15 Best Crypto Exchanges in the World

Over the years, cryptocurrencies are emerging as one of the favorite ways of investing money. Furthermore, an increasing number of businesses now accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum among others, as payments for goods and services.

Thanks to the widespread popularity of cryptos, it’s now very easy to buy or sell them. All you need to do is go to any of the best crypto exchanges in the world and transact. These crypto exchanges offer full anonymity of your transactions too. You can also find crypto exchange with lowest fees.

At the same time, with several crypto exchanges coming up around the world, it can prove a bit difficult for us to select the best ones. Therefore, in this guide, I will discuss the 15 best crypto exchanges in the world. All these crypto exchanges are legit and have a proven track record of providing excellent service to customers. Therefore, you can transact through them online safely and without much fear of your crypto wallet or account being hacked.

Best Crypto Exchanges in the World

I’m listing the top 15, top crypto exchanges in the world. As you will see, all of these crypto exchanges have been operating over a period of years and have an excellent reputation. Therefore, you can deal with them safely.

1. Binance

Binance was launched in China in 2017. It is now based in Malta in Europe. Additionally, Binance also has a dedicated exchange for crypto investors and traders in the US, which is based in San Francisco.

There’re several reasons why I rank Binance at the top of this list. Binance is known for being the best bitcoin exchange platform. Binance charges only a 0.1 percent commission on all crypto trades. This crypto exchange supports every major cryptocurrency in the world including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, to name a few. They list over 50 cryptocurrencies for trading and investment.

For investors in cryptocurrencies, Binance offers you the option of earning interest on your holdings by staking the cryptos for some time. That means you can earn more cryptos simply by retaining your cryptos with Binance. They usually pay an interest of 0.5 percent to 10 percent per month on your cryptos. This gives you a wonderful opportunity to earn free cryptos without additional investment.

Through Binance, you can buy cryptocurrencies through bank transfers, credit cards, and debit cards as well as other online payment methods. However, they charge a 4.5 percent fee on all crypto purchases made with credit cards and debit cards.

2. Coinbase 

Coinbase is based in San Francisco, California. They have more than 40 million users around the world, spread over some 110 countries, which makes it one of the largest crypto exchanges on this planet.

If you’re a beginner in crypto trade and investments, Coinbase is perhaps the right crypto exchange for you. What makes it the best crypto exchange for beginners? They actually provide a lot of tips and advice in crypto investments and trade through their website, once you become a customer. And these tips, guidelines, and insights can help you to invest in the right cryptocurrencies, without having to do much study yourself.

You can buy cryptos from Coinbase through direct bank transfers, PayPal as well with your credit card and debit cards. Their fees for buying and selling cryptos are however on the higher side. For example, the charge between $0.99 and $2.99 for crypto purchases under $200 and an additional 0.5 percent service fee depending on the number of cryptos you trade.

However, one major advantage of dealing with Coinbase is that they have Financial Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance for your crypto deposits. That means, that even if Coinbase closed down or faces any issues, you can still get 98 percent of your money as compensation. And with crypto prices always on the rise, you won’t really face any losses in case that happens.

3. Kraken 

Kraken is a US-based crypto exchange that’s been functional fully since 2011. It's a top cryptocurrency exchange platform. They offer almost the entire range of cryptos for trade, which is over 50 popular cryptocurrencies. Therefore, you can actually create an amazing portfolio of different cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, among others by trading through the Kraken crypto exchange.

Additionally, Kraken is also a superb crypto exchange for traders at all levels. They offer three packages for crypto investors: Starter, Intermediate, and Pro. The starter account enables you to deposit, exchange, and withdraw cryptos without hassles. You can also switch between your crypto holdings seamlessly. 

Fees that Kraken charges on crypto trades are fairly reasonable. For example, they charge between 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent of the value of your trade. These are some of the lowest rates that you can get from a crypto exchange that has a time-tested and proven history of reliability and ranks among the best in the world.  

To trade on cryptos through Kraken, you have to provide any valid ID such as passport, Social Security number, or other documents for any deposits. Kraken will verify your identity, which offers you an added security for trades and holdings. They accept trades in seven different currencies such as the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, UAE Dirham, and the UK Pound Sterling, among others. They’re also in the process of adding more currencies for buying cryptos.

4. eToro 

eToro is around since 2007, when the crypto exchange was established in Tel Aviv, Israel. Now, eToro operates from London as its headquarters. According to the latest statistics, they have over 15 million customers for their cryptos spread over some 120 countries. In fact, eToro is the preferred crypto exchange in countries where the crypto trade didn’t exist earlier.  eToro offers six different cryptocurrencies for trade. These include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, and XLM for investors.

