KuCoin Review and Comparison

KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers deposits and withdrawals for over 400 different cryptocurrencies. In this review, I’ll answer the question: “What is KuCoin?”, I’ll also cover the services KuCoin provides, as well as some of its pros and cons. At the end of this review you will have all the information you need to decide if a KuCoin account is right for you. 

Editor’s note:

On March 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against KuCoin and its co-founders, Johnny Lyu and Michael Gan, accusing them of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The DOJ alleges that KuCoin engaged in activities like failing to register with U.S. financial regulators, neglecting mandatory anti-money laundering (AML) practices, and enabling the transfer of large sums linked to suspicious or criminal sources—approximately $4 billion received and $5 billion sent in suspicious funds, according to the DOJ.

Given the gravity of these accusations and the potential penalties—each charge could carry up to five years of imprisonment for the founders—individuals considering KuCoin are advised to thoroughly assess the risks. The exchange’s alleged AML failures and ongoing regulatory scrutiny may impact its future operations. For those looking into KuCoin, conducting independent research is essential to understanding these risks fully.

That’s the basics of KuCoin. If you’d like to read about the exchange in more detail, keep reading, I’ll be covering the following topics:

KuCoin Overview

KuCoin was founded by former Ant Financial technical expert Michael Gan, along with a team of 6 others. It officially launched in September 2017 and is currently operating in the Seychelles. KuCoin is still based out of the Seychelles today but has offices in multiple other countries as well. KuCoin raised $20 million in round-A funding in late 2018, from IDG Capital and Matrix Partners.

KuCoin Services

KuCoin offers multiple different services on its platform from simple trading to its own credit card service. 

KuCoin Trading

KuCoin is built around its crypto-to-crypto exchange, which only allows users to trade between cryptocurrency assets, rather than fiat currencies. This is common in cryptocurrency exchanges, as it reduces regulatory issues.

Their trading interface is very straight forward, with an advanced layout that provides all the usual bells and whistles that experienced traders use. This includes a candlestick chart, order books, a “recent trades” panel and functionality for different types of orders.

KuCoin is well known for their huge range of available assets, which spans all the way from popular top-20 cryptocurrencies to much lesser-known, small and new projects. Obviously, with such a huge offering of different cryptocurrencies, KuCoin is one of the earlier exchanges to list some of the newer more popular cryptocurrencies. 

Cryptocurrencies on the exchange are traded against stablecoins like USDT, as well as BTC, ETH, NEO, TRX and their very own KCS (KuCoin Shares).

KuCoin Margin Trading

KuCoin also offers margin trading on its platform. KuCoin users have access to up to 10x leverage on spot crypto, and up to 100x on crypto futures trading. That is more than most other crypto exchanges and is another big win for KuCoin. Of course, margin trading comes with its own risks and you should always do your own research before using any sort of margin or leverage. 

KuCoin Credit Card

KuCoin also offers a brokerage service for users who wish to simply purchase crypto with a credit card. To make this possible, KuCoin has partnered with Simplex, Banxa and PayMIR to make this possible. KuCoin also offers a “Fast Buy” feature for IDR, VND and CNY.

KuCoin Trading Bots

So you want to earn passive income through crypto without having to start off with a huge pool of capital. Luckily for you KuCoin has a few ways to earn those passive returns, the first of which is through KuCoin trading bots. Trading bots are programmed and automated bots that carry out your predetermined trading strategies on your behalf. Bots will execute on the trading strategies that you program them with, allowing you not have to sit in front of the screen waiting for your signals to trigger. KuCoin even has a few pre-loaded strategies that you can use to create your first trading bots. 

KuCoin Earn

When it comes to staking, KuCoin has a section called “Earn”, which allows users to earn a return on supported cryptocurrencies. This contains three categories: Staking, Savings and Promotions.

The KuCoin Earn product allows you to invest through a professional asset manager to help you generate stable profits using your capital. 

Savings: Similar to investing in a traditional banks savings account, this plan allows users to earn interest on their deposited crypto.

Staking: You can elect to have KuCoin stake on your behalf, earning yield on certain cryptocurrencies without having to handle the on-chain staking yourself. 

Promotions: A way to temporarily earn higher yields through limited time opportunities. These yields are typically artificially inflated for short periods of time. Those who take the time to yield farm these opportunities can earn huge rewards. 

As you can see from the image above, KuCoin also offers a handful of other more advanced products to help users earn yield. These offerings can change over time, so if you are interested in learning more, read up on KuCoin’s blog post about the Earn product. 

It’s also worth noting that the Earn section will redirect you to Pool-X, a separate platform that is owned by KuCoin.

KuCoin App

Lastly, KuCoin has a very handy trading app, which is available both on iOS and Android. The simplified user-interface of the KuCoin app is super user-friendly, with all of the exchange’s features at your fingertips.

KuCoin Wallet

KuCoin offers its own wallet app, KuCoin Wallet. The wallet is a way to move your crypto off the exchange and into your own wallet. KuCoin wallet is a means to self custody the crypto that you buy on the exchange. The KuCoin wallet is a software wallet, which means that it is a software wallet. KuCoin has plenty of information on their website if you are interested in learning more about the KuCoin wallet. 

