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Coinmama Review: A Beginner-Friendly Platform to Buy Crypto With a Credit Card

Review Updated
Dana Sitar
By: Dana Sitar

Our Cryptocurrency Expert

Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.

Coinmama is a basic, easy-to-use cryptocurrency exchange where you can buy a small selection of cryptocurrencies. It's notable for allowing purchases with a credit card, but there are also other payment options available, including bank account transfers and payment apps. Unfortunately, fees can be very expensive. Read our full Coinmama review to see if it's right for you.

Ratings Methodology

Bottom Line

Although it's a user-friendly place to buy crypto, Coinmama is too costly and lacks too many features for long-term use.

Fees:

Market rate + 2% and up to 3.9% on purchases and up to 0.9% on sales

Account Minimum:

$30 purchase minimum

Full Coinmama review

This cryptocurrency exchange is a good fit for: People who want a convenient place to occasionally make small crypto purchases.

Pros

  • Easy way to buy crypto
  • Multiple payment options
  • Fast verification

Cons

  • High fees
  • No wallet
  • Limited features
  • Mediocre educational content
  • Small cryptocurrency selection

Top perks

Easy way to buy crypto

The best thing about Coinmama is how beginner-friendly it is. To buy crypto, simply plug in the amount you want to spend, and then provide your payment method and crypto wallet address. It also allows you to sell Bitcoin (BTC).

Multiple payment options

Another convenient part of Coinmama is that it accepts quite a few different payment methods. Available methods depend on the user's location. For users in non-restricted areas of the United States, accepted payment methods are:

  • Credit/debit card
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • ACH transfer

Coinmama isn't able to serve the entire United States yet. In some states, it offers service by a third-party partner, and in two states, Hawaii and New York, it's not available at all.

Fast verification

Like any licensed crypto exchange, Coinmama requires that clients go through identity verification. It's a quick process. First, you fill out a form with some basic information. After that, you need to write "Coinmama" and the day's date on a piece of paper, and then snap a selfie with that paper and your ID to upload.

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What could be improved

High fees

The biggest flaw with Coinmama is how expensive it is. It charges 2.3% more than the market rate and has commissions of up to 3.9% on purchases and 0.9% on sales. There's also a 4.99% fee for payments made by credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

These fees far exceed what quality exchanges charge. If you're planning to invest in cryptocurrency, Coinmama costs too much to be a good option.

COMPARE OPTIONS: Check out The Ascent's Best Cryptocurrency Apps and Exchanges.

No wallet

Coinmama doesn't provide any type of crypto storage. When you place a buy order, you need to provide a wallet address to receive the cryptocurrency. Since cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, it's very important to provide the correct address for your order.

This isn't necessarily a huge drawback. One of the most common pieces of advice for safely storing cryptocurrency is to keep it in your own wallet, not on an exchange.

It's one of the few inconvenient parts of using Coinmama, though. Other exchanges at least give you the option of crypto storage, allowing you to jump right in and make a purchase. With Coinmama, you'll need to set up a wallet first.

RELATED: Best Crypto Wallets

Limited features

The only things you can do on Coinmama are buy certain types of cryptocurrency and sell one of them (Bitcoin). Compared to other exchanges, Coinmama is light on features.

For example, it doesn't offer crypto-to-crypto trades, so you couldn't swap one cryptocurrency for another. It also doesn't have any way to earn interest on your cryptocurrency. Several exchanges offer either crypto lending or crypto staking programs, two popular ways to grow your holdings.

Interested in crypto staking? Read our guide to the Best Crypto Staking Platforms.

Mediocre educational content

Considering that Coinmama has such a beginner-friendly design, it'd be nice to see it improve its educational content. The exchange's blog has some articles, but many of the crypto education sections haven't had new pieces published in years.

Alternatives to consider

If you want low fees: Binance.US is great for keeping your crypto costs to a minimum. Its trading fees are low and get lower based on your 30-day trading volume or if you pay fees in its BNB (BNB) cryptocurrency.

If you want a secure crypto storage option: Coinbase has excellent security and keeps over 98% of its clients' crypto offline in cold storage. Those who want even more protection can use the exchange's vault service, which is available to clients free of charge.

Offer


Rating
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Commissions
0.00%-0.45% maker/taker fee
Variable fees (Coinbase), 0%-0.80% (Coinbase Advanced Trade), $29.99 monthly (Coinbase One)
Next Steps

How Coinmama works

Coinmama is a straightforward exchange where you can buy several cryptocurrencies and sell Bitcoin. Accepted payment methods include credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and ACH transfers.

To use Coinmama, you need to register for an account and verify your identity. There are multiple account levels you can progress through, and your level determines your buy and sell limits. Here are the levels and their respective limits:

  • Level 1: $15,000
  • Level 2: $50,000
  • Level 3: $1,000,000
  • Level 4: Over $1,000,000

Those are lifetime account limits, so if you reach the limit for a level, you need to apply for the next one. After the first level, each subsequent level has a spending prerequisite before you can apply.

Coinmama doesn't store your cryptocurrency for you. During a purchase, you'll need to enter the crypto wallet address where you want to receive your order.

Fees overview

Coinmama charges a spread, a commission, and an additional transaction fee for certain payment methods. The spread is based on a service called TradeBlock XBX that averages the rates of known providers to track a market rate. Coinmama's market rate is the XBX plus 2.3%.

The table below includes the fees for U.S. investors on Coinmama.

Fee type Amount
Spread XBX rate + 2.3%
Commission fee on purchases Up to 3.9%
Commission fee on sales Up to 0.9%
Credit/debit card transaction 4.99%
Apple Pay transaction 4.99%
Google Pay transaction 4.99%
ACH 0%
Fedwire 0%
SWIFT 0%
Source: Coinmama

Coinmama offers discounts on commissions through its loyalty program. There are three loyalty levels. The first is the default level, and the next two have spending requirements. In addition to commission discounts, they also get you faster support.

Loyalty Level Commission Discount Spending Requirement
Crypto Curious N/A N/A
Crypto Enthusiast 12.5% $5,000 per 90-day period
Crypto Believer 25% $18,000 per 90-day period or $50,000 over account lifetime; must have been purchasing with Coinmama for at least 30 days
Source: Coinmama.

Cryptocurrency selection

Coinmama lets you buy over a dozen cryptocurrencies, which is much less than quite a few other exchanges. Its roster includes market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), along with a mix of some other big coins and a few mid-size ones.

If you want to invest in a variety of cryptocurrencies, then you'll probably need to look elsewhere. There are a lot of big cryptos you can't get on Coinmama, including:

Is your cryptocurrency safe with Coinmama?

Coinmama is different from most exchanges in that it doesn't store cryptocurrency for its users. It sends cryptocurrency to the wallet address provided during the purchase process. Since orders go to a user's own wallet, keeping that crypto safe is ultimately the responsibility of the user.

For buying crypto, Coinmama is a secure option. It starts with an identity verification process, which helps protect against fraudulent accounts. It offers two-factor authentication (2FA) to prevent unauthorized account access. Coinmama also doesn't store credit or debit card information in its system.

Coinmama is right for you if:

Our Cryptocurrency Expert