Though they don’t offer a very wide choice like others, it’s worth knowing that these six cryptos are the ones that have the maximum trade and customers. Therefore, if you’re looking for a crypto exchange that offers hassle-free choices, eToro is the best.

However, eToro fees can prove a bit expensive. They charge between 0.75 percent and 2.90 percent as their trade fee, depending on the trade volume and amount.

At the same time, there’re some flipsides of eToro too. For example, your deposits could take as many as seven working days to be cleared. And eToro deals only in US Dollar. That means, if you wish to buy cryptos in any other currency, you’ll have to first convert it to the American Dollar before trading on eToro. At the same time, eToro is very reliable and secure crypto exchange in the world.

5. Crypto.com 

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 in Hong Kong, from where this top crypto exchange of the world currently operates. Crypto.com is a very popular cryptocurrency platform among crypto trades. It allows you to trade, buy, sell and also spend cryptocurrencies for goods and services which is something unique for a crypto exchange.

One of the salient features of Crypto.com are their low fees. They charge only between 0.04 percent and 0.20 percent for all trades in cryptos, which is far lower than what other crypto exchanges take.

Crypto.com has a feature known as a non-custodial De-Fi wallet, which operates as an independent app. You can use this app to link your crypto trading account with Crypto.com and enjoy easy transfer of funds.

Additionally, Crypto.com also offers a superb program known as Crypto Earn. Here you can retain your crypto holdings in a form of fixed deposit scheme that’s similar to conventional banks. The period of such deposits is between one and three months.

They pay an interest of up to 12 percent on your holdings, which provides you with an excellent opportunity to earn more cryptos without actually buying them. Crypto.com operates only as a mobile app available for Android-based smartphones and iPhones, which can prove a bit inconvenient to some users.

6. Coinmama 

Coinmama was launched in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2013 and has some three million users in over 180 countries. This is one of the topmost crypto exchanges in the world if you’re interested in mainly trading with Bitcoin. They offer you a selection of only 10 top cryptos in the world such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and others.

This limited selection makes it easier for users to make a superb portfolio of cryptos. They also offer cryptos as very competitive prices, which is an added attraction for both, investors and traders.

On Coinmama, you can buy cryptos using direct bank transfers, wire transfers, credit card or debit card as well as Apple Pay. However, they charge a fee of five percent to 5.5 percent on all deposits and purchases.

Coinmama also offers you a private crypto e-wallet with a key that protects you against any unauthorized access to your holdings. This crypto e-wallet is highly secure, so you can be assured that no hackers can access your cryptocurrencies.

8. Robinhood 

Robinhood is one of the best crypto exchanges in the world because it allows almost everyone, including people with very small budgets to trade on cryptos. Typically, you can invest with as low as $5 on a crypto. For that amount, you can buy fractions of a Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. As you go adding funds, you get more and more fractions, which all add up to fetch you one unit of the cryptocurrency.

It’s free to use Robinhood. They operate as an app for Android-based smartphone and iPhones. However, they have one flipside: you cannot transfer cryptocurrencies directly if you wish to make a purchase or transaction. Instead, you have to cash in your cryptocurrencies in fiat currency, which is US Dollar. However, Robinhood is a very attractive app and crypto exchange for beginners that want to deal in cryptocurrencies with a small amount of money at hand.

9. Trade Station

Trade Station is based in Florida, US and has been operating since 1982. Over the years, it has gained the reputation of being one of the oldest surviving crypto exchanges. That makes it ideal for intermediate level and advanced level crypto traders and investors.

Trade Station is mainly a stock trading platform. However, they also have the option of investing and trading in cryptocurrencies. They have a small selection of cryptos that includes Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and USD Coin.

However, a superb feature of Trade Station is that they offer you a six percent interest rate, accruing daily and paid monthly on your crypto holdings. You can deposit and trade as much as you like while getting interest on daily holdings.

Trade Station functions as a mobile app. They have an easy-to-use interface which allows you to customize your preferences easily.

10. Gemini 

If you’re based in the US, then Gemini is perhaps the best crypto exchange that you could use. Gemini has been around since 2014 and has headquarters in New York. They offer 20 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, USD Coin and others. And they also allow you to trade in 25 major fiat currencies.

Gemini provides a bonus of $10 when you buy Satoshi, the fraction of Bitcoins worth $100. Their Gemini Earn plan enables users to earn up 3.5% interest with Bitcoins when they save crypto.

The flipside is that Gemini accounts come with a $5,000 daily deposit limit and a $30,000 monthly deposit limit. Therefore, it isn’t a crypto exchange if you’re looking at high value transactions. All your funds and crypto holdings with Gemini are insured by the FDIC. Therefore, your holdings are covered against any potential losses.

