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CoinJar Review Australia

Last Updated: Jul 17, 2022  |  Published: Sep 8, 2021


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Founded in 2013, CoinJar is one of Australia's oldest and most famous cryptocurrency exchanges with over 600,000 users. But is it worth the hype and are there better choices for buying crypto?

Here at RankFi, we've compared and reviewed over 50 cryptocurrency exchanges. We put CoinJar to the test to see how it stacks up to the competition when it comes to fees, altcoins, security, and more. Let's jump in.

Our Review

CoinJar offers 50+ cryptocurrencies, beginner and advanced features, and a 1.09% total purchase fee for buying Bitcoin which was 7th place when tested. If you 're looking for something very easy to use, CoinJar is great. However, if you want the lowest fees, lots of coins, lots of features and more, there are better choices for Australians right now.

CoinJar

3.5/5

🏆 Overall Ranking

?

💰 Fees

Average

📲 Features

Average

🇦🇺Deposit & Withdrawals

Average

👍 Ease Of Use

Above Average

🔒 Security

Average

Where It Shines:

  • Great UX: Very easy platform to use for beginners and advanced traders. One of the best user interfaces
  • Low Fees on the Pro Exchange: 0.10% maker fee, 0.00% taker fee

Where It Falls Short:

  • High Trading Fee: 1% trading fee. We recommend using the Pro Exchange which has 0.10% trading fees
  • Limited Coins: Only 40+ cryptocurrencies but other platforms offer hundreds

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

50+

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

No

App 2FA

Uses Cold Storage?

AUSTRAC Regulated?

Any Hacks or Incidents?

Insurance Policy

View Login History

Address Whitelisting

Crypto Withdrawals Allowed

Year Founded

Publicly Traded?

Yes

Yes

Yes

No*

Yes

No

No

Yes

2013

No

💰 Fees

0.0/5

🏦 Deposits & Withdrawals

0.0/5

$100 Buy After All Fees

$100 Sell After All Fees

Best Deposit Fee

Best Withdrawal Fee

Trading Fee

BTC Spread (Feb 18, 2022)

BTC Withdrawal Fee

ETH Withdrawal Fee

$98.91

$98.25

Free

Free

0.10% - 1.00%

0.84%

Dynamic

Dynamic

AUD Fiat Wallet?

Direct Bank Transfer

POLi

PAYid

Credit/Debit

BPay

Other Fiat Currencies

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

  • Total fees and spread was tested Feb 18, 2022 and is subject to change

Screenshots

Updated: Sep 8, 2021

CoinJar

About CoinJar

CoinJar is one of Australia's longest running crypto exchanges founded in 2013. They are based in Melbourne and the platform is available in the UK as well. 

Early on, they received funding from multiple venture capital firms and have now grown into 400,000+ users, $1+ billion traded and $100+ million of assets under custody. Their website and mobile app makes it easy for beginners and experienced investors to trade crypto.

Is CoinJar Legit?

CoinJar is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange that is legal and compliant under Australia's strict financial sector. They've been open since 2013 and are a registered Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with AUSTRAC.

Opening An Account

Application Time

5-10 minutes

KYC Verification

Yes

Instant Verification

Yes

Who Is Eligible?

  • Australian citizens or if you hold an Australian visa

Sign Up Requirements 

  • Email address
  • Name, address, date of birth
  • Government issued ID (eg. driver's license, passport)
  • Selfie verification

Opening a CoinJar account is similar to opening a bank account and requires personal info like government ID. CoinJar requires to verify your identity by law as does any centralized crypto exchange in Australia.

Once you have your ID and personal info ready, opening an account is straightforward and takes 5-10 minutes. Most users will be instantly verified and ready to make deposits and withdrawals.

