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Carla Moretti
Carla Moretti
With almost two decades of experience in the fast-paced financial industry, Carla has established herself as a powerhouse and an innovative leader.
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    Crypto.com South Africa Review 2023: Fees & More

    Crypto.com South Africa review

    Crypto.com South Africa Review: Our Opinion

    Crypto.com is a one-stop shop for all cryptocurrency enthusiasts. The platform offers an excellent trading experience at lower fees than most cryptocurrency exchanges. You can trade over 200 cryptocurrencies, including most of the big-cap tokens, as well as a good range of smaller projects. You can also access DeFi Swap, which enables you to trade thousands of DeFi coins.

    Crypto.com is much more than a simple trading platform to buy and sell crypto and other digital assets. It also allows you to earn interest through different channels. The company leaves no room for doubts as far as security is concerned. It uses a series of protection layers to ensure the security and privacy of users’ data and funds.

    An Overview of Crypto.com

    Crypto.com Home Page

    Crypto.com was launched in June 2016 by Kris Marszalek, who is also serving as the company’s (Monaco Technologies GmBH) current CEO. The initial mission of the company was to enable online payments with zero fees. The cryptocurrency was just a part of the financial service platform, which later became its prime focus. 

    During the ICO boom, Monaco Technologies launched its own token, MCO, in 2017. The ICO funding was carried out for an entire month, starting from May 18. The sale ended on June 18, raising $26.7 million in funds after managing to sell 12,135,542 MCO tokens out of the total supply of 31,587,682 tokens. 

    2018 was a big year for the company as it announced its rebranding to Crypto.com and launched its blockchain with the native token, CRO. Moreover, the company started shipping Crypto.com Visa cards. Both factors contributed massively to its growth, making it more popular among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

    The company launched its crypto-to-crypto exchange by the end of 2019, enabling its users to trade a wide range of crypto assets. At the same time, they also began offering several unique crypto-based financial services, such as Crypto Earn, Crypto.com Pay, and Crypto Credit. Many of these services were new to the sector and attracted a large number of traders and investors. On top of that, the Crypto.com Visa card started shipping in the United States, one of the biggest cryptocurrency and digital asset markets. 

    In 2020, the company started exploring the decentralized financial sector. Crypto.com announced the release of their non-custodial DeFi wallet and DeFi Swap. At this point, the Crypto.com Visa card was available throughout the European region. Moreover, the company decided to put an end to the MCO token and swapped all the MCO tokens into CRO. 

    At the time of writing this review, Crypto.com is among the twenty largest crypto exchanges in the world with respect to trading volume. The exchange hosts more than 50 million active users. According to the company’s CEO, the number is expected to double by the end of this year.

    Pros

    Cons

    Key Features of Crypto.com

    Following are some of the unique products and services offered by Crypto.com that are rare in the crypto exchanges industry.

    Crypto.com Visa Card

    Crypto.com Card

    Crypto.com offers a series of five Visa debit cards that allow you to earn several rewards by simply spending money through them. You first need to top up these cards using cryptocurrency funds and then use them to spend fiat currency of your choice, such as USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, etc. Crypto.com cards are accepted at every online and offline store that offers payment through Visa card service.

    All cards are divided into five tiers. The higher you go, the harder it is to get the card, and the greater the benefits. The basic-most tier, i.e., Midnight Blue, is free to avail. However, it offers $200 no-fee ATM withdrawals and no cashback rewards. The top-of-the-list Obsidian Card is available only if you stake $400,000 worth of CRO tokens (≈ 6.8 million ZAR).

    With Obsidian Card, you get a 5% cashback reward (in CRO token), a 100% rebate for services like Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, access to the airport lounge, private jet partnership, and much more.

    These cards present a very effective solution for using cryptocurrencies in the traditional financial system, which is still largely dominated by centralized financial institutions and practices. The entire procedure, from topping up your cards to spending money and receiving CRO rewards, is straightforward and hassle-free. On their official support page, you can find details about Crypto.com’s prepaid visa card offers.

    Crypto Loans

    Crypto.com also issues crypto loans to its users. To be eligible, you need to have the minimum crypto holdings equivalent to $1,000. The loans are issued for up to 50% of your total holdings. For example, if you own 4 ETH tokens in your Crypto.com wallet, you can obtain a crypto loan of 2 ETH tokens. The standard APR is 12%.

