Changelly Review and Comparison
Last updated: 3/18/19
Changelly is a fast and relatively anonymous crypto exchange service that allows you to trade almost any cryptocurrency out there. In this post I’ll review the company and its services.
Changelly Review Summary
Changelly does what it says on the tin: Users can quickly and simply trade altcoins to suit their needs. A 0.5% cryptocurrency trade fee is not extortionate – it’s actually quite cheap for such a convenient product. However the company can be a bit more transparent about their business. The main thing to remember is to not use changelly for fiat trades because the exchange rates are ridiculously high.
If you want a more detailed review of Changelly keep on reading, here’s what I’ll cover:
- Company Overview
- Changelly Services
- Currencies and Payment Methods
- Changelly Fees
- Buying Limits
- Supported Countries
- Customer Support and Reviews
- Changelly VS. Shapeshift
- Conclusion – Is Changelly Legit?
1. Company overview
Changelly allows you to trade cryptocurrency instantly and without registering at any exchange or verifying your identity.
In operation since 2015 and headquartered in Malta, Changelly was originally associated with the Minergate team, which we reviewed as well; however, today these are two different companies (according to a source inside Changelly).
Changelly uses an automatic trading robot that integrates with some of the largest trading platforms, including Poloniex and Bittrex. It operates by making bids and asks on respective exchanges to suggest the best available rates on trading pairs. This is similar to the service offered by Shapeshift.
2. Changelly Services
Changelly offers an instant, simple and anonymous crypto to crypto exchange service. The service can be accessed via the company’s website, it’s mobile app or through various 3rd party wallets, the most popular being TREZOR, Ledger, Exodus, Jaxx, Coinomi and Edge.
Changelly also offers its API and a customizable payment widget for websites. Using the widget, users can exchange crypto from within the site without needing to go to Changelly’s website.
The company’s website also allows you to buy Bitcoin with a credit card via an integration with Simplex.
While Changelly boasts about its simple and relatively anonymous buying process, it states that it may require a full verification process if a certain trade or user seems suspicious.
How to Use Changelly?
Step 1: Decide what coins you want to change (e.g., Bitcoin to Ethereum, Litecoin to Dash, etc.).
Step 2: Verify the transaction fees.
Step 3: Enter your receiving address.
Step 4: Confirm and pay in your chosen currency.
That’s it—after about 30 minutes, you should receive the requested coins in your wallet. Here’s how the process looks on the site:
3. Currencies and Payment Methods
Changelly offers access to over 130 different cryptocurrencies. The wide range of cryptocurrency creates an opportunity to exchange any two currencies directly with minimal fuss.
Traditional cryptocurrency trading platforms generally have a limited selection of trading pairs, meaning that sometimes users have to make multiple transactions to receive their desired cryptocurrency.
With Changelly, you can make up your own trading pairs with any of the cryptocurrency available on the platform, in one transaction. You only need to select the trading pair and the software will take care of the trades. For example, you can easily trade doge for steem in one transaction. You can check out all of the on offer Click here to see the supported currencies.
Recently, Changelly has added fiat currency support, with the inclusion of credit and debit card purchases. While this is a welcome addition for new users, it’s important to pay attention to the fees with this feature.
4. Changelly Fees
Changelly boasts about its static-rate fees as a major benefit of its service. With Changelly, all trades guarantee a 0.5% fee, which is fairly competitive, when all is said and done. However, cheaper rates can be found when working directly on trading platforms like Bitstamp, Kraken, etc.
Still, If you’re making multiple trades to move altcoins, then Changelly may actually become a cheaper option, particularly with smaller amounts.
However, when it comes to trades using fiat currency, there’s a massive caveat to mention here. Trades from fiat currency (i.e., dollars, euros, etc.) claim to hold the 0.5% static fee, but in reality, this doesn’t appear to be true. The rates vary with this method and you’re more likely to be trading at higher rate due to the unfair exchange rate.
In their defence, Changelly does warn you about the high fees and the team claim this is out of their control. The reason for that is that to process these transactions, Changelly needs a third-party payment service (currently Indacoin and Simplex), which massively varies the rate.
5. Buying Limits
When trading crypto to crypto there is no limit on the transaction amount. However fiat transaction have buying limits:
- USA, Canada and Australia – $50 limit for the first transaction. The next purchase could be made in 4 days (100$ limit) and $500 after 7 days of the first buy. No more than 3 payments within the first week. No limits in one month at all.
- CIS region (Russia/Ukraine/Belarus/Kazakhstan/Armenia/Georgia) – $200 limit for the first transaction. The next limit increase could be done in 24 hours. The total limit for the first week is $2000 and for the first month is $10000.
- EU and other countries – $100 limit for the first transaction, the next purchase could be made in 4 days with 200$ limit and $500 after 7 days of the first buy. No more than 6 payments within the first week. No limits in one month at all.
If you’re looking to buy Bitcoin with a credit card via Changelly you’ll have the following limits:
- First transaction: from $50 to $10000
- Daily limit: up to $20000
- Monthly limit: up to $50000
6. Supported Countries
According to Changelly’s Terms of Service you will not be able to use the exchange if you live in any of the following countries:
Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (including all USA territories like Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Island, and the US Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas), Bangladesh and Bolivia, as well as any other country subject to United Nations Security Council Sanctions List and its equivalent.