Security

Past Incidents

CoinJar is co-founded by Zhou Tong. It's important to note that his previous company, Bitcoinica, was "hacked" for 43,554 Bitcoin and there are many allegations that he is a suspected thief. There is an entire reddit thread with more information. However, CoinJar itself has not had any hacks or incidents since being founded in 2013.

Company Security Features

  • 90% of assets are held in offline cold storage that's geo-distributed
  • Registered AUSTRAC company
  • They claim to have full reserves at all times
  • Periodic security audits
  • 24/7 they automatically look for suspicious logins
  • Strict organizational security for employees
  • Employees must pass a criminal background check
  • Bug bounty program - get paid to find security bugs and vulnerabilities
  • See the rest here

User Security Features

  • 2FA for login and/or transactions (SMS or app)
  • Biometric login (eg. Face ID, Touch ID)
  • Set up 4-6 digit passcode for payments and to change settings
  • Add trusted devices

Other Notes

  • Long track record in Australia and crypto industry (founded in 2013)
  • Backed by large venture capital firms which adds a little more legitimacy

Can You Trust CoinJar?

Founded in 2013, CoinJar is one of Australia's longest running crypto exchanges and has a good track record. They've never lost users funds, they hold 90% of assets in offline storage and they offer many security features such as 2FA and more.

Although CoinJar is considered trustworthy, centralized exchanges always have a small risk of hacks, confiscation and more. The safest way to store your crypto (especially large amounts) is on a hardware wallet where you own the private keys.

Features

CoinJar has a simple user-interface that is easy for beginners to navigate. Let's break down everything you can do on the CoinJar platform:

List of Features:

  • Web, iOS and Android app
  • Instant Buy and Sell
  • Pro Trade
  • Bundles
  • Recurring Buys
  • Swap
  • CoinJar Swipe Card
  • Free Bitcoin when you Shop
  • And more!

1. Web, iOS and Android App

You can conveniently access CoinJar on all of your devices. They have a very user-friendly platform that offers features both for beginners and advanced traders.

Coinjar Mobile App Screenshots

2. Instant Buy and Sell

CoinJar offers Instant Buy and Sell for quick and beginner friendly trading. You can pay with your cash account for a 1% fee or via credit/debit card for a 2% fee.

Easy Crypto Trading Interface

Source: Coinjar.com

3. CoinJar Exchange (Pro Trading Interface)

Advanced traders can access limit orders, market orders, detailed price charts, an order book and more on CoinJar's pro trading terminal. Best of all, it only has 0.1% fees versus 1%-2% on the default platform.

The downsides are it's only available in your browser and not in the mobile app yet.

Coinjar Pro Exchange

4. Bundles

Bundles let you purchase a basket of pre-selected cryptocurrencies in one purchase. Currently, CoinJar has 10 bundles to choose from ranging from Defi Bundles, ERC-20 Bundles and more.

Bundles Feature

5. Recurring Buys

CoinJar lets you set up automatic direct debits from your bank account and automatic purchases of cryptocurrencies. This lets you dollar cost average into the market based on the settings you choose. 

You can customize how often purchases are made (weekly, monthly, etc) and the limit is currently at $10-$2000 per payment.

6. Swap

The "Convert" button lets you easily convert one cryptocurrency to another without having to trade to Australian dollars first. This saves you a bit of of time and clicks.

Coinjar Swap

7. CoinJar Swipe Card

The CoinJar Card is a prepaid Mastercard that lets you spend your crypto when online and in-store shopping. You can choose which cryptocurrency you'd like to spend from your account and for every $1 AUD spent, you receive 100 CoinJar points.

There are no monthly fees but there is a 1% transaction fee every time you use the card (which is earned back in points).

Other Features

  • Pay friends via CoinJar username or wallet address
  • Save wallet addresses and create contacts
  • Custom price alerts
  • Download transaction reports for taxes
  • Institutional accounts
  • OTC trading desk
  • Refer a friend program

Deposit & Withdrawals

AUD Deposit Methods

Type

Fee

Time

Limits

PayID

Free

Near Instant

?

