Category: Crypto Videos

Coinbase Exchange in-depth review – part 4/5

This part of the review will guide you on how to add a payment method to your Coinbase account, as well as how to make your first cryptocurrency purchase.

Adding payment methods
Before buying any cryptocurrency on Coinbase, you will need to attach a payment method to the account. Coinbase offers support for three payment methods:
Debit card;
Bank account;
Wire transfer.
We will show you how to add a bank account as your payment method.

To start the process of adding a payment method, select the “Settings” tab located in the top middle of the page.

Once there, select the “Linked Accounts” tab.

Click on the “Link a New Account” button.

This will enable you to select your preferred payment method.

Debit card
Debit cards great for purchasing smaller amounts of cryptocurrency quickly. Debit card purchases credit the account with cryptocurrency instantly. This can come in handy if you want to buy a cryptocurrency quickly. On the other hand, debit cards have a lower purchase limit than other payment methods. Debit card limits may even be as low as $300 per week. On top of that, debit card purchases have extremely high fees, set at 4%.

Bank account
Bank Accounts are the opposite of debit cards. They better for larger purchases due to their higher limit, but are not immediate like debit cards. When purchasing crypto on Coinbase with a bank account, the price you pay for the cryptocurrency is locked in the moment of purchasing. However, you will not receive the cryptocurrency instantly, as the purchase will need 4-5 business days to process.

If the value of the cryptocurrency you bought goes up in the time it takes to process the transaction; you will have made money without doing anything. On the other hand, if the value of a cryptocurrency goes down, you will have lost money without ever even trading. Additionally, the aforementioned 4-5 days are the days you can not use to trade the bought cryptocurrency as you do not own it until it is credited to the account. With that being said, bank account purchases have some major upsides. The bank purchase limits are much higher. They are starting at $7,500 per week and can only be larger. The transfer fees are also much lower. They are set at 1.5%.

Purchasing cryptocurrency on Coinbase
With your account set up and payment methods added, you can finally start off with buying some cryptocurrency.
Start by clicking the “Buy/Sell” tab at the top of the Coinbase page.
Select the cryptocurrency of choice as well as the payment method and the dollar amount you wish to spend.

This will lead to the purchase confirmation page.
If you have the 2FA set up, Coinbase will ask for the code to confirm the purchase.

Selling cryptocurrency for fiat currency is a very similar process. The main difference between the two is that you cannot sell cryptocurrency using a credit card. Selling cryptocurrency on Coinbase can only be done by using a bank account or a Coinbase USD wallet that will keep your money on Coinbase.

For a more in-depth review of Coinbase, watch part 5 of our Coinbase Exchange in-depth guide.

Coinbase Exchange in-depth review – part 3/5

This part of our review will look at account creation and security features of Coinbase.

Creating an account

To set up an account with Coinbase, start off by visiting the Coinbase website and clicking “Sign Up.”

This will lead you to the account creation page. Fill in your name, email, password as well as location. Completing the captcha is also a necessity, as well as the “check” that you are over 18. After doing that and agreeing to the Coinbase user agreement and privacy policy, you have finished a major part of verification.

Coinbase will then send you an email that you have to use to continue with the verification.

This will lead you to the country/phone number part of the account setup.

After filling that info, a 7-digit code will be sent to your phone. You will need to write it in order to confirm the phone number.

After completing that, you may or may not be directed to verify your ID. If you are not instructed to do so, your account set up is complete. However, if you are directed to verify your ID, you will have to do it before you start using Coinbase.

ID Verification

As Coinbase is a US-based company, it must comply with the KYC and AML laws. Know Your Customer (KYC), as well as Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws, require US businesses to verify the identity of each of their customers.
For customers, however, this only means that they need to present a big chunk of their personal information, such as the last four digits of their social security number and their ID photo.
Coinbase will evaluate and potentially check the information presented, so the verification completion may take some time.

After filling out this information, you’ll also be required to submit a photo of your ID.

Verification Levels

Different verification levels offer different limits with Coinbase. If the account is phone-verified, you’ll be able to invest up to $9,500. However, if you verify your personal information, you’ll be allowed to invest an unlimited amount.

Additional Security

After verifying your ID, you’ll want to increase the security of your account by enabling the 2-Factor Authentication (2FA).
To do so, first select the settings tab.

Once you are there, select the Security tab and scroll down to the “Two-Factor Authentication” section.

Make sure that the verification code is set for any amount of cryptocurrency. Select the “Enable Authenticator” button to start the process.

A 7-digit code will be sent to your phone, and you will be required to enter it on Coinbase. After entering the SMS code, Coinbase will generate an authenticator code for you, which allows you to use the 2-Factor Authentication feature.
2FA is an additional security measure that works by generating unique codes based on your authenticator secret code, therefor making your account just a bit safer. To use it, you will have to download a 2FA app such as Google Authenticator to your phone.
After downloading the application, add the Coinbase authenticator code to the app. You can do this two ways:

• by scanning the QR code;
• by manually entering the authenticator code.

The mobile app will now generate 2FA codes for Coinbase. They will change every few seconds. Due to the code changing so quickly, someone attempting to get into your account would need to have access to your phone as well as the account info in order to access your funds.
Note: Make sure to write down your secret authenticator code. Store it somewhere safe as you will need this code when you are switching devices.

Once your 2FA is set up, your account will be secure and ready to go.

For a more in-depth review of Coinbase, watch part 4 of our Coinbase Exchange in-depth guide.