KuCoin vs SwissBorg 2024: Top Crypto Exchanges Compared
Seychelles
Switzerland
2017
2017
Not regulated by any national licensing bodies.
Legally operates as a Digital Assets Exchange under Seychelles law
Virtual Currency Service License-Estonia
Registered as a PSAN by the AMF- France
Regulated by VQF- Switzerland
2 licenses for GDPR requirements on data protection
700+
40+
KCS
BORG (Previously CHSB)
Lowest: -0.005%/0.025%
Highest: 0.1% / 0.1%
0-1%
High
Very High
Advanced trading concepts can be confusing for beginners. KuCoin offers a lot of features and products that can overwhelm new users.
Yes
Required
Required
Crypto can be purchased with 50+ fiat currencies supported through various integrated partners
15+
Deposit– SEPA Bank Transfer, Debit/Credit card, P2P, Apple Pay, Simplex, Banxa.
Fast Buy supports 70+ payment methods through various third-party integrations.
Withdraw– Crypto only
Full fiat on and offramp services via SEPA/SWIFT bank transfer and card purchases.
Crypto deposits and withdrawals also supported.
Seychelles
Switzerland
2017
2017
Not regulated by any national licensing bodies.
Legally operates as a Digital Assets Exchange under Seychelles law
Virtual Currency Service License-Estonia
Registered as a PSAN by the AMF- France
Regulated by VQF- Switzerland
2 licenses for GDPR requirements on data protection
700+
40+
KCS
BORG (Previously CHSB)
Lowest: -0.005%/0.025%
Highest: 0.1% / 0.1%
0-1%
High
Very High
Advanced trading concepts can be confusing for beginners. KuCoin offers a lot of features and products that can overwhelm new users.
Yes
Required
Required
Crypto can be purchased with 50+ fiat currencies supported through various integrated partners
15+
Deposit– SEPA Bank Transfer, Debit/Credit card, P2P, Apple Pay, Simplex, Banxa.
Fast Buy supports 70+ payment methods through various third-party integrations.
Withdraw– Crypto only
Full fiat on and offramp services via SEPA/SWIFT bank transfer and card purchases.
Crypto deposits and withdrawals also supported.
Finding the perfect crypto exchange can be difficult, we get it. Here at the Coin Bureau, we spend countless hours tirelessly testing, reviewing, and covering dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges in our mission to help our community find the exchange that is best suited for their crypto journey.
Today’s article is an interesting one as SwissBorg and KuCoin are two crypto exchanges with very little in common, both being very strong performers in their respective niches. This SwissBorg vs KuCoin review will provide you with all the information you need to decide whether you should sign up for KuCoin and find out why it is a crypto trading oasis, or SwissBorg, the best platform to manage your crypto wealth and earn some fantastic passive income on your hodl-stash.
For more information on these two crypto exchanges, be sure to check out our in-depth dedicated reviews below:
Also, as you are on a journey to find a great cryptocurrency exchange, you may find the following article useful:
Alright, let’s crack into this KuCoin vs SwissBorg review and determine which one is right for you.
Note: Users located in the US and UK are not supported.
KuCoin vs SwissBorg
Further in this article, we will take a closer look at each exchange individually, but first, we want to give you an overview of our findings by comparing SwissBorg vs KuCoin
KuCoin vs SwissBorg: Products Offered
As I alluded to earlier, these two platforms offer considerably different products and cater to a very different market and user base. In the interest of saving you time and summing up the primary differences between these two, if you are interested in actively day trading crypto, then KuCoin will be the more suitable platform for you without a doubt.
KuCoin is one of the top 5 crypto trading exchanges in the world and offers a professional-grade trading platform with a huge number of tradeable derivatives and spot products. KuCoin also features a launchpad, some of the best trading competitions around, crypto lending, and has become one of the leading platforms for skilled traders who enjoy trading competitions and “Vegas-style” trading games and lottery-style giveaways.
SwissBorg, on the other hand, has a sterling reputation as one of the most secure exchanges in the world and is one of the best platforms to offer unique and powerful crypto wealth management products, becoming one of the best places to earn attractive APYs on crypto. SwissBorg also has one of the highest-rated mobile apps and is often praised for being incredibly user-friendly with a best-in-class UI/UX.