BPay

Free

1-4 days

$5 - $50,000

Credit/Debit

2%

Instant

?

Blueshyft (Cash)

1.5%

Instant

?

AUD Withdrawal Methods

Type

Fee

Time

Limits

Direct Bank Transfer (NPP supported banks)

Free

Near Instant

?

Direct Bank Transfer

Free

1-3 Days

?

Crypto Withdrawal Fees

Coin

Fee

Minimum Withdrawal

Bitcoin

Dynmaic

?

Ethereum

Dynamic

?

CoinJar Fees & Spread

Fee Type

Amount

Regular Trading Fee

1.00%

Exchange Trading Fee

0.10% maker / 0.00% taker fee

AUD Deposits

Free

AUD Withdrawals

Free

BTC Spread

0.84%

Other Fees

N/A

CoinJar Exchange Trading Fees

CoinJar Exchange Trading Volume Discount

CoinJar Price Test (Feb 18, 2022)

This data is subject to change as spreads and prices change daily. However, we tested CoinJar and 10+ other platforms simultaneously to help you compare true fees on each platform.

Header

Amount

Ranking

$100 Buy After All Fees

$98.91 (1.09% total fee)

7th overall

$100 Sale After All Fees

$98.25 (1.75% total fee)

12th overall

BTC Spread

0.84%

10th overall

BTC Buy Price

$55,859

-

BTC Sell Price

$55,442

-

Ref. Price Difference

Buy: +0.09%

Sell: -0.75%

-

Reference Price (Google)

$55,859

-

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.

CoinJar had a total purchase fee of 1.09% for buying Bitcoin. This was 7th place out of 15 crypto exchanges meaning there are many cheaper platforms available. The total selling fee was 1.75% which was 12th place.

The Pro Exchange is significantly cheaper because it only has a 0.10% trading fee versus 1%. The cheapest platforms we found were Binance AU and Kraken.

CoinJar Card Fees

Activity

Fee

In-Store & Online Purchase

1% (returned as CoinJar Rewards Points)

Yearly Fee

$0.00

Card Replacement

$0.00

Inactivity Fee

$0.00

Foreign Transaction

+2.99%

ATM Withdrawal

1.00%

Transaction Dispute

$27.50

Customer Support

CoinJar says their support "is available close to 24/7." You can submit a request from inside the app or browser or email them directly. They also have a knowledge base covering many FAQs and articles. Lastly, you can see a website status page for incidents and outages in real-time.

Coinjar Customer Support

CoinJar Compared

Here is recent data comparing CoinJar versus other popular Australian platforms:

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

Best Alternatives

Here are the best crypto exchanges for Australians right now. We assessed 16 platforms across 60 variables and 950+ data points.  

Swyftx
  • Best overall in Australia
  • Best for majority of investors and beginner-friendly
  • 320+ coins, staking, bundles, lots of features
  • 0.60% trading fees and cheaper options out there
  • Limited advanced tools
Binance
  • Lowest fees overall and lots of features
  • 600+ coins
  • Advanced trading
  • Less beginner-friendly
  • Some features like Futures and Options are restricted in Australia 
Digital Surge
  • Our top pick for beginners
  • Best user-interface
  • Fair spreads and fees
  • Less features versus other platforms
  • Limited advanced trading tools
Crypto.com
  • Earn rewards on 40+ coins
  • Crypto visa cards
  • Very expensive for buying & selling coins (high spreads)
  • App can be confusing
  • Slow deposit & withdrawals (1-4 days)
  • 500+ coins, margin, futures, rewards & more
  • Trade anonymously with no KYC (all you need is an email)
  • 0.10% trading fees and low spreads
  • Not beginner friendly
  • Not licensed or regulated
  • Limited AUD support

Compare Australia's Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Coinjar Exchange

CoinJar

Start trading over 50 cryptocurrencies

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