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Coinbase Review Australia

Last Updated: Nov 2, 2022  |  Published: Sep 18, 2021


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Our Review 

Coinbase

2.5/5

We ranked Coinbase last place in Australia out of 16 platforms

🏆 Overall Ranking

16/16

💰 Fees

Below Average

📲 Features

Average

🇦🇺Deposit & Withdrawals

Below Average

👍 Ease Of Use

Above Average

🔒 Security

Above Average

Coinbase is very trusted, easy-to-use and beginner-friendly. However, it was the most expensive platform we tested in Australia (4.50% total purchase fee) and doesn't let you cash out AUD to a bank account.

We ranked Coinbase in last place because the fees are significantly higher than other platforms. We recommend a cheaper platform with more coins, and better deposit/withdrawal options like Swyftx or Binance AU (more alternatives below).

Where It Shines:

  • Easy for Beginners: Coinbase is extremely easy-to-use, regardless of previous experience
  • Great User-Interface: Simple design and navigation
  • Reputation & Security: Coinbase is one of the most trusted platforms in the industry. Founded in 2012, they are publicly traded in the USA, offer many security features, and have 60+ million users
  • Third-Party Insurance - Coinbase has a $255 million insurance policy on their hot wallets
  • Earn Free Crypto - Coinbase Learn is a good feature that pays you to watch videos and learn about innovative projects

Where It Falls Short:

  • Can't Cash Out AUD: Ther is no sell option in Australia. To cash out, users must withdraw cryptocurrency to a local exchange that supports Australian bank accounts (eg. Swyftx)
  • Most Expensive Platform: 4.50% total purchase fee for buying crypto. This was last place out of 11 platforms tested and 10x higher than Kraken which had a 0.43% total fee
  • Low Account Limits - New accounts are limited $300/week for buying crypto
  • Limited Funding Options - The only option is to buy crypto instantly with a debit card. There is no fiat wallet where you can deposit or hold AUD in your account
  • Variety of Coins - Coinbase offers 110+ cryptocurrencies but other platforms offer double or triple this

Best Coinbase Alternatives

Swyftx
  • Best overall in Australia 
  • 280+ coins, staking, bundles
  • Beginner-friendly
  • Limited pro tools
  • Low app reviews
  • Best for advanced features
  • 500+ coins, margin, futures, rewards
  • Can't Cashout AUD
  • Expensive to fund with AUD, best option is to deposit crypto from a local exchange
  • 0.43% total purchase fee
  • Great advanced features
  • Global reputation and security
  • Limited features overall
  • Only 50+ coins

Overview

📲 Features

Header

🔐 Security

Header

Coins

Mobile App

Web App

Beginner Friendly?

Pro Trading Terminal

Limit Orders

Recurring Buys

Bundles

Staking

Margin

Futures

OTC

24/7 Support

110+

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes*

No*

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

App 2FA

Uses Cold Storage?

AUSTRAC Regulated?

Any Hacks or Incidents?

Withdrawal Confirmations

See Account Activity

Address Whitelisting

Crypto Withdrawals Allowed

Year Founded

Publicly Traded?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes - 2021

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

2012

Yes

💲 Fees

Cell

🏦 Deposits & Withdrawals

Cell

$100 Buy After All Fees

$100 Sell After All Fees

Best Deposit Fee

Best Withdrawal Fee

Trading Fee

BTC Spread (Dec 17, 21)

BTC Withdrawal Fee

$95.60

Can't Sell

N/A

N/A

2.90%*

N/A

Dynamic

$AUD Fiat Wallet?

