Bitpanda is a popular and well-established trading platform supporting cryptocurrencies and more traditional assets (metals, etc). The company continues to grow and develop however it is not available for use in the USA. Bitpanda is not an exceptional case as many cryptocurrency-related platforms cannot operate in the US due to the hardships of getting a proper license in this country and meeting all the requirements of local regulators.
Most probably a popular Austrian exchange, Bitpanda, will manage to cover the USA with service one day, but today the US citizens have to seek an alternative. Finding one is not an easy task as Bitpanda offers quite an unusual set of features, however, there is a row of decent replacements that can fit the needs of different traders and investors. Let’s see what we got here.
Coinbase Pro
Coinbase Pro is a cryptocurrency exchange. The platform was launched as yet another project of the Coinbase brand which already had its crypto wallet and the platform for exchanging cryptocurrencies and fiat money. Before 2018, Coinbase Pro was known as GDAX. As of 2021, Coinbase Pro is the crypto exchange with the highest trading volume in the USA. The exchange is also notable for its high-level security and complete conformity with regulations. It’s important not to confuse Coinbase Pro for Coinbase as the latter doesn’t provide as many features and is not suitable for trading.
On Coinbase Pro you will find price charts, numerous types of orders which help traders to avoid losses. The platform supports around 100 cryptocurrencies. Users can buy cryptocurrencies for fiat money via several payment methods which makes Coinbase Pro a convenient platform for starting a crypto journey. A feature that Coinbase and BitPanda have in common is a branded cryptocurrency debit card. Security-wise, Coinbase Pro is an outstanding platform. It stores the users’ funds in cold storage and is insured by FDIC. Since its very inception, Coinbase Pro has had no recorded hack incidents.
As for the downsides of Coinbase Pro, we should acknowledge that the company provides users with only a few chart indicators. Another notable disadvantage is that Coinbase Pro charges users higher fees than other huge exchanges. Unlike BitPanda, Coinbase Pro cannot offer anything for traders interested in such instruments as stocks, commodities, etc.
Binance.US
Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of the trading volume. More than that, the platform is popular because of low fees, many trading features, a huge selection of supported cryptocurrencies, and so on. However, this exchange is not available in many countries including the USA. Binance.us was created as an attempt to provide the residents of the US with Binance services. In order to meet the demands of the US regulators, Binance.us had to seriously decrease the functionality of Binance. More than that, the team working on this exchange is different from the original Binance developers. In fact, there are not many ties between Binance and Binance.us. However, the latter is among the leaders of the industry in terms of liquidity. Please note that Binance.us cannot provide its services in the 7 states of America.
The platform was launched in 2019 shortly after the ban of Binance in the USA. On Binance.US users can trade around 60 crypto coins. The exchange users can buy cryptocurrencies with fiat money via several payment methods. Just like the original platform, Binance.US collects small fees not exceeding 0.1%. BinanceCoin holders can enjoy smaller fees. On top of trading, Binance.US provides a staking feature. Several types of orders are supported, so traders can avoid critical losses. There is not much info about the ways the funds and data of users are protected. If you are looking to trade anything other than crypto, Binance.US won’t be a good choice.
Freewallet
Freewallet is a multicurrency crypto wallet founded in 2016. Despite the fact that it is a wallet, it has a diverse set of features that makes it a universal one-stop cryptocurrency shop. A Crypto Wallet, the most popular product by the Freewallet company, is a wallet supporting around 130 cryptocurrencies. Transactions within the Freewallet network are free and instant. All the crypto coins can be instantly swapped between each other effortlessly. It may not be the way traders need to exchange coins, but it’s good enough for the purpose of investing or just exchanging coins because you need a certain altcoin.
Several cryptocurrencies can be bought on Freewallet via Moonpay and other services with fiat money. Other features include topping up your phone balance with any crypto supported by the wallet and buying gift cards from over 800 brands including well-established business giants such as Google, Amazon, etc with cryptocurrencies. All in all, Freewallet can serve as a multifunctional cryptocurrency-based financial platform that can in some situations sort of replace Bitpanda.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the most popular American crypto exchanges. It was created in 2011 after a huge hack of the biggest crypto exchange of that time Mt. Gox. The mentioned incident influenced the strive of the Kraken developers to create as safe a trading environment as possible. Now, Kraken is considered to be one of the safest crypto exchanges. Kraken is controlled by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which makes this exchange even more reliable and accountable.
The trading fees rate on Kraken is quite average. The exchange utilizes a taker-maker model where takers are charged with a 0.26% fee and makers pay only 0.16% per trade. The withdrawal fee for Bitcoin is 0.0005 BTC. Apart from cryptocurrencies, Kraken allows users to trade USD- and EUR-based forex pairs. OTC desk is also available. Another important feature that can help you to boost your profit is margin trading with up to 5x leverage. Kraken provides services both to newbies and professionals, as well as corporate clients.
eToro
eToro is a trading platform that was founded in 2007 as a broker. Cryptocurrencies became available for trading on eToro in 2013. Please note that in 8 states of the USA eToro is not available. eToro has a large knowledge base that can help you dive deeper into the crypto trading world. More than that, there are professional traders whose trades you can copy via the copy trading feature. This will expose their trading techniques for you and allow you to earn as much as they do.
As for fees, eToro collects quite a lot via spreads but doesn’t charge you that much when you withdraw coins (for instance you pay only 0.00008382 BTC for a BTC withdrawal). Unfortunately, in the US the platform works with some limitations, however, it still grants you a bunch of nice options and allows crypto trading.
Gemini
Gemini is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2014 by Winklevoss twins who co-created Facebook ten years beforehand. Gemini is notable for full compliance with regulators and strong security. As of today, Gemini is one of the best exchanges in terms of safety. All the private keys are stored on hardware security modules distributed in several locations around the world. All the deposited money is FDIC-insured.
Fiat money can be deposited via bank card, Apple Pay, and others. The downside of Gemini is that the exchange doesn’t provide many features and is quite a regular crypto exchange in comparison to BitPanda. More than that, trading and withdrawal fees charged by Gemini are high.
Robinhood
Robinhood is a mobile app for trading stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies. Fiat money is also supported by the platform. The diversity of the available trading instruments resembles the BitPanda functionality. As of 2021, the app is allegedly used by 13 million.
One of the nicest features of Robinhood is the lack of trading fees which made the app very democratic. A $5 monthly payment allows users to access such features as margin trading, in-depth market analytic tools, and so on. As for downsides, Robinhood provides too little transparency and supports only a few cryptocurrencies.