Let’s face it – it’s now 2021, and exchanges are here to stay with so many options to choose from! If you’re analyzing Kucoin as a potential exchange, this Kucoin review will have you covered. With all of the internet hype around exchanges being hacked and people losing money, it’s hard to know what exchanges to trust. With all of the choices offering very similar services and assets, those new to the crypto world can easily face a “paralysis of analysis” situation. Luckily, we’re here to help and give you a 100% honest review and complete guide on the KuCoin exchange!
Disclosure: No content in this article should be taken as financial advice. Investing can be risky, so it is recommended that you consult with your accounting, legal, and tax advisors before engaging in any kind of transaction.
The History of KuCoin
KuCoin is fairly new to the exchange space, with it only being a few years old. It recently launched its 1.0 version in mid-August of 2017 after receiving an Angel Investment in early August. Since then, the exchange seems to have been pumping out enhancements and updates frequently. Now, who’s behind it? The team seems fairly well put together (they even have fancy, well-photo-shopped headshots…). In all seriousness, the main team seems reputable and solid. Over the past few months, the exchange has gained huge traction mainly due to its multi-level-marketing invitation bonus program (not available anymore), low trading fees, and variety of coin offerings and support for many countries (plus, who wouldn’t want to win $100,000?).
We’ll outline the security and safety of the exchange, a few features of the exchange, how to sign up, fees, how to trade, and give your our final verdict!
Security and Safety
This is a HUGE concern for many traders and investors and for me and of utmost priority. No one wants to see their investment in the exchange one day and gone the next. As stated earlier, KuCoin is fairly new and this means it still has time to be tried and tested for vulnerabilities. One thing we personally value about KuCoin is how they’ve implemented system-level and operational-level security standards. Their system-level standards were built following financing-level standards. Industry-standard transfer encryption protocol has been applied to data transfer layers which ensure that user data, and any other sensitive data, are stored through bank-level data encryption techniques. Their two-factor authentication adds another layer of security to validate transactions or withdrawals. The operational level standards were built by internal risk control and operation process departments. These folks have designed strict production data operations and usage standards which required multi-level review and approval. These review processes check that all online data and core data undergo desensitization processes to help ensure security for the end-user.
KuCoin Features
It is obvious from the site and platform that KuCoin has taken the time and investment to set itself up for success in the competitive exchange market. KuCoin strives to differentiate itself in a variety of ways. Below we will discuss some key features of KuCoin.
Well-Established Team
The KuCoin team members seem to be well-established professionals with real, workforce experience within their specialized fields. The “Community Members” are another story, as there is no firm identification of who exactly these people even are or what they do (social moderators…?). Plus, their headshots are nowhere near as photo-shopped and fancy as the main crew. Maybe they’re trying to entice a sense of mystery here? Who knows.
Country Accessibility
KuCoin currently supports 11 different languages on its platform, making it highly accessible to a variety of countries and areas.
KuCoin Exchange Technology
The technology behind this trading engine results in no lag or delay during order processes, even during high-volume periods. The high-end order-making time of this engine is over 2 million/second with a processing time of over 1 million/second. These numbers are significantly higher than the industry standard. A big plus here, and I’m sure the community is excited to see how this platform performs under stress in the future. The interface of this platform efficiently pulls data from other systems to get real-time pricing and market access.
Cryptocurrency Trading Pairs
Currently, KuCoin offers a variety of popular, and less popular crypto-assets. KuCoin currently offers a variety of trading pairs including USDT, BTC, ETH, NEO, and KCS. New coins are continuously being added to the platform.
Effective Exchange Marketing
Let’s be honest, Multi-Level-Marketing (or, Pyramid Schemes) has gotten a really bad rap. Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with these types of referral programs. If the end-user isn’t paying any additional money over what they would without signing up through a referral, and the product they are signing up for is good, I only see this as a win-win-win. A win for the exchange who now has a new user, and wins for the referrer who now has a new referee who can also invite their friends. The exchange, Binance, saw massive growth through their referral program, and KuCoin is trending heavily upwards from this as well. In addition to the referral program, they stay up-to-date on social channels and have a great website and user experience, which should only get even better with time.
