at $29.99 per month, which provides benefits such as zero-fee trades, enhanced staking rewards, and priority customer support.

Coinbase One Membership
Coinbase One Membership

Being a publicly-traded company in the U.S., Coinbase is subject to stringent regulations and high standards of accountability, making it one of the safest platforms for cryptocurrency trading.

This is a key reason why major institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale choose Coinbase for trading and custody services for a wide array of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Coinbase Institutions
Coinbase Institutions

Finally, with Coinbase Prime, high-net-worth individuals and institutions have access to advanced trading tools, financing solutions, secure cold storage, staking services, and much more.

Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime

This offers a comprehensive and secure environment for managing substantial cryptocurrency investments.

Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
Spot Trading
-
Yes
Yes
Futures
-
Yes
Yes
Perps
-
Yes
Yes
Margin
-
-
Yes
Options
-
-
Yes
OTC Desk
-
Yes
Yes
Copy Trading
-
-
Yes
Trading Bots
-
-
Yes
Staking
-
Yes
Yes
Lend & Borrow
-
Yes
Yes
NFTs
-
Yes
Yes
Web 3 Wallet
-
Yes
Yes
Debit Card
-
Yes
Yes
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk

Paxful vs Coinbase Fees

When it comes to trading fees, Paxful and Coinbase have slightly different approaches. Let's take a closer look at each exchange's fee structure and what it means for their users.

Paxful charges a 1% sell fee for users selling via various methods such as bank transfers, credit/debit cards, digital currency, online wallets, or even goods and services. However, if you're selling gift cards, the fees increase to a 5% commission.

One notable aspect of Paxful's fee structure is that it only charges sellers, meaning buyers don't have to worry about any additional fees.

On the other hand Coinbase has a different trading fee structure. It charges a 0.40% spot maker fee and a slightly higher 0.60% spot taker fee.

Coinbase trading fees
Coinbase trading fees

Coinbase does not currently offer futures trading, so users looking for those options might have to explore other exchanges.

However, Coinbase does provide an opportunity to lower trading fees if monthly trade volumes exceed $10,000. So, for active traders or high-volume users, this could be a substantial advantage.

Both exchanges have their own perks and conditions when it comes to their fee structures. Paxful's fees are relatively straightforward and great for buyers who don't have to worry about any costs while Coinbase overall has lower maker and taker fee then Paxful's sell fee.

Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
Spot (mkr)
1% (Sell)
0.4%
0.10%
Spot (tkr)
1% (Sell)
0.6%
0.10%
Futures (mkr)
-
-
0.01%
Futures (tkr)
-
-
0.06%
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk

Paxful vs Coinbase Deposit Methods

Paxful and Coinbase differ in terms of the deposit methods they offer. Paxful does not support any type of fiat currency deposits.

This means that users cannot directly deposit traditional currencies such as USD, EUR, or GBP into their Paxful accounts.

Instead, the only option for depositing funds on Paxful is through cryptocurrencies and Paxful does not charge any fees for deposits.

Users can deposit Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether USD, or Circle USD into their Paxful accounts, which can then be used for trading or other transactions on the platform.

On the other hand, Coinbase offers more flexibility when it comes to depositing funds. Coinbase supports three fiat currencies: USD, EUR, and GBP.

Coinbase fiat deposits
Coinbase fiat deposits

Users can deposit these currencies directly into their Coinbase accounts using various methods. For USD deposits, users can choose to deposit funds via ACH (Automated Clearing House) transfer, which is free of charge.

Wire transfers, on the other hand, incur a fee of $10 USD. For EUR deposits, users can use SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) transfers, which have a deposit fee of 0.15 EUR. GBP deposits can be made via Swift transfer, and there is no fee associated with this method.

Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
USD
-
ACH/Wire
Bank transfer, Visa/MC
EUR
-
SEPA
Bank transfer, SEPA
GBP
-
SWIFT
Faster Payments, VIsa/MC
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk

Paxful vs Coinbase Withdrawal Fees

Starting with Paxful, we need to first highlight that it does not support any fiat currencies for withdrawal. Instead, users can withdraw cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDC, and USDT.

The withdrawal fees for Bitcoin vary depending on the amount being withdrawn. For smaller amounts under $10, the fee is 0.00008 BTC, while for amounts over $20, the fee is 0.0004 BTC.

The withdrawal fees for Ethereum range between 0.002 ETH and 0.0005 ETH. As for USDT and USDC, the fees are dynamic and can range from $1 to $10, depending on network activity.

Moving on to Coinbase, this exchange offers a wide range of withdrawal methods for both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

For fiat withdrawals, users can choose from options such as ACH, Wire, SEPA, and Swift. ACH withdrawals are free of charge while Wire withdrawals come with a fee of $25 USD. Coinbase SEPA withdrawals have a fee of 0.15 EUR and Swift withdrawals have a fee of 1 GBP.

When it comes to cryptocurrency withdrawals on Coinbase, the fees vary depending on the specific cryptocurrency being withdrawn.

For Bitcoin, the fee is 0.0002 BTC while for Ethereum, it is 0.000768 ETH. Solana withdrawals come with a fee of 0.008 SOL and for USDT (ERC-20), the fee is 3.55 USDT.

Paxful and Coinbase provide users with different options when it comes to withdrawing funds. While Paxful focuses solely on cryptocurrencies and offers dynamic fees based on network activity, Coinbase offers a wider range of withdrawal methods for both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
USD
-
ACH/Wire
Bank transfer, Visa/MC
EUR
-
SEPA
Bank transfer, SEPA
GBP
-
Wire/SWIFT
Faster Payments, VIsa/MC
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk
Paxful
Coinbase
Bybit
Bitcoin
0.00008 BTC
0.0003 BTC
0.0002 BTC
Ethereum
0.0005 ETH
0.003 ETH
0.0006 ETH
Solana
-
0.008 SOL
0.01 SOL
USDT (ERC-20)
5 USDT
2.9 USDT
3.7 USDT
Signup
PAXFUL
Your Capital is at risk.
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Bybit
Your Capital is at risk

Is Paxful better than Coinbase?

In conclusion, Paxful and Coinbase are two well-known cryptocurrency exchanges that cater to different needs and audiences.

While both exchanges have their unique strengths, Coinbase appears to have an advantage in terms of extensive features and services offered.

Coinbase stands out for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance.

It provides a comprehensive platform for trading, investing, and learning about cryptocurrencies, making it suitable for both retail and institutional investors.

Additionally, Coinbase supports over 200 cryptocurrencies, offering a wide range of options for users.

On the other hand, Paxful focuses on providing accessibility and a wide range of payment methods, targeting the unbanked and underbanked population.

It allows users to buy and sell only 4 cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and USDC via over 350 payment methods.

When it comes to the signup process, both Paxful and Coinbase require KYC verification before their users can user any services.

In terms of trading fees, Paxful charges a 1% sell fee, with higher fees for gift card transactions. Coinbase, on the other hand, has a different fee structure with spot maker and spot taker fees that start at 0.40% and 0.60%.

When it comes to deposit methods, Paxful only supports cryptocurrency deposits, while Coinbase offers the flexibility to deposit funds in USD, EUR, and GBP through various methods.

Coinbase as such is clearly the more versatile and user friendly exchange while Paxful was design to cater mainly to a very specific use case of P2P-transaction in underserved countries.

Bybit

+450 Cryptocurrencies

Spot, Perps, Margin, Bots

0.1% Spot Fees & 100X Leverage

Great Design & UX

Visit Bybit
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
Coinbase

Trade +240 Cryptocurrencies

Earn 5% Interest On USDC

Great UX & Beginner Friendly

Safest Crypto Exchange

Visit Coinbase
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
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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