Gemini charges a fee of 0.50 percent on trades and between 0.99 percent and 1.49 percent on transfers of cryptos. These rates compare well with those charged by other bigger and best crypto exchanges in the world.  

11. PrimeXBT

PrimeXBT allows users to access multiple markets from a single account. It offers easy access to cryptocurrencies, stocks, Exchange Traded Funds, fiat currencies and commodities from a single account. Some of their features include copying their trading activity and getting good results.

You can leverage your crypto account for switching between investment options too such as stocks and currencies or commodities. PrimeXBT operates as an app and is available for both, Android-based smartphones and iPhones.

12. Coinsmart

Coinsmart is a very user-friendly cryptocurrency exchange. That means, you can buy, sell, invest or even trade with cryptos seamlessly on Coinsmart. They offer only a selected range of cryptocurrencies that includes Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, Ethereum and USD Coin, among others.  If you’re a business and want to accept crypto payments, you can do so using their crypto invoicing system, which is free to use.

However, one of the flipsides of Coinsmart is that they take about seven days to process your payments and orders. And they accept payments in US Dollar only, meaning you’ll have to convert other currencies to the Dollar before buying Bitcoin or other cryptos. Yet, the ease of use more than covers up for these flipsides and you can use Coinsmart safely.

13. Cex.io

Cex.io is the best app to buy crypto if you’re looking at crypto trades in Bitcoin and few other cryptos only. They accept various forms of payments for Bitcoin and its fraction, the Satoshi. You can pay with a credit card, debit card, PayPal or direct bank transfers and wide transfers. Some of the cryptos that you can deal with on Cex.io include Ethereum and XRP as well as Litecoin.

The systems of Cex.io are very secure. This means you can be assured hackers cannot get access to your holdings. And you can trade with ten times the volume of your holdings without creating an extra account. However, on the flipside, Cex.io offers services only in 35 states of the US due to local rules and regulations over cryptos. You can get downloadable reports and real-time balance and trade sheets through their app.

14. Acorns

Acorns is an investment app that allows you to invest in cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, currencies and commodities. You can consider it as a best app for crypto. It is best suited for beginners in the crypto trade. For example, a beginner can start investing on Bitcoin or other cryptos with as little as $10 only and buy fractions. By making small investments, they can continue buying fractions till their holdings reach a specific amount or result in one full unit of crypto.

Bitcoin, XRP, Litecoin, Ethereum and seven other cryptos can be bought over Acorns. Actually, Acorns operates as an app. Their trades are very fast and hence, you can get the best rates when crypto prices actually go down. They also provide handy tips for newbies to get the most of their crypto trading.

15. Poloniex

Poloniex is one of the best crypto exchanges and makes it to this list for various reasons. You can buy, sell or trade in as many as 60 different cryptocurrencies from the US and abroad using this crypto exchange, With Poloniex, you can access what’s known as airdrops or distribution of cryptocurrencies in the token or unit form and place your orders to get the best price.

Poloniex can be connected to various other apps of banks or prepaid cards for easier trading. You can trade on margin across a range of pairs to get bigger returns. And you can run their smart algorithms and bot-based trading strategies to get higher profits from your crypto trades. On the flipside, their system is a bit slower than other apps. Also, Poloniex is ideal only for intermediate and expert level crypto traders due to its complexity.

Crypto Exchanges and Crypto Wallets

A lot of exchanges don’t provide their own e-wallets and online wallets for cryptos. This means, you might have to subscribe to one separately. And sometimes, that costs money. For example, Bitcoin has its own secure cryptocurrency wallet which is free to download and use. However, this wallet doesn’t support certain other types of cryptos.

If you’re serious about trading in cryptos, also check the various e-wallets and physical crypto wallets. Generally, the physical ones offer a higher level of security than e-wallets. However, the flipside is that you might lose your crypto holdings if your smartphone or physical crypto wallet is stolen.

Look for exchanges that offer Two Factor Verification for accessing your holdings. That way, you have an added security against hackers and unauthorized access to your cryptos. In any case, most exchanges offer a high level security and therefore, you can use any of these 15 top crypto exchanges in the world for your trades.

In Conclusion

These 15 best crypto exchanges in the world have been in the market for several years. All of these 15 crypto exchanges are legit and hence, you can trade through them safely. Some of them also offer an app, which you can use for trading even while you’re on the go. Since cryptos are a major form of investment nowadays, you to can make a lot of money by trading through any of these best crypto exchanges in the world. However, I suggest you read their terms and conditions carefully, before signing up for any crypto trading exchange and platform.