It is not uncommon for crypto users to have an account on both platforms, with KuCoin being the place to perform active trading and access features like the Launchpad and NFT marketplace, then stash their crypto and winnings on SwissBorg to take advantage of their industry-leading earn and wealth management products.
Both platforms can be used for trading, with KuCoin being the more powerful platform for traders who use technical analysis and perform advanced trading while SwissBorg focuses more on making swapping crypto as easy as possible and providing a solid platform to store and earn long-term. To put it simply, KuCoin is better for active trading and crypto bots, and SwissBorg is a better place to easily buy/swap crypto and for saving/investing.
I have used both platforms and have been a fan of SwissBorg for years, but it is certainly not the platform I use for actively trading as it lacks the advanced charting and order functionality accessible on exchanges like Binance and KuCoin. The reason I like using SwissBorg is for their innovative earn products, transparency, and trustworthy reputation, and because the app is simply one of the cleanest and easiest to use in the industry.
Many users, myself included, use SwissBorg as a place to manage their crypto investment portfolios. While the majority of funds should be kept safe and sound in a hardware wallet, out of the reach of hackers, SwissBorg is a great place to allocate a portion of funds that you intend to hold for the long term and enjoy compounding interest with some of the products that we will be covering in this article today.
Coin Bureau readers can take advantage of KuCoin’s massive selection of features and altcoins, advanced trading interface and low fees while enjoying an exclusive up to 60% fee discount and a free trading bot by using our KuCoin Sign-up Link.
If you want to get serious about crypto investing and wealth management and find out why SwissBorg is the most trusted platform for crypto portfolios, you can get up to €100 free by using our Swissborg Sign-up Link.
Alright, let’s take a quick look at what KuCoin has to offer:
- Buy crypto with over 50 fiat currencies
- Swap crypto easily with the “convert” feature
- Access an advanced trading interface for Spot, Margin and Derivatives trading
- Trade leveraged tokens
- 10x leverage for Spot trading up to 100x leverage for Futures
- KuCard crypto debit card
- Rewards hub
- Trading Bots
- Crypto Lending, Earn, and Launchpad
- Full-service NFT marketplace for buying, selling, minting, and investing in fractionalized NFTs
Here is what SwissBorg offers:
- Buy crypto with over 15 fiat currencies
- Cash-out with fiat withdrawals
- Very beginner/user-friendly interface
- Award-winning crypto app
- Some of the highest APYs in the industry
- Suitable investment products for varying levels of risk tolerance
- Easy access to DeFi protocols without the complexities of DeFi navigation
- Smart Yield Accounts
- Thematics- Crypto portfolio bundles
- SwissBorg Earn
- Smart Engine aggregator for low-fee and efficient token swaps
- SwissBorg Rewards Program
- AI portfolio analytics
- Safety + Security with comprehensive licensing and regulatory compliance
That covers the products and key features at a glance, now let’s jump into how else these two stack up.
KuCoin vs SwissBorg: User Friendliness
A quick note before diving into this section is that it is important to make a distinction between being beginner-friendly and user-friendly. KuCoin, for example, features highly advanced trading interfaces, order types, and products that cannot be considered beginner friendly, but the trading interface is very user-friendly for experienced traders who know their way around a trading screen.
SwissBorg, on the other hand, is incredibly beginner and user-friendly. SwissBorg took a mobile app first approach and it is evident how much time, energy, and effort they put into the design of the app as it is a community favourite and won the SwissBorg team the Top Swiss Fintech Startup award in 2021 and the Mass Adoption Project of the year award during the same period.
The app is well laid out and designed in a manner that is so simple that you can almost use it with your eyes closed, not that I would recommend doing that, as you may end up accidentally swapping some blue-chip crypto assets for some 💩 coins.
I get asked a lot what exchange I recommend for those first getting into crypto and for US-based users looking for a beginner-friendly exchange I normally recommend Kraken, for those outside the US, I usually recommend SwissBorg as you just can’t go wrong with it.
I also feel that the team did a fantastic job building the app with different areas that can be navigated to which ensures the interface always looks clean as it has become common for a lot of crypto apps to try and jam-pack too much on one screen, making the app look and feel cluttered. Here is a look at the portfolio analytics section of the app which has its own designated area:
There isn’t really anything negative I can say about the app. It is designed very well and couldn’t be easier to use, it is easy to see why it won awards as it is probably the best crypto app on the market.