    However, depending on the value of crypto assets you have staked in the past six months, it can decrease. The best part about these loans is that there is no specific deadline. Hence, you don’t have to pay any late return fee. 

    DeFi Swap

    Most cryptocurrency tokens are not available for trading and investing in centralized exchanges. Despite Crypto.com’s extensive catalogue of over 200 crypto tokens, the exchange leaves hundreds of DeFi tokens. However, the recently launched DeFi Swap by Crypto.com is a decentralized exchange and trading platform that allows you to trade and swap ERC-20 tokens at the best rates.

    The exchange works in a non-custodial manner, i.e., no central entity controls and manages the platform. Using this decentralized trading platform, users don’t have to compromise their privacy and can own their private keys. DeFi Swap can be easily connected to Crypto.com DeFi Wallet and is available both for web and mobile devices.

    DeFi Wallet

    Crypto.com wallet

    Did you know that your crypto assets are not entirely secure in custodial wallets? Though these wallet offerings use cutting-edge security technology, they don’t allow users to store private keys to their holdings. They are more prone to hacks and online breaches. Moreover, using them to trade and swap crypto tokens can often cost a lot more money than most DeFi wallets. 

    To solve these problems and facilitate its users, Crypto.com offers a DeFi wallet where you can transfer all your crypto holdings with their private keys completely under your control. Unlike the custodial wallets, this wallet is not owned by any central individual or organization but is controlled and managed by the users’ community. Moreover, it provides users easy access to the DeFi world, which is currently thriving and rapidly expanding.

    Crypto.com Pay

    Crypto.com pay

    Crypto.com Pay is another financial service the company offers to facilitate cryptocurrency spending in the real world. You can use this feature to pay merchants online at checkout without paying any gas fee. Moreover, you can buy gift cards and use the option to send crypto funds to your friends and family. If you’re a merchant yourself, you can easily integrate this feature into your business model to accept payments in crypto. 

    Cryptocurrencies Available on Crypto.com

    Cryptocurrencies available on Crypto.com

    When choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, you need to ensure that it supports a decent variety of cryptocurrencies. Otherwise, you are restricted to very limited investment options and unable to diversify your portfolio. At the same time, all the supported cryptocurrencies need to be safe and secure projects with solid fundamentals for investment. 

    Crypto.com is among the industry-leading crypto exchanges when it comes to the diversity and variety of accepted cryptocurrencies. You can find almost all large-cap crypto projects, as well as several dozen newer and promising projects that are not that big yet.

    The total number of accepted cryptocurrencies is over 200. The list includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Binance coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC), Cardano (ADA), Dash (DASH), IOTA (MIOTA), Cronos (CRO), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), and many more. This list is expected to grow with time.

    Accepted Countries

    Crypto.com is one of the most popular and quickly growing crypto trading platforms worldwide. The exchange is fully regulated and licensed, fulfilling legal requirements for many countries and states worldwide. 

    Apart from South Africa, Crypto.com is available for crypto investors in the United States (except New York), Canada, Europe, Australia, Russia, Latin American countries, and a few Asian and African countries. You can find the entire list of restricted countries and states on its official site

    It’s worth mentioning that in certain countries, people can’t access the full range of supported cryptocurrencies on the platform.

    Crypto.com Fees

    Fee charges and costs are crucial factors to consider when researching a crypto trading exchange. No one likes to lose a substantial sum of their investment amount to transaction fees. You have to be extra careful when it comes to exchange fees. Many exchanges have a series of undisclosed charges apart from the apparent transaction fees and withdrawal charges. 

    Fortunately, Crypto.com is one of the cheapest cryptocurrency trading sites in the business with low fees. The fee model involves the following sections.

    Trading Fees

    Crypto.com trading fees

    Like many other exchanges, Crypto.com has a maker/taker model for trading fees. Makers are the traders whose orders are not immediately matched with an already existing order. Their orders are added to the order book, adding liquidity to the exchange. Takers, on the other hand, are the traders whose orders are immediately fulfilled with already existing orders on the order book. These traders remove liquidity from the market.

    Crypto.com determines maker/taker fees for each user based on the total volume of trades of the past 30 days. There are nine levels to the trading fees model. The basic level is for traders with a monthly trading amount of less than $25,000. These traders have to pay a maker and a taker fee of 0.4%.

