Coinmama is an Israel based cryptocurrency broker that is centered around convenience. The site makes it extremely easy to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum anywhere in the world, and if you have Visa or Mastercard you’re good to go! What stands out about Coinmama is that the coins you purchase will be immediately delivered to your wallet rather than stored in your Coinmama account. Not only is it fast and simple, but it’s popular way to do it; with over 1,000,000 customers you can find plenty of people satisfied with the exchange site. This review will cover everything you need to know about Coinmama, such as fees, withdrawal limits and customer support.
Fees
Coinmama has a base fee of 5.50%, the prices you see on their homepage include this fee. On top of that there is an additional 5.00% fee from the processor charges (Simplex) if using credit/debit card, which will be added after you choose your payment method.
Ease of use
Coinmama is not a complicated site and we will give you a quick run through of how to get started and purchase some cryptocurrency, we are going to talk about Bitcoin but the same process applies for Ethereum. One thing to keep in mind before you begin is that you must have a wallet before you start this process.
How to store your digital currency
As previously mentioned, Coinmama does not store your Bitcoin or Ether, it will instead send send your currency to your specified wallet. There are multiple types of wallets, such as hardware, paper, desktop or cloud. Hardware wallets are generally the best all-round wallets and will keep your cryptocurrency safer than anything else. We recommend reliable wallets such as the Ledger Nano S, the Keepkey or the Trezor. We also recommend Exodus and Jaxx wallets for Bitcoin and Ethereum or Electrum, GreenAddress or Blockchain wallets for just Bitcoin. Check out our guide to the best Ethereum Wallets for more information on how to store your Ethereum.
Now that we have that covered we can move on to the Coinmama part.
Firstly register for an account, this will require some basic information such as full name and email address.
You will need to be verified for purchase so click Verify your account, under my account. This will take you to the verification page where you submit some form of ID, such as a picture of your passport or driver’s license.
Now this ID will be reviewed and when you are approved you can move on to buying Bitcoin or Ether. To do this simply click Buy Bitcoins and choose Visa, Mastercard.
Then enter the wallet address you want the Bitcoin sent to, and fill out the form on the Proceed to checkout page. After that click Pay now. You can now buy up to US$10,000!
A great part of Coinmama is the interface. When buying Bitcoin you can pick out of pre-priced fractional amounts of bitcoins, which change every ten minutes to reflect the current market. Or you can get more specific and use the slider, or manually enter the amount you want.
How to sell your digital currency
So now that you have your Bitcoin, you’ll also understandably want to know how to withdraw it as a fiat currency. As Coinmama does not store your BTC it is therefore impossible to sell your Bitcoin or Ether and you will have to find another Bitcoin exchange. This will be a site that will convert your cryptocurrency into your desired fiat currency through selling your Bitcoin or Ether. We recommend Coinbase and have an in depth Coinbase review.
Safety
As with any respectable digital currency exchange site Coinmama does everything it can to ensure safety. Its users’ personal information is encrypted and stored on secured and dedicated servers. Furthermore your Credit Card details are not saved in their system, so a hack won’t affect you. Total safety cannot be guaranteed however, and we suggest you take steps yourself to protect your bitcoins and information. For example make sure your private key for the wallet you choose is somewhere safe and inaccessible, such as written down and kept in a safe.
Withdrawal limits
The minimum amount to buy is US$60. The maximum amount depends on the amount of personal information you provide. This information is broken up into Coinmama’s verification levels.
Level 1:
Allows the user to buy up to US$10,000
Level 2:
Allows the user to buy up to US$50,000
Level 3:
Allows the user to buy up to US$1,000,000
Regardless of your verification status you are still subject to the daily limit of 5,000 USD/EUR and the monthly limit of 20,000 USD/EUR. For Western Union (cash) purchases, the limit is capped at 5,000 USD/EUR.
Supported Cryptos
At the time of writing this Coinmama supports Bitcoin and Ethereum. They also have a fairly good referral program so you can earn a little bit of extra Bitcoin every time your friends sign up and buy. For more information check out their referrals page.
Customer support
Customer support is available via email, in addition to this they offer livechat, but this is not available 24x7. Their support website is an excellent place to check for any questions you may have.
Final Thoughts
So, is Coinmama legit? In our opinion, yes. Coinmama is as legit as they come. It’s proven itself to be a trustworthy site that’s built a good reputation, and is a very simple yet effective Bitcoin and Ethereum broker. Recently more complaints have surfaced about the speed of transactions slowing down, and we will put that down to a temporary traffic issue due to the influx of new cryptocurrency enthusiasts in the past few months.
Obviously we would love to see the addition of a Sell option on their website, but all of the signs are pointing towards this becoming an incorporation soon.
