โ Who are Robinhood & Coinbase? โ
Coinbase was founded back in 2012 and is one of the most well established crypto exchanges out there. They even got listed on the US stock market this year too. But how popular is Coinbase? Well, they have over 56 million users, trusted by over 8,000 institutions and log $335 billion in quarterly trade volume. Coinbase does have an office in San Francisco. However, they have transitioned to a remote-first company over the last year. Despite that, the exchange holds a plethora of licenses Robinhood was founded in 2013 and this mobile-only broker raised a crazy $5.6 billion in funding. Like Coinbase, they recently launched their IPO. They are headquartered in California and are a FINRA-regulated broker-dealer. Robinhood are also registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Robinhoodโs crypto product also appears to be wildly popular with 9.5 million people using the app to trade crypto in Q1 of this year.
๐ Country Support ๐
Robinhood only accepts US users right now. Those based outside of the US will be glad to know that Coinbase accepts over 100 countries and people in every US State except Hawaii.
๐ช Supported Assets ๐ช
In short, Robinhood has a limited selection of just seven cryptos for trading. That includes Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Ethereum Classic and Litecoin. Coinbase has around 75 different cryptos on the shelves.
๐ Security ๐
Coinbase claims that not a single customer has lost funds due to a breach of the Coinbase or Coinbase Pro trading platform. This being said, users have been caught out by email account takeovers, SIM swap attacks and password breaches. That has led to some customers losing funds. Thatโs why it is so important to take the security of your crypto exchange accounts seriously. This being said, Coinbase does store 97% of user funds offline to protect against hacks. The other 3% is kept in insured hot wallets. Oh yes, USD cash balances for US residents are also covered up to $250k under FDIC insurance. Robinhood also stores the majority of customer crypto offline in cold storage. I have not been able to find the exact percentage. However, Robinhood has crime insurance that protects a portion of the assets They also have coin management security protocols in place, which means that coin transfers require authorization from a select group of people. This list is constantly changing and is not disclosed internally or externally.
๐ณ Deposit Methods ๐ณ
Robinhood only supports ACH deposits. Coinbase supports bank transfer, PayPal, debit card and credit card. These methods are available on a country by country basis.
๐ฐ Trading Fees ๐ฐ
At Coinbase youโll be charged a spread of 0.5% for crypto buys and sells. On top of that, youโll also be charged a flat fee based on the value of your trade. Whereas on Coinbase Pro the max fee is 0.5% – so, I would use that instead. Robinhood markets itself as commission free. However, there is a cost. Robinhood essentially adjusts market orders to limit orders and jacks up the buy orders by 1% and the sell orders by 5%.
๐Trading Experience ๐
Watch the vid for my thoughts on this.
๐ง Customer Support ๐ง
Both platforms have had bad reviews when it comes to customer support. So, donโt expect to be blown away by incredible customer support here.
๐ Disclaimer ๐
The information contained herein is for informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed to be financial legal or tax advice. The content of this video is solely the opinions of the speaker who is not a licensed financial advisor or registered investment advisor. Trading cryptocurrencies poses considerable risk of loss. The speaker does not guarantee any particular outcome.
