Coinbase is a trading platform that allows you to exchange cryptocurrency. Coinbase was founded in 2012 and has over 10 million customers worldwide. Coinbase offers its users the ability to buy, sell, or trade Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and many other coins. Coinbase also offers a growing list of complementary products, such as Coinbase Wallet and Coinbase Pro. One of their best features is through Coinbase Earn, which offers the ability to learn about new Cryptocurrencies and earn real coins for free once you have completed the material. This is a great way to get started investing in Crypto with little risk.

Coinbase recently went public and trades with the ticker symbol ‘COIN’. Coinbase makes money by charging fees for trading, transferring, and storing cryptocurrency on its platform. Coinbase also charges merchants to use Coinbase as the payment processor when accepting cryptocurrencies from customers. Coinbase has been averaging around $100 million in revenue per month since Q12017.

The Pros and Cons of Coinbase

Coinbase is one of the most popular trading platforms in the world for Cryptocurrencies. Coinbase offers users the ability to buy, sell, store, and trade any number of cryptocurrencies on their platform. Coinbase has over 10 million users worldwide which are more than enough to allow for a deep liquidity pool. Coinbase charges fees for all features of its service. Here are some of the more substantial pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Coinbase offers users the ability to buy, sell, store, and trade any number of cryptocurrencies within the app.
  • Coinbase has over 10 million users worldwide which is more than enough to allow for a deep liquidity pool.
  • Ability to easily transfer coins through their wallet to other wallets.
  • Feature Rich.
  • Easy for beginners to Cryptocurrencies.
  • Free Crypto ‘learn & earn‘ learning library.
  • Borrow real cash against your Bitcoin.
  • Stable and profitable company.

Cons:

  • The fee schedule is slightly confusing and they don’t do a great job of explaining add-on costs for using products like Paypal.
  • Fees are higher than many of its competitors.

See our final rating below!

Understanding Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase Wallet provides secure storage for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. While you can simply just store your cryptocurrency on the Coinbase app after purchase, the Coinbase Wallet can be a nice option for added flexibility. Here are a few of the primary benefits:

  • Receive private keys that prove you are the owner and keeps them off of the centralized Coinbase server.
  • Quick transfer to other crypto wallets for greater control.
  • The ability to transfer your crypto to cold storage. (what is cold storage?)
  • Completely separate app and there is no cost to use it.
  • Store NFTs

A Coinbase account is not required to have a Coinbase wallet. We have used this product and can recommend its ease of use and features. Coinbase has done a good job at making its products very user-friendly, which is attractive to many newcomers to the crypto world.

What is Coinbase Pro

Coinbase Pro is an institutional-grade trading platform available for serious investors. Coinbase Pro offers customers the ability to trade on Coinbase’s advanced trading interface. Coinbase Pro also provides customers with access to more complex order types, such as limit orders that let you set a price for when you want to buy or sell cryptocurrency. We wouldn’t recommend using Coinbase Pro until you are very comfortable with Cryptocurrency, but it is an option to keep in mind as you progress through your investment journey.

The Coinbase Card

Coinbase has been developing its own debit card in partnership with Visa. This card will allow you to spend your cash and earn real crypto rewards ( up to 4%). They also say you will be able to spend your crypto directly with the card, but full details on how this will work are not available yet. If this is something you are interested in there is more information on their website.

Learn and Earn Library

This is easily our favorite part about Coinbase. The learn and earn library provides a growing list of altcoins that allow users to watch several videos about the coin and earn free crypto tokens as they go. At the time of writing this article, you could receive $31 free crypto tokens just for learning more about the coin and what its developers are trying to accomplish. This can provide great insight about the coin itself, but also provide a great resource about cryptocurrency and blockchains in general. For example, learning the difference between proof of stake and proof of work is great knowledge for anyone thinking about starting to invest in crypto.

Coinbase Fee Schedule

Coinbase has a fairly simple fee schedule. Coinbase charges fees for each transaction you make on its platform. Coinbase makes money by charging trading and storage fees, as well as through the spread between buying and selling prices (the bid-ask spread). Coinbase also recently started to charge merchants processing fees for accepting payments in Cryptocurrencies.

Here is a link to Coinbase pricing and fees disclosures.

How to Get Started Investing With Coinbase

Getting started investing with Coinbase is as easy as downloading the app or signing up for an account on their website. Once you have signed up they will ask you to verify your account and add on several security measures. We highly recommend using all of the security functions they offer, such as two-factor authentication. While Coinbase takes every measure possible to keep your crypto secure, at the end of the day it is on the user to keep their account information safe and secure.

After your account is set up properly and is secure, head straight for the Learn and Earn library to learn more about cryptocurrency and claim your free coins. This is a wonderful way to get started with crypto with little risk. After you have your free tokens, you should consider how you want to fund your account. Coinbase also offers rewards for setting up recurring investments in tokens like Bitcoin. This may be a great way to slowly dollar cost average your investment into crypto over time.

The Final Rating and Summary

Coinbase is one of the most popular trading platforms in the world for Cryptocurrencies. Coinbase offers users the ability to buy, sell, store, and trade any number of cryptocurrencies on their platform. We love this app for beginners and believe the slightly higher fees are well worth it for all of the extra features. The learn and earn library is a must for any new crypto investor.

Investing in Coinbase Stock

If you are interested in investing in Coinbase stock, here is some information about the company and its ticker symbol. If you would like some exposure to cryptocurrency but are not comfortable buying coins or NFTs, investing in Coinbase may be a good alternative. Ready about some of our favorite stock investment platforms that can help you get started investing in companies like Coinbase.

Coinbase Global, Inc.
Status: Active
Sector: Financial Services
Industry: Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Symbol: COIN
Exchange: NMS
Employees: 3416
Coinbase Global, Inc. provides financial infrastructure and technology for the crypto economy in the United States and internationally. The company offers the primary financial account in the crypto economy for consumers; and a marketplace with a pool of liquidity for transacting in crypto assets for institutions. It also provides technology and services that enable developers to build crypto products and securely accept crypto assets as payment. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.