By Namu Ju

KuCoin is a relatively young global cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore. With over 200 coins and 400 trading pairs, KuCoin is among the top altcoin exchanges for new and experienced traders. We take a closer look at KuCoin and what sets it apart from the rest.

History and Background

Though KuCoin officially opened in 2017, their founding team has been working with blockchain since 2011. The technical architecture of the exchange was created back in 2013, but the platform was honed over the years before the 2017 launch. KuCoin’s founders Michael Gan and Eric Don are part of a management team with eight core members. Many of these members boast backgrounds working for blockchain giants such as Ant Financial, GF Securities, Youling, Jianbang Communication, and iBOX PAY.

During its ICO, KuCoin sold 100 million of its native KuCoin Shares (KCS), an ERC-20 token, for 0.000055 BTC each. KuCoin raised nearly $20 million USD in BTC (according to BTC’s value at the time) through its ICO held from August 13, 2017, to September 1, 2017.

In February 2019, KuCoin completed its upgrade to KuCoin Platform 2.0, which features an advanced new application programming interface (API), additional security solutions, a new tiered trading fee discount programme, and various user experience and future optimisations.

Unlike other major exchanges, KuCoin has yet to experience any hack or breach in security.

Advantages and Disadvantages

KuCoin offers some of the lowest trading fees available among altcoin exchanges. After its February 2019 upgrade, base transaction fees for all trading pairs are 0.1%, except for the fees for GGC trading pairs at 0.25%. KuCoin employs a tiered trading fee discount programme, lowering fees according to users’ KCS holdings and their total trading volume over the most recent 30-day period. While there are no fees for deposits, users face a withdrawal minimum for all listed coins, as well as withdrawal fees for most coins. NEO and GAS can be withdrawn without fees.

Known as ‘The People’s Exchange’, KuCoin allows users to benefit from the success of the exchange directly. KuCoin uses 50% of all trading fees earned to buy KCS from the market and redistributes the earnings every 24 hours as dividends to users who hold at least 6 KCS. These dividends are not necessarily awarded in KCS but in the asset that has seen the most trade that day. KuCoin also returns an additional 40% of its trading fee earnings to users who have successfully recommended others to trade on KuCoin. Their referral bonus programme awards recommenders in KCS 20% of each invitee’s trading fees for the invitee’s first year.

KuCoin offers 24/7 customer service, and the exchange has been known to list coin pairs before other significant exchanges. The low trading fees and easy-to-use interface make KuCoin an attractive option for crypto exchange for beginning and intermediate users. However, KuCoin’s average trading volume is in the tens of millions, which is much lower than those of bigger exchanges like Binance. Lower volumes indicate less liquidity and may be a problem for high volume traders.

KuCoin’s Latest Moves

While KuCoin began as a crypto-to-crypto exchange, KuCoin launched KuCoin OTC in July 2019, allowing users to purchase BTC, PAX, and USDT with CNY. KuCoin partnered with Israel-based Simplex in March 2019 to re-enable users to purchase cryptocurrencies with Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Users can now use USD or EUR to buy BTC, ETH, XRP, BCHABC, and LTC. In November 2019, in partnership with Banxa, KuCoin expanded its fiat options and began accepting credit or debit card payments in the British Pound (GBP) and the Australian Dollar (AUD).

KuCoin introduced the “KuCoin Affiliate Program” in June 2019, a rewards system similar to its referral programme. KuCoin users who run websites, blogs, YouTube or other social network channels with substantial traffic or number of subscribers are eligible to earn up to 50% of each referral’s trading fees for the invitee’s entire lifecycle on the exchange platform.

KuCoin announced in late November 2019 that the exchange is partnering with BetProtocol, the world’s leading blockchain-based game platform. Through this partnership, BetProtocol will integrate KuCoin Shares into their gaming ecosystem, allowing KCS holders to use the native KuCoin token as their primary currency in games like Roulette, Dice, and Baccarat.

Navigate KuCoin with Revain

What sets KuCoin apart from other top global cryptocurrency exchange platforms are its investment in the KuCoin community and its attitude toward altcoins. KuCoin’s generous rewards structures have benefitted all its users to varying degrees.KuCoin was the first major exchange to list Binance Coin (BNB), the native asset of Binance Exchange. CEO Michael Gan сommented, “KuCoin is always willing to support promising blockchain projects that bring value to the world.”

Revain is a feedback platform for the crypto community that features authentic user reviews for coins, tokens, and exchange platforms like KuCoin. We utilise blockchain technology and AI-powered filtration systems to prevent reviews from being deleted or altered. To provide honest and authentic user experience-based information, our feedback platform employs machine learning and neural networks to detect and filter spam, feedback floods, and any abuse of its reward model.

Once a review from a legitimate user passes the manual and AI filtration systems, the user is rewarded in RVN, Revain’s absolutely stable internal token. We also have R, a second native token listed on dozens of exchanges. Revain’s reward model allows other companies to award tokens to authors of high-calibre reviews. This unique model encourages valuable and informative user feedback, sharpening our AI filtration system to uphold transparency and accountability.