Coinbase review: is it a scam?

Coinbase opinions: member reviews

If there is one way to tell whether an online investment system is reliable or not, it is certainly the opinion of those who have tried it. To be fair, experience in the field is the absolute best weapon for trading profitably. Such a statement, however, can be a double-edged sword, as one can find so many reviews on the web about Coinbase, as if millions of users frequent this platform. The user is thus led to trust what he reads. But is this really the case? Indeed, wandering around the web, it seems difficult, on the contrary, to find a truly reliable Coinbase guide explaining how this software for investing works.

The purpose of the guide you are reading is to understand how Coinbase works in reality and evaluate possible alternatives. As previously mentioned, in online investing experience in the field is the first criterion for evaluating, then creating one’s strategy with one’s tools and chosen resources. To assess whether Coinbase is a scam or not and to understand its investment mechanisms, I wanted to test the system myself. So, I signed up with Coinbase and got to see with my own eyes what I already thought and what should be clear to everyone: miracles do not exist; easy money does not exist; but above all, opening a trading account with Coinbase is NOT the best choice.

As a professional in the online investment business for more than 10 years, I can state that to start investing, you cannot rely on platforms with certain criticalities that I will explain right away.

How reliable is Coinbase?

The initial advice any trading guru would give you is straightforward: always and only invest through regulated platforms. I do not claim that Coinbase is a scam or the other way around. However, online trading is regulated by specific legislation requiring trading platforms to indicate the operating licences they hold on their site. This is the transparency obligation to which regulated, licensed and monitored companies are subjected by stock exchange supervisory bodies.

On Coinbase’s home page, there is no trace of CySec licence. The brand belongs to a company that is also based in Cayman Islands that is a famous tax haven country!Going to the other sections of the site, we talk about anti-money laundering policy, i.e. the legislation that Coinbase, as a company, claims to follow. But the real crux, for online trading platforms, is monitoring. Who monitors Coinbase? It is not monitored by anyone! The lack of a declared licence on the home page is something that should put off a trader looking for professional and reliable tools to invest.

Who is behind Coinbase?

Also, on the platform’s website, the names and surnames of the company executives are not specified. As mentioned, I registered with Coinbase, and as a first action, I contacted customer support to get more information. I received a very late reply, and I was invited to consult a section of the site, even though I had requested other information. Anyway, I deposited a small budget intending to try to invest on this exchange.

Fees are much higher than stated. Assets prices are often not in line with real market prices. Also, for some reason, when you request a withdrawal, you can never withdraw all your funds. The platform also offers an ‘Academy’, which, however, turns out to be nothing more than a blog with simple information guides that can also be found elsewhere, even more detailed. And again, there is no PayPal option among the payment methods, which is currently the safest way to transfer money online.

All these elements are already enough to say that Coinbase is NOT a platform recommended for beginners. Even less so for professionals. Perhaps in the future, after a few years of experience and after obtaining a valuable operating licence, the platform may enter the circle of the best systems for trading. Under current conditions, I do not recommend its use.