    However, from level 3 or higher, makers are incentivized with low fees for bringing liquidity to the market. The highest level is for traders with a monthly transactions volume greater than $200,000,000. These traders are met with a 0.04% maker fee and 0.1% taker fee.

    You can further reduce the trading fees by staking CRO tokens using your Crypto.com wallet. Staking more than 5,000 CROs will get you a 10% rebate on all trading fees. The larger your staking is, the more discount you will receive.

    Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

    Crypto.com deposit and withdrawal fees

    Crypto.com charges absolutely no fees if you deposit money using any of the supported payment options. However, the platform charges withdrawal fees on every transfer made out from the exchange. The withdrawal fees you incur vary, depending on the currency and the network you use. You can transfer out funds both in the form of fiat currency and crypto. 

    Crypto.com Cryptocurrencies withdrawal fees

    Debit or Credit Card Fees

    Crypto.com allows you to buy cryptocurrency directly by linking your credit or debit card with the crypto wallet to facilitate new users. The procedure is fairly simple and easy for all users. However, with ease comes higher cost. You are charged with hefty fees ranging from 2.99% to 3.99% for each purchase made through a debit and credit card. The good news is that you don’t need to pay this fee for the first 30 days of creating a new account. 

    DeFi Swap Fees

    Unlike the centralized marketplace, Crypto.com DeFi Swap does not charge any trading fees apart from the gas fee that is paid to the blockchain networks to process your transactions. The gas fee varies from time to time, depending on several factors, including the network of choice, blockchain traffic at the time, and the transaction value. 

    Crypto.com Payment Methods

    Every good cryptocurrency exchange is expected to support several funding options. It should also accept payments in fiat currencies as well as cryptocurrencies. Luckily, you can enjoy this variety if you use Crypto.com app. The exact list of payment methods to fund the Crypto.com wallet depends on the country you are using it from. However, the common funding options that you are likely to find are:

    • Credit or Visa debit card
    • Wire transfer
    • Cryptocurrencies
    • Bank account transfer for fiat currency transfers

    The minimum and maximum transfer limits depend on the payment medium you decide to use. 

    Crypto.com Security

    Crypto.com security commitment

    Security is probably the most critical aspect when reviewing a cryptocurrency exchange. You need to ensure that the platform is using a properly working and effective protection program for your funds and your personal information. The crypto space is familiar with several tragic incidents when the entire trading platform got hacked, and users ended up with massive losses. The infamous Mt Gox hack in 2014 resulted in 740,000 BTC being stolen from the users. 

    Fortunately, Crypto.com makes absolutely no compromises when it comes to users’ funds and data protection. The platform has never had a significant security breach, something that’s very rare in the industry. The security protocol consists of several protection layers.

    First, Crypto.com stores 100% of the users’ funds in cold storage devices. The company is partnered with Ledger (an industry-leading cold wallet production and distribution company) and uses their institutional-grade custody solution, i.e., Ledger Vault. On top of that, the cold storage is insured to $500 million in case of any physical damage or third-party theft. 

    When it comes to money in hot wallets, Crypto.com keeps it safe with HSM and multi-signature keys. But remember, these funds are only a small part of all the money Crypto.com holds.

    The security infrastructure is stacked with encryption technologies and protection protocols. The platform uses Amazon Web Service (AWS), which includes features such as a web layer firewall, Transport Layer Security (TLS), automatic encryption, automatic threat detection, and much more. Apart from that, the infrastructure also incorporates manual approval of high-value transactions, AI analytic tools, Hacker One Big Bug Bounty program, etc. 

    The users can protect their funds and data on their end by using several features, such as 2FA (two-factor authentication), password, passphrase, fingerprint, face ID, email, and phone verification. If all these measures are still not enough to satisfy your security concerns, you can transfer all your funds to Crypto.com decentralised finance wallet, which grants you complete ownership and control over security keys for all your digital assets. 

    Crypto.com Earning Options

    Crypto.com earn

    Crypto.com is much more than a simple platform that allows users to make crypto investments. 