Direct Bank Transfer

POLi

PAYid

Credit/Debit

BPay

Other Fiat Currencies

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

  • Table last updated: Dec 17, 2021
  • Total fees and spread was tested Dec 17, 2021 and is subject to change
  • *Pro Trading Terminal is Coinbase Pro which offers limit orders
  • Trading fee is dynamic based on how much you are buying

🔎 Coinbase Compared

We are tracking the 15+ most popular Australian crypto exchanges. Compare the entire industry below:

Coins

Total Purchase Fee

Trading Fees

$AUD Deposits

Beginner Friendly

Advanced Features

Website

600+

0.15%

0.10%

Yes

No

Yes

18

1.24%

0.85%

Yes

No

Yes

110+

4.50%

2.90%*

No

Yes

No

50+

1.09%

0% - 2.00%

Yes

Yes

Yes

30+

0.14% + $50

0.10%

Yes

Yes

Yes

370+

1.89%

0.10% - 1%

Yes

Yes

Yes

280+

2.36%

0.05% - 0.9%

Yes

Yes

No

150+

1.30%

0.00%

Yes

Yes

Yes

270+

1.04%

0.50%

Yes

Yes

Yes

150+

1.45%

1.00%

Yes

Yes

No

30

-

0%

Yes

Yes

Yes

27+

1.68%

0.50%

Yes

Yes

Yes

50+

0.43%

0.16% / 0.26%

Yes

Yes

Yes

700+

2.23%

0.10%

Yes

No

Yes

270+

0.41%

0.08% - 0.1%

No

No

Yes

320+

0.95%

0.60%

Yes

Yes

Yes


Coinbase

About Coinbase

Coinbase is considered one of the easiest and safest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The San Francisco based company was founded in 2012 and is available in 100+ countries serving 100M+ clients!

Their goal is to make crypto trustworthy and easy to use. When you visit Coinbase, You'll notice it's very beginner-friendly and has a beautiful user interface. They offer a variety of features like beginner trading, advanced trading, staking, learn and earn, a Dapp browser, and more.

Background

  • Publicly traded company since 2021 (NASDAQ: COIN)
  • Available in 100+ countries
  • 100+ million verified users
  • $250+ billion assets on the platform
  • 3700+ employees

Screenshots


Verification

Opening a Coinbase account is similar to a bank account and requires some personal info. By law, Coinbase and all Australian crypto exchanges must verify your identity in order to make trades. So make sure to have info like your ID with you.

Application Time

5-10 minutes

KYC Verification

Yes

Instant Verification

No

Manual Verification

?

Who Is Eligible?

  • People above the age of 18
  • Australian residents and 100+ supported countries

Sign Up Requirements 

  • Verified email address
  • Verified phone number
  • Name, address, date of birth
  • Government-issued ID (eg. drivers license or passport)
  • More info in some cases (source of funds, occupation, etc)

Security

Security is one of the most important parts of any crypto exchange. Coinbase has a solid reputation and lots of security features. We rounded up all of Coinbase's security features and past incidents. Let's break it down:

Company Security Features

  • 98% of crypto assets are held in offline cold storage
  • $255 million insurance policy on the 2% of crypto held in online hot wallets
  • Sensitive data is stored on paper backups and USB drives in vaults and multiple locations
  • Coinbase claims all personal information is encrypted
  • Employees must pass a criminal background check
  • Bug bounty program - they pay white-hat hackers to find security bugs and vulnerabilities
  • See their security page for more

User Security Features

  • 2 Factor Authentication for login and withdrawals (SMS, App or hardware device like Yubikey)
  • Set up Pin or Touch ID for app login, sending transfers and more
  • Security notifications via email, SMS and push (eg. Your password has been reset)
  • View account activity (logins, locations, IP addresses, etc)
  • Account activity notifications (eg. buys, sells, transfers, etc)
  • Coinbase Vault - wallet with time-delayed withdrawals, offline storage, and multiple approvers
  • Coinbase offers an emergency phone number to lock your account 

Other Security Notes

  • Good reputation since being founded in 2012
  • Compliant in over 100+ countries including Australia 

Coinbase Hack May, 2021

Coinbase was founded in 2012 and faced their first breach in 2021. Hackers stole crypto from 6,000 Coinbase customers by finding a vulnerability in the SMS account recovery process. Fortunately, no users funds were lost because Coinbase reimbursed everyone affected. 