7. Customer Support and Customer Reviews
There is no doubt that the whole industry is struggling to provide reliable customer service. For the most part, Changelly seems to be doing a respectable job with a relatively high satisfaction score on TrustPilot. Team members often reply to queries within hours, and there are many reports of problems being fixed in under 24 hours.
The website is particularly clean and easy to understand, so users have a minimal learning curve to trade altcoins. An in-depth FAQ also helps you educate yourself about the ins and outs of basic cryptocurrency trades. Support is provided through a chatbox on the website.
However, aside from the respected amount of positive reviews, there are many one-star reviews about expensive trades and missing funds. As mentioned above, Changelly claims to have 0.5% fees, but in reality, it can get a lot more expensive for USD and Euro transactions.
Having said that it does seem that Changelly responds to each and every review with a request for a follow up. You can also read the comment section in this post for additional reviews of the platform.
8. Changelly vs. Shapeshift
Changelly’s ultimate competition is Shapeshift, a similar service headed by Erik Vorohees in 2014 that has gained a lot of respect from the Bitcoin community. From a user perspective, there isn’t a lot of difference between the two services, with Changelly being the cheaper one.
From a reputation perspective, Shapeshift is much more open about its business and the people who run the company. We’ve compared both companies in the past, if you’re looking for a more detailed perspective.
9. Conclusion – Is Changelly Legit?
Changelly does what it says on the tin: Users can quickly and simply trade altcoins to suit their needs. A 0.5% cryptocurrency trade fee is not extortionate – it’s actually quite cheap for such a convenient product. However the company can be a bit more transparent about their business. The main thing to remember is to not use changelly for fiat trades because the exchange rates are ridiculously high.
The company itself is not as transparent as it could be. Its owners are not forthcoming in revealing their identities, which is always a little worrying – who will be held responsible if it all goes wrong? That being said, Changelly doesn’t hold your coins in an account, as it sends funds into large exchanges before depositing straight to your chosen wallet.
On a personal note, I’ve been using Changelly for almost a year now, and haven’t experienced any issues. Whenever I did run into a technical issue, the Changelly team was quick to respond. If you’re looking for a clean and simple solution to trade altcoin, then Changelly is a decent choice.
Changelly
Pros
- Long list of supported coins
- Relatively low fees (except for fiat)
- Good support
Cons
- Unclear owners
- Extremely high fees when converting from fiat
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Support responded within seconds and the service was prompt. No issues. Great customer service. Thank you Grace!
J’ai effectué un transfère de Stellar pour avoir des bitcon a la place.
Je me suis tromper dans l’envois des coins, cependant l’équipe a été très réactive en moin de 24heures j’ai reçu mes bitcoins ! franchement bravo et merci le support !
I found that a good deal of the page does not work properly, namely in the credit card payment department.
First off, it can’t show the payment form (errors in firefox and edge with content security and content error respectively) where you accept paayment
second, the payment form cannot be opened in firefox at all, edge allows one to open it in a new window.
third, it doesn’t accept my valid credit card (visa)
fourth, the payment form does not seem to belong to Simplex (as advertised)
i’ll be keeping a close eye on my account now after reading previous poster’s link
Check this before using Atomic Wallet, Changelly, ChangeNOW or Guarda
INVESTIGATION: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@somenotesand/russia-s-changelly-atomic-wallet-changenow-guarda-ink-one-evercode-lab
A few days ago I had my first experiense with this platform. The result was good for me. Everything here seems approprieate and I really like design of website.
After sending a small amount for the first time – I lost it. Support don’t want to help. Then I tried shapeshift – one more fault… When I found changenow.io – I doubted at first. But all was successful.
Hi to everyone. Sooo i’ve just made an exchange on Changelly and it was quite good. I expected to get 2665 XRP for my 3.3 BCH and guess what? I got 2801!! Guys I love ya! Thanks a lot! Meanwhile, there were no delays or whatever someone talk about. Everything is clear and if you are doing everything in right way, there must be no troubles. Anyway, it’s your choice to use it or not, for me, U guys are the best.
I’ve made several exchanges on Сhangelly from 1 to 6 BTC. Simple, pretty quick, no KYC.
I daresay it is perfect but Changelly is definitely a good service!
Changelly runs an illegal Scheeme to ripoff your money, the company is a complete SCAM, their business is not doing smaller transactions but rather holding large transactions and trading against the client into what appears to be a scheme to seize money illegally.
They are non existent, the company does not exists and as you can see in their website there is no address nor a full company name, they are a SCAM
Talking about Changelly, it’s a sheer scam for those who get captivated to the royal ilusionary earnings upon swaping your precious money. Below are my personal experience that I have shared in conclusion to my dealings with Changelly. Changelly does have a note about KYC in their Terms of service, however there is nothing to indicate that they will take your money and refuse to give it back. A more honest company would require KYC before taking customer funds, and refuse to transact if they found something suspicious. In the emails, changelly does a lot of virtue-signalling about trying to… Read more »