If we switch gears now and talk about KuCoin, there is a bit of a double-edged sword there. There are a few exchanges out there that are absolute powerhouses when it comes to being like the Swiss army knife of crypto, offering every product under the sun.
KuCoin and Binance fall under this category as they are very robust platforms and have products suitable for crypto users of all goals and backgrounds, but this can lead to a platform that can feel cluttered and overwhelming due to the sheer number of features and products on offer as I've highlighted in the image below:
Personally, I like the “all-in-one” crypto platforms as I enjoy being able to do just about everything in one convenient place and this is one of KuCoin’s strengths if you don't mind the clutter.
Learning how to use and navigate some of the more comprehensive platforms like Binance and KuCoin and learning to use the trading interface will be a huge benefit to you over time as you will be able to save a substantial amount on fees and get in and out of crypto at better prices.
You don’t even need to learn how to trade to benefit from these advanced trading screens, just hitting the “buy and sell” buttons on the trading screen and avoiding the simple “convert” or “swap” features, can save users a lot of money over the long run as the convenience of one-click trading often comes with some hefty fees.
Fortunately, Guy has this great video where he shows you how to get started and use KuCoin like a pro:
From a simple user-friendliness perspective, SwissBorg is certainly the easier app to use and navigate simply due to the fewer products on offer. This is quite evident when comparing the platforms:
We can see the different products and areas that users can navigate to with KuCoin having over 28 compared to SwissBorg’s 4 main areas.
To sum this section up, neither platform is better or worse than the other, they are simply different. SwissBorg is far more user-friendly simply because it has taken the route of mastering a niche as opposed to KuCoin whose strength is being a Jack of all trades.
If SwissBorg offers the products that meet your needs as a crypto investor then you would be well served to sign up there and trust them with your crypto, but if you are looking for products not offered on SwissBorg, then KuCoin will likely have you covered.
Hold tight as we will cover those aforementioned products further on.
KuCoin vs SwissBorg: Fees
Both KuCoin and SwissBorg users benefit from low fees, with these two platforms taking quite different approaches in their fee structures.
KuCoin is certainly the winner here though as they are one of the industry leaders in rock bottom trading fees at mere fractions of a percentage or even negative for high-volume traders as you can see on the fee tier list below:
KuCoin utilizes a maker/taker fee model and is one of the lowest fee names in the game. The fees are based on a rolling 30-day trading volume, and/or the number of KuCoin’s KCS tokens held. KuCoin users can lower the already low fees by an additional 20% if they opt-in to pay their fees in the KCS token.
KuCoin is one of the cheapest places to trade without a doubt, but its largest weakness is in the lack of a native fiat on and offramp, making KuCoin quite an expensive place to buy crypto. KuCoin facilitates purchases through third-party payment providers that can charge between 2-8%, which is why most KuCoin users will use an exchange like Binance, Kraken, SwissBorg, or Coinbase, which support fiat deposits and withdrawals for a cheaper place to purchase crypto, then simply send crypto to KuCoin fee-free to take advantage of the platform’s features and products.
Turning our attention to SwissBorg, the platform prides itself on transparency and not “surprising” users with hidden fees and spreads that pop up after a trader agrees to a quote price. This is great as that seems to happen so often in crypto and it sucks when you are expecting to receive "X" amount of crypto but after the dust settles you realize that you received less. SwissBorg users benefit from zero spreads and the lowest possible exchange rates, all of which are clearly shown to the user before buying or swapping crypto.
Users can deposit crypto onto SwissBorg for free, and crypto withdrawals will be subject to the industry standard network fees, which vary greatly depending on the network. SwissBorg has the fees listed on the SwissBorg Fees Page.
Fiat withdrawals will also vary in fees depending on what currency is being withdrawn and what method is selected, and SwissBorg charges an additional 0.1% execution fee on withdrawals.
For exchange fees and fees for various sections of the platform, SwissBorg uses a loyalty tier level based on how many SwissBorg Tokens are held. You can see the various levels and their corresponding benefits below:
To be completely transparent with you guys, SwissBorg is not my favourite place to buy or exchange crypto as their fees are a bit higher than many exchanges and users need to hold 6 figures worth of SwissBorg tokens to start enjoying the higher discount levels. SwissBorg is one of the easiest places to buy and trade crypto, no doubt, but that convenience comes with a slightly higher fee.
