Swyftx vs Coinbase | Why Coinbase Is A Much Better Exchange
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
Swyftx vs Coinbase: We've compared these two exchanges across products and features, supported countries and cryptocurrencies, trading fees, security, user experience and much more to help you pick the best exchange based on 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.
Swyftx was founded in 2018 by Alex Harper and Angus Goldman and is based in Australia, while Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsa and is headquartered in the District of Columbia.
Swyftx is one of Australia and New Zealand’s most well known exchanges offering spot trading for over 300 cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, AVAX, ATOM, SOL, DOT and many others.
Swyftx exchange
The platform is aimed at beginners and offers a clean and intuitive user interface, making it easy for users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies.
Swyftx has grown to over 700,000 registered users mainly from Australia and New Zealand and has over 10,000 downloads on its Android and IOS app.
Swyftx app
On the other hand, Coinbase is an exchange born and raised in the United states and provides exchange and wallet services to it's users.
Coinbase is known for its user-friendly interface, security, and regulatory compliance. The platform supports a decent range of +200 cryptocurrencies including well known Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana.
Coinbase exchange
Coinbase offers a range of services including spot trading, recurring buys, staking and earn opportunities, a learn and earn program, NFTs and their very own Visa card.
Coinbase has over 100 million users worldwide, with the majority being based in North America and Europe. The Coinbase Android app has been downloaded over 10 million times and has a rating of 4.1 based on over 750,000 reviews.
Coinbase app
Swyftx vs Coinbase Signup & KYC
When it comes to trading requirements, both Swyftx and Coinbase have obligatory KYC for their users. While the signup process on both exchanges is relatively straightforward, users can't trade on either platform without completing the verification process.
To create an account on Coinbase, users need to provide their full name, email and password. Once the email has been verified, the account has been created and the next steps is to complete KYC.
Coinbase signup
To complete KYC on Coinbase, users will need to provide additional information such as country of residence, address, a government ID and a selfie. Coinbase then needs 10-15 minutes up to a few hours in some cases to verify the user and approve the account.
Similar to Coinbase, Swyftx also requires users to provide their full name, country of residence, phone number, and email during the signup process. Users must also verify their email and phone number before the account is created.
Swyftx KYC
Once all the information is provided, the Swyftx team will take 1-2 days to verify the account. In conclusion, while the signup process on both Swyftx and Coinbase is quick and easy, users must complete KYC on both exchanges in order to trade.
Swyftx vs Coinbase Products & Services
Now let's look into the product range of these two exchanges. Swyftx is a simple exchange that focuses on offering a beginner-friendly venue to new cryptocurrency investors.
Users can buy and sell over 300 cryptocurrencies via spot trading and they can opt in to recurring buys for those who wish to dollar cost average.
Swyftx spot trading
They also offer a demo account for users who want to buy and sell with fake money without needing to go through KYC. In terms of user experience, considering the few products offered by Swyftx, their interface is actually quite crowded.
Swyftx interface
Considering they are mainly targeting beginners, one would expect a smoother and easier to navigate experience.
Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges and has developed a range of products and services that cater primarily to beginners and institutional clients.
Coinbase Products
The exchange's approach has been shaped significantly by strict U.S. regulations which have limited its ability to offer high-risk products like many offshore exchanges.
This regulatory compliance, while possibly making Coinbase less appealing to some professional traders seeking high leverage, benefits beginners with an easier to use platform.
Coinbase Interface
The user experience on Coinbase is designed to cater to different levels of expertise. They offer two main user interfaces: the standard 'Coinbase' and the 'Advanced' version.
The regular Coinbase interface is tailored to beginners and provides a simple, intuitive user experience.
Coinbase Buy & Sell
On the other hand, the Advanced version is suited for experienced traders, offering more sophisticated tools and features for advanced trading strategies.
Coinbase supports trading for over 240 different cryptocurrencies which can be bought or sold using either a user-friendly buy-and-sell feature, or through spot trading available in the Advanced section.
Coinbase Spot
For those looking to invest steadily over time, Coinbase provides a recurring buy feature that is perfect for implementing a Dollar Cost Averaging strategy.
Coinbase Cryptocurrencies
In addition to these services, Coinbase has recently expanded its offerings to include BTC and ETH futures, as well as perpetual contracts for several cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XRP, and AVAX, offering up to 5X leverage.
