Kucoin digital asset trading platform
What is KuCoin Cryptocurrency Exchange?
KuCoin was launched back in August 2017 and has done incredibly well to grow in popularity and reliability, becoming a top 20 exchange in a short amount of time. The Hong Kong-based exchange has won many supporters thanks to their ultra-competitive fees and trading costs. Once upon a time, the platform was purely crypto-to-crypto, but like many of their competitors, they have enabled fiat-to-crypto purchases, a P2P exchange, and their own share token (more on that later).
The platform is constantly looking to add quality cryptocurrencies to its offering, whilst keeping costs low. KuCoin makes trades incredibly easy, which is good news for beginners who prefer a customer and user-friendly platform.
The Positives
- Very low trading fees, starting from 0.1%
- CoinMarketCap rates Kucoin as the 12th best exchange overall, and they’re also in the top 20 for liquidity
- Futures trading is available available
- User-friendly trading platform
- Online chat with a support agent
- Experienced team of crypto developers who operate with a community focus
- Some advanced security measures that are comparable to the banking sector, including multilayer encryption, multifactor authentication, and micro-withdrawal wallets
- Their OTC service has no trading fees and ultra-quick settlements, however, KYC verification is needed
- The platform is very easy to navigate for all levels of trader and can be used safely in-browser, or through their iOS and Android applications
- Designers have built a visually stunning platform that operates as well as it looks, with no delays on carrying out orders
- The news section is very good and keeps traders up-to-date with the volatilities of the market
- They recently added PayPal as a payment partner, allowing traders to purchase crypto from their bank account, via this popular payment processor. They also added wire transfers and Interac e-Transfer
The Negatives
- Higher fees for fiat-to-crypto trades
- No telephone support is offered for problem resolution
- They experienced a massive hack in 2020, with $280m in assets stolen from a hot wallet. However, their insurance fund was quick to act, as was their partnership with other exchanges, and so the coins ended up being recovered and the hackers were arrested. Despite resolving the hack, the trust in the platform and daily trading volumes have dropped since
Which cryptocurrencies are available?
KuCoin can boast an impressive 495 trading pairs, one of the best tallies in the exchange market. This represents hundreds of cryptocurrencies that are regularly being added too after the team does their due diligence to ensure they are in-demand and offer value.
One interesting coin available is KuCoin Shares, which is their native cryptocurrency. This token allows holders to get dividends from the commissions they take. The more KCS you hold, the more dividends you get, and the more people use the platform, the bigger the dividends. There’s another benefit to KCS, as you will see in the next section…
Some information about fees
When it comes to fees, KuCoin can boast some of the most competitive rates going, allowing them to offer exceptional financial value on top of all of their other great provisions. The standard spot trading fee is 0.1%, however, this will drop if you are holding KCS. Fees are typically aligned with Binance, making the two exchanges the best to use, price-wise.
The fees in the P2P feature vary and can reach as high as 6% depending on the fiat payment method used to buy the crypto.
BTC withdrawals are charged at 0.0004BTC, with other coins offering different fees. There are no fees for deposits from KuCoin, however, payment processors vary.
The final say
Aside from customer support, which is a big issue for 99% of exchanges, KuCoin is pretty much excelling in every other department. They’re a rapid grower that is trustworthy, despite the hack of 2020 (which didn’t really impact traders). Over the next two or three years, we could envision KuCoin climbing the charts and becoming a top 10 or even top 5 exchange. For those using the platform, getting hold of KCS is a gamechanger.