My personal strategy is that I do all my buying, selling, and trading on Binance, where you can deposit fiat for free and often trade for free, or with fees that are so low that they are practically negligible, then once I have my crypto, I send it to SwissBorg to take advantage of their awesome investment products.
Even though swapping between two different exchanges to save a few pennies is a bit of a nuisance, and choosing to do everything on SwissBorg certainly won't break the bank, I find saving on fees any time possible is important as it allows me to stack more Sats instead of blowing money on fees. You never know how much those Sats may be worth someday. 😉
To sum up the fees section, KuCoin is much cheaper when it comes to trading fees while SwissBorg is the cheaper place to buy crypto. Crypto withdrawals are similar between the two, crypto deposits are free on both, and fiat withdrawals are only supported on SwissBorg.
KuCoin vs SwissBorg: Security
Security is an important consideration as it doesn’t matter how well your trading is going or how much you’ve earned in an investment product if the platform gets hacked and all your funds are stolen!
SwissBorg takes the win in this category as not only are they licensed and regulated, they have gone above and beyond industry best practices and take their security to another level. After beating up on SwissBorg a bit in the fees section, it wouldn’t be fair to leave out the fact that they invest a considerable amount of their profits into ensuring the platform is as secure as possible.
Many SwissBorg users are more than happy to pay the slightly higher fees for peace of mind, knowing that they are trusting an industry-leading exchange from a security standpoint. Even as a penny-pincher myself, I know that there is no point in saving money on fees if the security is so bad that your funds aren’t safe.
SwissBorg has invested in Multi-Party Computation (MPC) keyless technology and conduct multiple stress tests, and have even created advanced security software to ensure the safety of the platform and user funds. MPC technology is considered highly secure as it does not require private keys to be created, meaning there is no single point of failure should the private key become compromised.
They have also partnered with Fireblocks, a crypto-security firm that is widely respected within the industry for their security protocols that utilize multiparty computation technology to secure digital assets, making the SwissBorg App incredibly safe. SwissBorg has not suffered a known security breach to date and has insurance in place for users in the higher-tiered memberships in the unlikely event of a loss.
Turning our attention to KuCoin, while they do not win any gold stars from a security perspective, they do take the most important step in crypto security, and that is that they keep the majority of customer funds in offline, cold storage wallets.
After suffering one of the largest exchange hacks in history back in 2020, KuCoin has upped its security game and has enhanced its security protocols, even partnering with Onchain Custodian to help ensure customer funds are secure.
KuCoin also has insurance in place to reimburse customers in the event of a hack.
Though SwissBorg does take a win in this category in my humble opinion, that is not to say that KuCoin’s security is bad. Both of these platforms are trusted with millions of dollars worth of customer assets and have robust security protocols in place.
Great, now that we have covered a bit of head-to-head, let’s dive into each one a little more in detail.
KuCoin Overview
What is KuCoin
KuCoin was one of the earliest crypto exchanges that aimed to provide a robust trading platform suitable for serious traders. Though the founders themselves started working in blockchain back in the early days of crypto in 2011, the design for KuCoin wasn’t started until 2013, with the team not launching until they felt the product was perfect in 2017.
Since then, the crypto exchange rose quickly in adoption and has become a trading hub for serious traders thanks to the high-performance trading interface and the industry-leading trading and matching engines. The KuCoin exchange is suitable for anyone ranging from institutional traders all the way down to the average retail trader.
KuCoin is best known for its large selection of products, impressive altcoin support and Vegas-style trading contests, promos, and giveaways.
The final reason that KuCoin has managed to keep a stronghold as a top ten crypto exchange is thanks to the incredibly low fees, with their primary weakness being a lack of fiat on and offramp, resulting in traders not being able to withdraw fiat to a bank account.
Cryptocurrencies Offered
KuCoin and Gate.io are leaders in the crypto asset support category with KuCoin offering a whopping 750+ different cryptocurrencies and providing its users with the ability to pick up newly released assets quicker than most other exchanges.
With such an impressive selection of assets, KuCoin has become a go-to exchange for traders who are interested in picking up hard-to-find altcoins.
You can find a full list of supported assets on KuCoin’s supported crypto assets and Futures markets page.
KuCoin Products
Here we will cover an overview of the products on KuCoin. We go into more detail about these products in our dedicated KuCoin review if you want a more thorough look.