Can You Trust Coinbase?

Yes. Coinbase is still one of the most trustworthy platforms in the crypto industry. They have a great reputation, they're a publicly traded company in the USA, they have insurance, and offer many security features like 2FA and more.

However, although Coinbase is considered safe, you should not hold all of your assets on any crypto exchange. Centralized platforms always have a small risk of hacks, government confiscation and more. The safest way to store your crypto is offline using a hardware wallet.


Deposits & Withdrawals

AUD Deposits

In Australia, Coinbase only offers instant crypto purchases via credit or debit card. You cannot deposit or hold Australian dollars like you can on other platforms.

When we tested it, there was a 2.90% transaction fee on $450 ($13.06 fee). However, this fee can be lower or higher depending how much you're spending.

Type

Fee

Time

Limits

PayID

POLi

Direct Bank Transfer

BPay

Credit/Debit

~2.90%

Instant

$300/week for new accounts

AUD Withdrawals

In Australia, you cannot sell your cryptocurrency on Coinbase for Australian dollars or any other fiat currency. The only option is to withdraw your crypto to another wallet or platform that supports an Australian bank account. We recommend Swyftx or Digital Surge.

Type

Fee

Time

Limits

PayID

POLi

Direct Bank Transfer

BPay

Crypto Withdrawals

Coin

Fee

Minimum Withdrawal

Bitcoin

Dynamic (network fees)

0.0001 BTC

Ethereum

Dynamic (network fees)

?


Fees

Coinbase has a complicated tiered fee system. In general, the prices decrease percentage-wise if you're spending more.

Coinbase Price Test (Dec 17, 2021 at 1:17pm)

We price tested 11 platforms simultaneously and here are the results. Spreads and prices change daily so this data is subject to change. However, it's a good tool to compare versus other platforms.

Coinbase

Amount

Ranking

$100 Buy After All Fees

$95.50 (4.50% total fee)

11/11

$100 Sale After All Fees

N/A (Can't Sell AUD)

-

BTC Spread

N/A (No sell price)

-

BTC Buy Price

$66,889 AUD

10/11

BTC Sell Price

N/A (Can't Sell AUD)

-

Ref. Price Difference

Buy: +1.60%

Sell: N/A

-

Reference Price (Google)

$65,837

-

How We Tested This

The "$100 After All Fees" adds everything from when you deposit money to make your order plus the reference price difference.

The price test was conducted by logging into all platforms simultaneously and collecting buy/sell orders. We did this as quickly as possible (within minutes) in order to be as accurate as possible since prices can change rapidly. Find out more about our testing process.

Coinbase Purchase Fees

What We Found

  • Coinbase stopped showing their fee structure on their website but when we tested it, there was a 2.9% transaction fee ($13.06 / $450 = 2.9%)
  • The total purchase fee was 4.5% (after adding the reference price difference)
  • This was last place out of 15+ crypto exchanges which were tested at the same time 
  • Coinbase was 10x more expensive than Kraken which had a 0.43% total purchase fee

Platform & Features

Overall, Coinbase makes it easy to buy and sell cryptocurrencies with a very user-friendly interface. Let's look at the main features and offerings:

List of Features:

  • Web, iOS and Android app
  • Instant buy and sells
  • Recurring orders
  • Staking and rewards
  • Learn and Earn section
  • Coinbase Vault
  • News and education
  • Coinbase Pro (separate platform and app)
  • And more

1. Web, iOS and Android App

All 60 million Coinbase users can use the platform on all of their devices. Like mentioned before, the platform is incredibly easy to use, no matter what your experience is. Coinbase also has multiple apps which are the main platform, Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Wallet.