Currencies and Payment Methods

In the past KuCoin only accepted deposits via cryptocurrency assets and transfers. Nowadays there are multiple ways to transfer money to the exchange and fund your KuCoin account. Those include bank transfers, crypto transfers, as well as credit card purchases. 

All assets available for trading on KuCoin can be deposited and withdrawn via your account wallets. That means you can fund your account using other crypto transfers as well. 

You can purchase many different cryptocurrencies on KuCoin using a credit card, including but not limited to:

• BTC
• ETH
• USDT
• LTC
• XRP
• SOL
• PEPE
• ATOM
• ADA
• AVAX
• DOT

In total, KuCoin supports a total of more than 400 different cryptocurrencies – an absolutely mammoth selection.

KuCoin Fees

KuCoin fees are very reasonable and competitive with other crypto exchanges, with a maximum rate of 0.1% on any trade made on their spot markets. This fee is further reduced for those who pay using KuCoin Shares (KCS) and/or trade monthly volumes larger than 50 BTC. The KuCoin trading fees are very competitive, and are a big reason the exchange is so popular. 

Users can also reduce their fees by holding a certain number of KCS tokens in their accounts.

KuCoin futures fees are very simple. KuCoin users pay 0.02% on the market side, and 0.06% on the taker side. 

There are no deposit fees charged by the exchange and KuCoin withdrawal fees are reasonable – mostly designed to cover the cost of blockchain transaction fees. While the withdrawal fees are reasonable, KuCoin users have withdrawal limits that you should know about.

KuCoin Limits

KuCoin has 24-hour withdrawal limits of 2 BTC for regular unverified users, with limits of up to 500 BTC daily for fully-verified users.

Unverified individuals are also limited to 1400 USDT of fiat-to-crypto purchases daily.

Complete verification requires filling out a basic Know Your Customer Anti Money Laundering Laws (KYC) form, as well as providing a type of identification such as a driver’s license or passport.

Supported Countries

KuCoin allows users from all countries to trade using their lowest verification level, which has a strict limit on withdrawal amounts.

However, some countries are prohibited from obtaining full verification, which would allow larger daily withdrawals. Specifically, KuCoin currently does not permit full verification for traders from the United States, limiting them to unverified withdrawal and purchase limits.

To see if your country is supported for full verification, sign up to KuCoin and visit the KYC page on the KuCoin website.

Customer Support and Reviews

KuCoin is generally loved for its fast-paced nature, constantly listing new and exciting projects before more prominent exchanges like Binance and Coinbase.

This is a double-edged sword, however, as lesser-known coin listings come with their fair share of extra risk for traders. De-listings, lower liquidity, volatility and other characteristics of small projects often get the better of novice traders. Therefore there are some bad Kucoin reviews on certain forums. 

Although this is not a problem with the exchange itself, it has led to some bad reviews from users who did not understand the risks they were undertaking.

KuCoin customer support features an online help center with FAQ section, a chatbox with automated help, and active assistance on social media channels.

The easiest way to get in touch with the platform for help with issues is via their support email, while users also report that their Telegram channel has a rapid response rate. KuCoin support is also active on their subreddit.

Many users have claimed to have issues with the chat box service, which mostly provides automated replies and excessive waiting times for receiving actual human assistance.

Conclusion – Is KuCoin safe to use?

KuCoin is an all-round solid exchange that offers low fees and services. The exchange caters to all types of crypto traders, from beginners to advanced traders.

The exchange has one of the largest selections of tradable assets that I’ve seen for any platform. This makes KuCoin a very popular choice among those who are looking for new small-cap altcoins before they are listed on larger crypto exchanges.

KuCoin doesn’t have fiat deposits or trading pairs, which can be a bit of a pain, but their debit and credit card purchase system somewhat alleviates the issue.

All in all, KuCoin does a great job at filling the gap between major and small exchanges. It provides a top-notch trading experience but still allows traders to capture big-time opportunities in new and budding cryptocurrencies. Hopefully you now have all the information you need to decide if a KuCoin account is right for you. Have fun trading crypto. 

KuCoin

8.5

Ease of use

9.1/10

Design

7.9/10

Security

8.5/10

Altcoin support

9.6/10

Liquidity

7.5/10

Pros

• Selection of 400+ coins
• User-friendly app
• Never been hacked

Cons

• Crypto only (no fiat support except for instant buys)
• Less liquidity than larger exchanges

Visit KuCoin

Disclaimer

Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital. 99Bitcoins may receive advertising commissions for visits to a suggested operator through our affiliate links, at no added cost to you. All our recommendations follow a thorough review process.

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Alexander Reed

Editor

Having delved into futures trading in the past, my intrigue in financial, economic, and political affairs eventually led me to a striking realization: the current debt-based fiat system is fundamentally flawed. This revelation prompted me to explore alternative avenues, including... Read More

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