Currency Review
Why Currency.com Sucks In 50 Words
At first, it can be a bit difficult to understand what “tokenized” securities means and how exactly this exchange works. It’s not really a CFD broker and it’s not really a pure crypto exchange either, because you can trade crypto coins but you can also trade digital versions of well-known commodities, stocks, and indices. On top of that, they even offer digital/tokenized versions of popular fiat currencies (EUR, USD, etc.) and it can all get a bit confusing at first.
Why Currency.com Doesn’t Suck In 50 Words
I’ll give you just 3 words: Negative Balance Protection. This means that you will never end up owing money to the exchange in case your investments go south in a big way. I know it might seem normal to never owe money to the broker/exchange, but trust me, it can happen with companies that don’t offer negative balance protection.
Is Currency.com A Scam?
This broker was launched in April 2019 (or at least that’s what their T&C document leads us to believe), so they are not really old-timers but not very green either. According to their website, they are “authorized to perform the activity of crypto platform operator in the meaning of Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No.8 “On development of digital economy” dated December 21, 2017”. That is a bit vague, to be honest, and I don’t really understand what it means but in my opinion it doesn’t mean that the President of Belarus is directly supervising their activity, so don’t go thinking something like that.
They are transparent about their name and address and recently they became regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to provide Distributed Ledger Technologies in the EU. Thus, we are dealing with a platform regulated by two entities and so far there haven’t been any scam allegations. That being said, it’s always good to pay extra attention and read their T&C document entirely before depositing.
Should I Open A Currency.com Account?
Currency.com is a cryptocurrency exchange advertised as the “world’s first regulated tokenized securities platform” and operates under legislation developed by the Republic of Belarus for cryptocurrencies. The platform is owned and operated by Currency Com Bel LLC, a company registered (incorporated) in the Republic of Belarus under No. 193130368, with address at Minsk city.
The exchange is also run by a Gibraltar branch, which is operated by Currency Com Limited, a company authorized by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to provide Distributed Ledger Technology services – Licence No. 25032.
The main concern I have about this exchange is their very short time in business and to be honest I wouldn’t risk giving them a lot of money until they get more experience under the belt. Don’t get me wrong, the trading conditions are normal and the platform is feature-rich but user-friendly at the same time, however, I cannot fully trust their competence until they put in more work. On the other hand, Currency.com is not as “green” anymore and the broker seems to do a good job so far.
One of the biggest features of this exchange is the leverage for crypto, which goes as high as 1:100 for major cryptocurrencies and as low as 1:10 for others. Indices and commodities go as high as 1:200 and FX goes up to 1:500. Keep in mind that using leverage is very risky and you should fully understand how it works before you invest. The good thing is that you can choose lower leverage or even no leverage, which offers a lot of flexibility. The user can simply choose the “Leverage” tab on the platform, which allows to increase the traded amount, or choose the “Exchange” tab, where leverage is non-existent.
Another highlight of Currency.com is the fact that here you can trade “tokenized securities”. Basically, this means is that you can trade indices, shares, and commodities with cryptocurrency, without first needing to exchange your coins into fiat. However, you will not own the security you are trading, instead, you will profit from price fluctuations, assuming you get the direction right. It’s similar to CFD trading in a way. On the other hand, if you use the “Exchange” tab, you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, similar to any other crypto exchange.
Minimum deposits start at 10 USD/EUR or 0.002 BTC, or 0.1 ETH, so it’s not really a big investment if you only want to test their services. All in all, this looks like a good exchange, which allows you to trade shares, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies with leverage.
Currency Com Limited lists the address Suite 23, Portland House, Glacis Road, Gibraltar, GX11 1AA. Currency Com Bel Limited Liability Company has offices in Minsk, Republic of Belarus 220030, st. International, 36-1, office 724, room 2. They can be contacted via email at [email protected].
Currency.com Online Presence And Reputation
We’ve managed to locate a few negative user reviews but nothing out of the ordinary because all brokers and exchanges have unsatisfied customers that call them scams. So far they look like a normal provider, with a neutral online presence and reputation. We cannot call them leaders of the industry but they can gain better traction in time.
Currency.com Special Features
The leverage for major cryptocurrencies goes as high as 1:100, which is not very common, and as high as 1:500 for other assets (FX). As a special feature, we can include regulation in the Republic of Belarus and Gibraltar, as well as a daily contest called Currency.com Daily Challenge in which you can trade with a profit and get a monetary prize if you are one of the top traders. Please note that their competitions change from time to time, so by the time you read this, they may already have another active contest.
Currency.com Overall Ratings
User Friendliness 15/20
The website is translated into 4 languages (English, Russian, Korean, and Chinese) and most of the information is easily available. The platform has a nice balance between functionality and ease of use and Demo accounts are available. Mobile versions can be downloaded from the respective app stores. US clients are not accepted.
Range Of Markets And Volume 13/20
The asset basket is huge when it comes to anything else other than cryptocurrencies, so most traders will be disappointed to see that only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum are available to trade, albeit against more than one fiat currency (tradable against USD, EUR, BYN, and RUB). The volume for the cryptocurrency is low when compared to major exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, etc.
Fees And Support 16/20
Deposits come with a 3.5% fee for Visa and Mastercard, while wires are free as far as Currency.com is concerned (they don’t charge a fee but the bank may do so). SEPA transfers incur a 0.10% (min 2 EUR fee). Withdrawals come with fees of 3% + 3EUR for Visa and Mastercard, while wires will incur a 0.15% fee (minimum 20 EUR, maximum 150 EUR) and SEPA transfers carry a fee of 0.10% (minimum 2 EUR). This is somewhat normal for crypto exchanges but a bit on the steep side. Crypto deposits are free but a small fee will be paid for withdrawals (again, this is normal). There’s also an overnight fee that will be paid for each trade you keep overnight and an exchange fee of 0.2% for cryptos. For detailed fees on each instrument, please visit Currency.com.
Live chat support is available, which is a big plus because many exchanges just work on a ticket system. They also have a support center where you can find a lot of answers to frequently asked questions.
Deposits And Withdrawals 15/20
The available methods are Visa, Mastercard, wire transfers, and crypto wallets but the time it takes is a bit longer than you would expect: up to 1-2 business days until the funds will reach you. It is unclear if crypto withdrawals will be manually processed (which means you will have to wait for their approval) or if the network confirmation starts as soon as you enter your address and click Send. The minimum deposit is 10 USD for cards and 50 USD for wires. Minimum withdrawal is 10 USD for cards and 50 USD for wires.
Currency.com Extras 14/20
Leverage, regulation, a daily trading contest, and a White Paper. I don’t really understand the need for a White Paper, which is usually something you see with coins and tokens, or maybe if the exchange has launched its own coin, which is not the case here.