Coinbase Futures
While Coinbase is a leading exchange in terms of 24/7 spot trading volumes, it is comparatively less competitive in the futures market for the time being.
Coinbase Volumes
Coinbase also offers a lucrative opportunity for users to earn interest, particularly with a 5% interest rate on USDC. Moreover, users have the option to earn staking rewards by staking various cryptocurrencies, including ETH, SOL, ATOM, AVAX, and many others.
Coinbase Staking
One of the unique features of Coinbase is its learn-and-earn program which is a beginner-friendly initiative allows users to learn about different blockchain projects and earn tokens as rewards.
Exploring the world of NFTs, Coinbase has developed its own NFT platform where users can mint, explore, buy, and sell NFTs on various blockchains like Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.
Coinbase NFTs
For those who wish to use their cryptocurrency for everyday transactions, Coinbase offers a Visa Card that allows users to spend cash (USD) or crypto (USDC) and earn rewards on their spending.
Coinbase Visa Card
For users who prefer a more hands-on approach to managing their crypto, the Web 3 Coinbase Wallet is an ideal solution.
This non-custodial wallet allows users to store and manage a vast array of coins and tokens and provides easy access to DeFi across several blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and others.
Coinbase also caters to users seeking premium services with its Coinbase One Membership. At $29.99 per month, this membership offers benefits like zero-fee trades, enhanced staking rewards, and priority customer support.
Coinbase One Membership
Being a publicly-traded company in the U.S., Coinbase adheres to strict regulatory and accountability standards, making it a safe and reliable platform.
This reliability is a key reason why major institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale use Coinbase for trading and custody services for a wide range of crypto assets.
Coinbase Custody
Lastly, Coinbase Prime is a service tailored for high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients, offering advanced trading tools, financing solutions, cold storage options, staking services, and much more.
Let's take a closer look at the deposit methods offered by Swyftx and Coinbase.
Swyftx offers users the option to deposit AUD via PayID, Poli, bank transfers, and credit/debit card deposits with Visa and Mastercard. The best part is that there are no fees when depositing AUD via PayID and bank transfers.
However, for those depositing with a credit/debit card, there is a 3.6% fee and up to 4% spread, something we would recommend avoiding.
Coinbase offers users the ability to deposit funds with 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 deposits are free, while wire deposits cost $10 USD, SEPA deposits cost 0.15 EUR, and Swift deposits are free. Overall, Coinbase offers more fiat currencies, a wider variety of deposit methods and lower fees than Swyftx. It's a homerun for Coinbase.
When it comes to withdrawing cryptocurrencies, Swyftx offers users the ability to withdraw two fiat currencies, AUD and NZD.
While there is no fee for AUD withdrawals, the fee for NZD withdrawals is $10, excluding any possible bank fees.
Withdrawal times for AUD are impressively fast, just 1-2 minutes for banks that support Osko. For banks that don't support Osko, the wait time is up to two business days.
When it comes to cryptocurrency withdrawals, Swyftx charges the following fees: 0.0002 BTC for Bitcoin withdrawals, 0.0018 ETH for Ethereum withdrawals, 0.008 SOL for Solana withdrawals, and 7 USDT for ERC-20 USDT withdrawals.
Coinbase on it's end allows it's users to withdraw it's supported fiat currencies via ACH, Wire, SEPA, and Swift. Withdrawal fees vary depending on the method chosen.
ACH withdrawals are free, while wire withdrawals cost $25 USD. SEPA withdrawals cost 0.15 EUR, and Swift withdrawals cost 1 GBP.
Coinbase fiat withdrawal
For crypto withdrawals, Coinbase charges 0.0003 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.003 ETH for Ethereum and a low 0.008 SOL for Solana withdrawals.
In conclusion, Swyftx is a much smaller and local exchange with a narrow focus on two markets, Australia and New Zealand.
The exchange aims to become the preferred exchange for beginners in these two countries who want access to buy and sell of over 300 cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
The exchange could in our opinion be more user friendly from a UX point of views and the trading fees are too high to our liking.
When comparing Swyftx to Coinbase, or most other exchanges, it simply does not offer enough to come out on top.
Coinbase has the much bigger user base, is available in more countries, offers more product and services and supports for fiat currencies for deposits and withdrawals.
The only area where Swyftx has an advantage is that it currently offers more cryptocurrencies than Coinbase. Besides that, the local exchange comes out short in almost every other category. As such Coinbase is the winner over Swyftx albeit not a massive one.
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.
