CoinSpot - Not Just an Exchange for Beginners

For almost every cryptocurrency investor in Australia, CoinSpot has surely been their starting point. CoinSpot was one of the first exchanges in Australia to branch outside the traditional Bitcoin / Ripple / Ethereum offering, quickly adding about 50 coins in it's infancy, and now hosting over 100 cryptocurrency coins and tokens.

Fees

CoinSpot historically had some of the highest fees amongst the Australian exchanges, but in early 2018 this all changed. The previous structure had large fees up to 3% for "altcoin" trades, which has now been reduced down to 1%. The same 1% fee is charged when converting between coins/tokens, i.e. for a BTC <> ETH trade. For trades utilising CoinSpot's market trading features, a lower 0.25% fee is charged.

Ease of Use

It just can't get any easier than CoinSpot. From the signup process through to identity verification, we found CoinSpot to be one of the most straight forward, laid out websites of all the Australian Exchanges. There's no fancy widgets all over the pages, everything is intuitive. This has something to do with the simplicity of the features offered by CoinSpot; they don't operate a trading exchange in the typical sense, and they take a lot of that complexity away from the user. This makes the entire experience simpler, but this equates to a lack of control required by more advanced users, especially those wishing to trade.

We were able to easily find and access all information required to keep accounting records up to date for taxation purposes.

Security Features

CoinSpot with it's simplistic approach, offer up the basics demanded by most tech savvy users. Email verification is simple (and actually done), with Google's 2FA being offered as an optional feature like most other exchanges. A robot verification check is present on the logon screen which is also prevalent across most of the exchanges. CoinSpot alerts you via email to cryptocurrency fund withdrawals, requiring confirmation from the account owner to proceed. They do not track or notify you if you logon from a new location, however. CoinSpot holds a valid ADCA membership and complies with KYC/AML legislation.

Tradable Coins

CoinSpot by far offers more coins than any Australian exchange, with new coins regularly added. You'll find the standard coins of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, as well as all but 2 of the top 20 coins as listed on CoinMarketCap (those being Binance coin, which is locked to the Binance exchange, and Tezos). CoinSpot currently lists over 100 coins & tokens which puts it on par with the large international exchanges, such as Binance and Bittrex.

Customer Service

Having dealt with CoinSpot's customer service representatives on numerous occassions, we can safely attest to their speedy response and ability to resolve complex issues with professionalism. Lodging a support request is simple, and they are generally available and responsive on social media (Facebook and Twitter). CoinSpot operates a knowledge base and FAQs which assists users with most questions.

Identity Verification

CoinSpot's approach to identity verification is predominantly manual. There is no automated verification here of passport/drivers license or other information, which isn't ideal, but once you're verified, this is just a minor blip on the radar. This means that verification can take a number of days. CoinSpot's "selfie" approach is also considered to be a little bit invasive, and has also been encountered on other Australian exchanges. Check out our guide to Verifying your Identity with Coinspot

Deposit/Withdrawals

CoinSpot utilises the POLi Pay system to provide instant deposits with no fees up to $10,000 from Australia's larger banks. Unfortunately, cult favorites such as ING Direct are not on this list. Cash deposits can be made using the Blueshyft network, which allows you to deposit cash at newsagents and other participating outlets, with instant access once deposited. Expect a fee of 2%, and a limit of up to $8,000 when using the Blueshyft cash deposit method. BPay is also available, with 1-3 business days being the norm. A fee of 0.9% and limit of $10,000 is enforced on BPay payments.

CoinSpot now allows deposits of most cryptocurrencies, after recently developing their Ethereum and ERC20 capabilities. This means that tokens on CoinSpot which use the ERC20 format, can generally be transferred to your CoinSpot wallet. Transferring coins out of CoinSpot is generally available for all coins.