Financial System Stability
KuCoin has multiple levels of protection to help keep your assets safe. As with any exchange, there is no guarantee. So it’s always best to use a desktop wallet to store your coins or a cold-storage device. They offer 2-factor authentication for account access (as well as re-entering 2-factor for buying and selling) and they’ve adopted a high-tech multi-layer and multi-cluster architecture. Extra precautions have been taken against hardware failure and natural disaster use-cases, where their bank-level deployment has 2 locations, and 3 data centers that handle tasks simultaneously in multiple locations to ensure stability. In addition to this, micro-withdrawal wallets have been built on AWS which includes a multi-layer firewall.
Efficient Customer Service
KuCoin claims that they are dedicated to resolving customer needs without delay. To help meet this goal, they offer 24/7 customer service through their website and email.
Clear Goals Moving into 2021
I love timelines, so I was interested when I saw KuCoin’s timeline for their goals moving into 2021. Here are some upcoming goals for the KuCoin Platform: January 2021 – KuCoin says they are partnering up with Newscrypto and planning to release a trading Simulator 2.0 April 2020 – KuCoin partnered with OnChain Custodian to get funds backed by insurance – exciting news! March 2020 – KuCoin established KuGroup
Signing Up for KuCoin
Buying cryptocurrency on KuCoin is fairly straightforward and user-friendly. Simply enter an email, choose your password, and verify your account through email (make sure to check spam! I had to).
The interface is very straightforward for beginners and pros alike. Once you get into your account, you can enable your 2-factor authentication, see your funds, active orders, deposits/withdrawals, etc. Before you withdraw funds, they’ll even give you a warning if there is network congestion and the estimated amount of time you can expect to wait (an important detail in my book).
Trading Fees
Deposit fees are free on KuCoin and trading fees are competitive at 0.1%, depending on the coin you’re trading. Some assets are free from fees, such as NEO and GAS. Coins such as BTC and BCH have fees as low as .0005. If the amount that you withdraw is less than the current fee of the coin multiplied by 100,000, then your withdrawal will be processed automatically. Let’s say the withdrawal fee for BTC is .0005. If you withdraw less than the .0005 fee multiplied by 100,000 (which would be 50 BTC), your withdrawal will be fulfilled within a few seconds.
How to Buy on KuCoin
Buying and trading on KuCoin is fairly straightforward. First, you’ll want to go to the “Spot” tab from the main page:
The next thing you’ll want to do is choose your trading pair. KuCoin offers you to trade BTC, ETH, NEO, USD, KCS, and others to trade for Altcoins.
After you’ve selected your trading pairs, look to “Spot” on the bottom right of the screen and choose buy or sell column next to the coin you’d like to trade for. Now, it is as simple as inputting the price and amounts you’d like to trade. Enter that info, and wait for the magic to happen!
KuCoin Token Overview
This KuCoin review wouldn’t be complete without talking about KuCoin’s token (KCS). KuCoin token is distributed by KuCoin to its users. If you own 6 KuCoin tokens (KCS), you’re eligible to earn a daily bonus. Holding and trading KCS is a way to earn passive income.
KuCoin Referral Bonus
You can only acquire KuCoin Shares (KCS) through the KuCoin exchange. In order to receive perks, a user must own 6 shares, enable 2FA on their account, and must have held the shares for at least 24 hours. The referral bonus is split among 3 tiers.
- People who sign up directly through your referral link will gain you 20% of their trading fees.
- People who sign up through your invitee’s referral link will gain you 12% of their trading fees.
- People who sign up through the invitee of the invitee’s referral link will still gain you 8% trading fees.
Shameless plug: If you’ve enjoyed this review so far, we would really appreciate you signing up with our referral link here:
Our Final KuCoin Review Verdict
Overall, KuCoin is a pretty solid platform that has evolved over time. The exchange has a solid team behind it, new investors, and continuous new innovations. Based on the ever-increasing traction they’re getting, their multi-level marketing approach, variety of coin offerings, and security, we think that KuCoin is a solid contender in the exchange space and one worth checking out. We’d love to hear your thoughts on KuCoin in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is KuCoin legit?
Yes, KuCoin is legit. KuCoin is one of the most established cryptocurrency exchanges on the market today. Founded in 2017, it serves crypto-traders worldwide.
Where is KuCoin located?
KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange that is headquartered in Seychelles, Singapore.
Is KuCoin better than Binance?
KuCoin has many features that are similar to Binance and offer similar cryptocurrencies. Binance is known to have more user options and be slightly more user-friendly. Check out our Binance review for a full explanation of the differences.