Trading Platform
The trading interface on KuCoin is as “top-of-the-line” as you will find anywhere. The team did a great job building an intuitive and highly functional trading interface that has attracted more than 20 million traders from all over the world.
Traders can access both Spot markets and Derivatives markets with leverage as high as 10x for spot and 100x for Futures.
KuCoin offers trading options for both beginners who want simplicity with their “convert” feature that looks like this:
And a more advanced trading interface for traders who need further order types and charting functionality that looks like this:
Learning to use the trading interface on any exchange as opposed to a simple “one-click” trading features can help save a significant amount on fees over time as these convenient options often come with some hefty fees. Using the trading interface, even at the most basic levels, will also allow traders to place advanced order types that can help them enter and exit trades at more opportune price levels.
The trading chart on KuCoin is powered by the world’s most popular charting platform Tradingview, which has become the standard for the top exchanges. The Tradingview integration helps provide traders with all the charting functionality needed for even the most hardcore of technical analysis traders.
The trading functionality on KuCoin always works seamlessly and the platform functions at the high caliber level that you would expect from one of the world's largest exchanges. I have never encountered any issues with the trading functionality and the positive reviews online highlight what a great trading experience users have on KuCoin.
KuCoin Earn
KuCoin has one of the most robust earn sections out of all the exchanges, providing users with multiple opportunities to earn passive income on their crypto holdings.
The Key Features of KuCoin Earn Are:
- Balanced products:
- Savings - Earn interest from crypto deposits.
- Staking - Participate in DeFi protocols to earn rewards.
- Promotions - Earn higher interest than Savings.
- ETH Staking - Ethereum liquid staking product.
- KCS Bonus Plan - Hodl KCS to earn a share of trading fee revenue.
- KuCoin Wealth products:
- Snowball - Predict market range to earn amplified returns.
- Twin-Win - KuCoin event-driven investment strategy.
- Covert Plus - Guaranteed asset conversion at a predetermined rate.
- Dual Investment - Volatility-driven investment product.
- Future Plus - Leverage with limited downside.
- Shark Fin - Principal preserving investment product.
- Specialized products:
- Crypto Lending 2.0 - Lend cryptocurrency with customizable APYs
- Polkadot Auction - Participate in the Polkadot and Kusama Slot auction via KuCoin.
- Burning Drop - Stake crypto to earn token distribution airdrops.
I won’t go into all the different Earn features here as we cover that in our KuCoin review, but users on KuCoin can earn from lending, staking, the Spotlight launch platform, KuCoin Pool, KuCoin Win, and holders of the KCS token can simply hold it for daily rewards.
Additionally, KuCoin supports Polkadot parachain slot auctions which is great as it allows an easy way for users to get involved with the Polkadot auction process.
There are Earn products on KuCoin suitable for all risk appetites and time frames ranging from short-term to long-term.
KuCoin Spotlight
The KuCoin Spotlight provides users with the ability to acquire token rewards from early projects by committing KuCoin’s KCS tokens for the various launch events that get posted on the launchpad. This is a similar concept to the Launchpads featured on other platforms like Binance and Bybit.
The KuCoin Spotlight attracts some fantastic projects that users can get involved in early before the tokens are launched to the public. Getting into tokens early before the projects gain mainstream popularity is one of the best ways to increase your ROI in crypto, but early project investing also comes with higher levels of risk.
KuCoin NFTs
It has become common for exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit to launch their own NFT marketplaces after witnessing their popularity in 2021 and KuCoin was not about to be outdone. They decided to do things a bit differently with this asset class and offer something fairly unique and hit the NFT niche from multiple angles.
Through KuCoin’s Windvane, users can buy, sell, and swap NFTs, as well as gain access to exclusive airdrops, earn dividends of commission income and enjoy whitelist access to NFT projects. Windvane is KuCoin’s response to the standard NFT marketplaces.
KuCoin’s NFT launchpad Wonderland is an interesting concept. This platform acts like a launchpad, but instead of project tokens being available for early access, it is NFTs from some interesting projects in the GameFi space such as Pikaster, CEBG, and X-Rush. Wonderland is where NFT projects can provide KuCoin users with early access to NFTs before wider they are available outside of the KuCoin ecosystem.
Another way that KuCoin is fostering innovation and advancing the NFT space is with its NFT fractionalization platform:
This is ideal for users who want exposure to some blue-chip NFTs but don’t want to shell out the six figures or millions needed to purchase some of the premium NFTs.