    Staking

    You can also earn interest on your crypto holdings by locking them up for a certain period. The platform supports staking for almost 40 different cryptocurrencies, including some stablecoins. The interest rates are much higher than most cryptocurrency trading sites. You can earn up to 14.5% interest per year on your holdings. You also have the freedom to choose between one-month, three-month, or flexible term staking periods.

    Crypto.com Staking rewards

    Yield Farming

    Yield farming is another considerable earning option provided by Crypto.com. If you are willing to lock up your digital assets for longer periods by contributing to liquidity pools of other platforms, you can earn interest and a share of fees as a reward. Crypto.com allows its users access to a number of projects looking for liquidity providers.

    Referral Program

    If you do not want to lock up your cryptocurrency assets in staking or liquidity pools, you also have the option to earn some reward through Crypto.com’s referral program. You can earn up to $2,000 for each referral if certain conditions are met.

    Crypto.com referral bonuses

    Opening a Crypto.com Account

    Creating and verifying a new account for the Crypto.com app is relatively straightforward. The entire procedure takes just a few minutes and is completely free. 

    1. Visit the official Crypto.com webpage and click the Sign-Up button at the top right corner of the screen. 

    Crypto.com sign up page

    2. Enter the required information (your name, nationality, date of birth, email address, phone number, etc.).

    3. Create a strong password for your account and continue. Make sure you remember it, as you will need it every time you log in. 

    4. A verification link/OTP will be sent to your email/phone number to verify it. Check your inbox and verify your email/phone number.

    5. Your account is created at this point. However, you need to verify your identity before you can purchase crypto. To verify your identity, open the Crypto.com app or visit the official webpage and log in using your credentials. 

    6. Go to the identity verification section on your Crypto.com app and submit the required legal documentation. It may include a scanned copy of your legal ID card, photo, driver’s license, etc. 

    7. After completing the verification process, you are good to go and buy cryptocurrency. 

    Crypto.com Customer Support

    Crypto.com Customer support

    Customer support is a crucial factor for users of any financial service platform. Crypto.com offers 24/7 customer support through live chat, available both at the desktop site and the cellphone application. You can also contact them via email and social media handles. However, be prepared for delayed responses via these means.

    Customer Satisfaction

    Crypto.com reviews on trustpilot

    In our Crypto.com review, we found the customer support team’s performance to be satisfactory. Responses were quick enough and helpful. However, you must know that Crypto.com scores only 2.1 out of 5 on TrustPilot. Most bad reviews complain about bad customer support service.

    Final Thoughts

    Our Crypto.com review highlights that it is one of the most experienced crypto trading exchanges in the industry. Operating since 2016, the company has not faced a single major breaching incident. This fact should be enough to give a clear reflection of the exchange’s successful history. Thanks to several unique products and services, including decentralized finance digital wallet, DeFi Swap, and Crypto.com card, the platform is rapidly expanding and is expected to reach the 100 million active users mark by the end of the year.

    Our extensive analysis of the South African Crypto Exchanges doesn’t stop here. You can also read about our Coinbase South Africa review as an alternative to Crypto.com or you can check out our full list of best Exchanges available to South Africans.

    FAQ

    Most frequent questions and answers

    Crypto.com and Coinbase both satisfy unique customer needs. Crypto.com, for example, stores 100% of held assets in cold storage while Coinbase keeps 80% of its assets in cold storage. However, Coinbase offers more cryptocurrencies than Crypto.com.

    Usually the verification process is very fast and it can take less then 10 minutes.

    CRO is one of the top rising tokens in 2022 and presents a potentially positive investment opportunity. However, cryptocurrency is a high-risk investment sector. With prices fluctuating all the time, all investments are more or less based only on speculations. Do not make financial decisions without getting investment advice from a professional financial consultant.

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    We always try to provide the most accurate information available, and make sure our team follow through.
    If you want to know more about our Crypto Exchanges Review Methodology follow the link below

    Skrumble.com provides all its content for informational purposes only, and this should not be taken as financial advice to buy, trade, or sell any investment instruments or products, including but not limited to cryptocurrencies, or use any specific exchange. Please do not use this website as investment advice, financial advice, or legal advice, and each individual’s needs may vary from that of the author. Investing in financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies, carries a high risk and is not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose the entire initial investment, so do not invest what you cannot afford to lose. We strongly advise conducting your own research before making any investment decisions. This post includes affiliate links with our partners who may compensate us.

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