Coinmama Review and Comparison Guide

By: Ofir Beigel | Last updated: 9/2/20

Coinmama is a leading cryptocurrency brokerage company that allows you to buy several types of cryptocurrencies with your credit card. In this review I’ll cover the company, its services and also compare it to other leading brokers.

Coinmama Review Summary

Coinmama’s brokerage service allows you to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies easily with your credit card, SWIFT or SEPA transfer. The company is focusing on customer experience and customer service so that transactions are super quick (user verification takes around 30 minutes).

For beginners, this is an excellent option for buying your first Bitcoin. More advanced users can use alternative trading platforms to save on transaction fees.

For a detailed review about Coinmama keep reading this post. Here’s what I’ll cover:

Don’t Like to Read? Watch Our 2 Minute Coinmama Review

1. Who Is Coinmama?

Coinmama was established in 2013 in Israel and has since grown to serve over 2m customers in over 188 countries with over 30 employees. Today the company is registered in Slovakia while still owned and headquartered by New Bit Ventures in Israel.

2. Coinmama Services

Coinmama supplies a brokerage service for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This means that the company sells you the coins directly as opposed to a trading platform where you buy the coins from other people.

The pros of a brokerage service are mainly that the process is simple and fast since you don’t need to look for a buyer on your own. On the other hand, brokerage services are usually more expensive. In Coinmama’s case, the company has made ongoing efforts to reduce their fees as much as possible. At the end of this post you can see how Coinmama compares to other exchanges.

3. Currencies and Payment Methods

At the moment Coinmama supports buying only of the following coins:

Bitcoin (BTC)

Ethereum (ETH)

Ripple (XRP)

Litecoin (LTC)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Cardano (ADA)

Qtum (QTUM)

Ethereum Classic (ETC)

EOS (EOS)

Tezos (XTZ)

Coinmama accepts credit or debit cards that is issued by Visa or Mastercard. The company has is now also accepting payments by bank transfer (SEPA and SWIFT) with 0% processing fees. Prices are denominated in EUR, USD, GBP, AUD or CAD.

4. Fees

The prices you see on Coinmama’s website already include the company’s brokerage service fee of 5.9%. The base price is calculated from TradeBlock’s XBX index.

On top of the stated price, you will need to add a 5% credit card processing fee. This means that Coinmama’s price will be 10.9% above the market rate.

5. Buying Limits

The minimum amount of Bitcoins you can buy is 60 USD or the equivalent in EUR/GBP/AUD/CAD. The buying limits depend on your account level. The daily buying limit is set to 5000 USD and the monthly limit to 15,000 USD for Level 1.

In order to make any type of purchase you’ll need to complete some form of identity verification. There are 3 levels of verification, and with each level, the account spending limits increase.

Level 1 – Requires 1 valid government issued ID, a selfie of yourself holding that ID and a note with “Coinmama” and today’s date written on it.

Level 2 – You need to submit a secondary ID. Apart from two of the above IDs, you will also need to upload a utility bill.

Level 3 – Requires filling a short form.

6. Supported Countries

Coinmama offers its services worldwide with the exception of sanctioned countries and several US states.

Countries supported:

Afghanistan, Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See (Vatican City State), Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Moldova, Republic of, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, Norfolk Island, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Province of China, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States*, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia.

What States Does Coinmama work in?

Coinmama works in the following states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

7. Customer Support and User Reviews

Coinmama has a complete help center and also a dedicated support channel via email. Support requests are usually answered within 24 hours.

I also took a look at various customer reviews users posted online. Having reviewed over 20 exchanges by now, I know that when people leave reviews online it’s almost always negative reviews because they are pissed off about something. That’s why I make it a habit to actually read through the reviews and see what people are complaining about.

The majority of Coinmama’s negative reviews complained about one thing – the identity verification process. Users claim that Coinmama requests a ton of information and in some cases rejects applications without giving proper explanation why.

From my own experience I can say that verification with Coinmama was relatively easy, and yes, they require a lot of information. However this is just standard Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) policies most legit exchanges must adhere to.

On the bright side, Coinmama receives a score of “Great” from TrustPilot. Most positive reviews praise the customer support of the site. In the past, Coinmama support representatives used to reply to angry commentators on the comment section of this page. It saddens me to see they have recently stopped doing so. Let’s hope they’ll be back soon…

8. Coinmama vs. other exchanges

Here’s a short comparison of Coinmama’s brokerage service compared to other popular services around.

IMPORTANT – The fees stated in this table are for credit card purchase only. These fees include the broker fee only. Most credit transactions will also have a credit clearing fee of between 3%-5%

Coinmama vs. Coinbase

Coinbase charges a 3.99% fee for credit card purchases, which is lower than the 5.9% Coinmama charges. Unlike Coinmama, Coinbase supports a limited number of countries around the world and is known to have horrible support.

Coinmama vs. Changelly

Changelly was known to be one of the most expensive services you could use to buy Bitcoin with a credit. However, it seems that lately they have optimized their service to offer a more competitive offer. Changelly takes a 5% on top of the existing 5% payment processor fee. This is 0.9% cheaper from Coinmama’s total fee (10.9%). Also, it seems that the exchange rate Changelly uses is cheaper than Coinmama’s, so overall you can save up to 3% by using their service.

Coinmama vs. Bitstamp

Bitstamp’s brokerage service is almost identical to Coinmama’s, with about 0.5% difference between the services. Both have good reputation. Bitstamp is one of the oldest and most respected exchanges out there so it’s a solid alternative for Coinmama. Also, just like Coinmama, the exchange supports a wide variety of countries worldwide.

Coinmama vs. Binance

Binance has recently partnered with Simplex to allow purchases of crypto with a credit card. The exchange rate of Binance is practically similar to Coinmama’s. Some would argue that Binance has an easier KYC process but I’ve actually experienced it the other way around.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to get verified on Coinmama?

Coinmama states that verifications should take from 30 minutes to up to one hour.

Does Coinmama accept cards?

Coinmama accepts only Visa and Mastercard. Please note thatAmerican Express, Discover and PayPal are not accepted.

Does Coinmama require ID?

Yes. I order to verify your account you will need to submit some form of identification. This can be anything from a driver’s license up to a passport. For a complete guide on which ID is required in each country read this post.

How Do I Buy Bitcoins on Coinmama?

The process of buying coins from Coinmama goes as follows:

Sign up to the site Submit identity verification documents Click on “Buy” and choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy Decide on the amount you want to purchase and click “buy now” Submit payment information Get your coins instantly

As soon as your payment clears, Coinmama sends you your coins. This is crucial since sometimes a day or two can mean wide price fluctuations in price and you end up buying coins for a different amount than you originally intended. It is also worth mentioning that Coinmama “locks” the Bitcoin price for you as soon as you submit your order.

10. Conclusion – Is Coinmama Legit and Safe?

The short answer is yes. Coinmama is a reputable company and their support is pretty good. Their only downside, in my opinion, is the high fees. Unfortunately, this can’t be avoided when using a credit card, but considering the prompt service it’s sometimes worth the cost.

If you have the option to use a SEPA or SWIFT transfer rather than a credit card that’s even better since you’ll save 5% in total fees.

All in all, the service is solid. If you’ve had your own experience with Coinmama, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.