Coinbase App Screenshots

2. Trading Interface

Coinbase does not offer limit orders or any advanced order types unless you use their other platform Coinbase Pro which is separate. The main platform is built for beginners and offers the following ways to trade, buy and sell:

  • Instant Buy and Sells - Beginner-friendly market orders 
  • Recurring Buys - Set up automatic orders to buy crypto daily, weekly, monthly based on the settings you provide
  • Convert - Quickly swap one crypto for another without having to switch to AUD first
  • Coinbase Pro - Separate platform for with limit orders, technical charts and more
Coinbase Charts

3. Staking and Rewards

Coinbase lets you put your crypto to work and earn up to 5% yield. All you have to do is just own the supported cryptocurrencies and you will earn automatically with no minimum amount required. Currently, they only offer a few coins for staking and rewards which are:

  • Dai (rewards) - 2.00% APY
  • Tezos (staking) - 4.63% APY
  • Algorand (rewards) - 4.00% APY
  • Cosmos (staking) - 5.00% APY

Other platforms to earn rewards include Binance AU, Kraken, Swyftx and Crypto.com where you can compare rates.

4. Coinbase Vault

Coinbase Vault is built to store your long term holdings more securely. You can transfer your crypto into your Vault wallet and then it will have extra security features such as time-delayed withdrawals and multiple approvers for joint account withdrawals.

5. Learn and Earn

Coinbase offers a crypto learn and earn section where you get paid to learn about specific cryptocurrencies. All you need to do is watch a few 1-3 minute videos and answer a few questions to get paid anywhere from $1-$15. When you complete the quiz, the funds will automatically deposit into your account where you can instantly trade it, withdraw it or hold onto it.

Coinbase Earn and Learn

6. News and Education

Find tons of educational resources on beginner and advanced crypto topics. You can also read up on the latest crypto news right from your dashboard.

Coinbase News and Education

7. Coinbase Pro

More sophisticated traders who also want lower fees can use Coinbase Pro. It is a separate platform that has its own app however you can still login with the same username and password.

Coinbase Pro has different order types like limit orders and market orders, a live order book, advanced charts and more. The downside is Pro does not support AUD right now so you must deposit and withdraw crypto, USD, EUR or GBP.

Coinbase Pro Dashboard

8. Other Coinbase Features

  • Set custom price alerts and watchlists
  • Light/dark mode
  • Pay - Send crypto for free to friends via text message or email
  • Referral program - invite friends and you both earn around $10 USD
  • Coinbase Wallet (separate app, explore DeFi)
  • Coinbase Card (not available in Australia)
  • Coinbase Borrow (not available in Australia)
  • Buy Bounty Program - get paid $200-$50,000 to find security risks

Customer Support

You can contact Coinbase support via live chat and it says "an agent should reply within 10 minutes." They also offer email support, phone support and a knowledge base with helpful FAQs, articles and walkthroughs. There is also a live website status where you can check for incidents or maintenance in real-time.

Coinbase Customer Support

FAQ

Is Coinbase Insured?

Coinbase has a third-party insurance policy on its hot wallets for $255 million through Llyods of London.

Is Coinbase A Wallet?

Your Coinbase account comes with a unique wallet for every coin that's supported on the platform. Coinbase also offers a separate app called "Coinbase Wallet" which is a software wallet that lets you hold your private keys.

Is Coinbase Legal In Australia?

Coinbase is a legal Digital Currency Exchange in Australia that's registered with AUSTRAC (ACN: 654922442) and regulated by ASIC. Their office is registered in Sydney, NSW. 

How Do You Sell on Coinbase in Australia?

Coinbase does not offer the option to sell crypto back to AUD. To cash out from Coinbase, you need to withdraw your crypto to a local exchange like Swyftx that supports withdrawals to an Australian bank account.

Is Coinbase Better Than Swyftx?

Swyftx is considerably cheaper than Coinbase (0.95% total purchase fee vs. 4.50%) and offers more coins (280+ vs 110+). Swyftx also supports Australian bank accounts to deposit and withdraw AUD, Coinbase does not.


Coinbase

Coinbase

Start buying crypto easily and securely