The way it works is that users can purchase something with a ticker symbol, hiMAYC as an example, which represents 1/1,000,000 ownership of one Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT.
NFT Projects can contact the KuCoin team to offer up their NFTs to have them fractionalized and promoted on the platform as well.
KuCoin Leveraged Tokens
Leveraged Tokens on KuCoin represent cryptocurrencies with features of leverage automatically attributed to them. These are great products that provide traders with responsible access to leverage, without the liquidation risks or complexities of margin trading.
There are a number of popular assets available in leveraged forms such as BTC, ETH, ADA, VeChain and more. Leveraged tokens have become massively popular trading instruments and are now supported on many of the major exchanges.
KuCoin Card
Crypto cards have become overwhelmingly popular in the industry with many companies being backlogged for months unable to keep up with the demand from customers wanting to get their hands on them. Exchanges like Crypto.com and Binance are leading in the crypto debit card space, with KuCoin recently announcing their entry into the world of crypto cards.
I am a big fan of crypto cards as many of them provide fantastic perks like cashback and free Netflix/Spotify subscriptions, no fees, and the ability to spend crypto, which is perfect for anyone who gets paid in crypto.
The KuCoin card is not released yet and we don’t know everything about it at the time of writing, but it could be worth keeping an eye on as KuCoin is unlikely to release a subpar product in this highly competitive space.
KuCoin Win
KuCoin Win is a fun feature for those who enjoy contests and giveaways. Win is a part of the KCS ecosystem that combines gamified entertainment with token listings, providing an additional way for KuCoin users to gain access to initial token distributions.
Win allows participants to gain early access to initial token distributions for promising blockchain projects at low costs.
LuckyRaffling is also part of the KuCoin Win platform where users can swap crypto for codes in a lottery-style event where they can win things like Apple Airpods, KCS or USDT prizes.
KuCoin Futures Brawl
Futures Brawl on KuCoin is quite popular as it attracts those who enjoy a bit of betting fun. Brawl provides traders with an entertaining and engaging way to participate in a game of educated chance with the opportunity to win some great prizes.
Futures Brawl was introduced as a temporary promotion back in 2020 but was so popular that it remains on the platform today.
The concept is simple:
- Decide how much in USDT you’re going to wager in the brawl.
- Choose to go long or short on the price of Bitcoin, whichever direction you think Bitcoin is going to go over the next 24 hours.
- The system will match you with an opponent who has a different bias.
- Win tokens if you choose right, lose the brawl if you choose wrong.
The number of points you can win increases with larger wagers and more when you are on a winning streak. Here is the reward system:
Brawl can be participated in once per day and winnings can be increased by joining 3v3 matches and continuing a win streak. The prizes can be things like iPhones and full Bitcoins.
KuCoin Trading Bots
KuCoin is one of the best exchanges in the industry for automated trading with its fantastic trading bot platform.
While trading bots are unlikely to make you rich overnight and they aren’t meant to run on full autopilot for easy money as many people mistakenly assume, they can be very helpful assistants for experienced traders who know how to trade, know how to set the bot up, and know how to identify the right market conditions in which to deploy the bot.
You can find out what I mean and why trading bots aren’t money printers in our article on Crypto Trading Bots.
Traders can check out the popularity and performance of each trading bot on the platform to select or they can choose to set up their own. See KuCoin’s article on trading bots to learn more about how they work and the bots available.
If you are interested in exploring trading bots and automated trading further, I recommend checking out 3Commas and our Top Trading Bots article. Feel free to take advantage of our 3Commas sign-up link, which gets you a 3-day free trial and a 50% discount if you choose to sign up.
Types of Accounts and KuCoin Fees
KuCoin has one main type of account for traders that can fall into 13 different tier levels depending on 30-day trading volume and/or KCS tokens being held. Here is a look at the Spot trading fees:
Here is what traders can expect for Futures trading fees:
KuCoin is one of the most fee-friendly places for traders, especially among whales as levels 8 and above start to see negative fees, meaning they can earn a profit from Maker trade orders. This is a clever way to attract traders with large amounts of funds and institutions to the platform and increase liquidity.
As for deposits and withdrawals, crypto deposits are free, but purchasing crypto using card can see some hefty fees of 2-8%. Crypto withdrawals vary depending on the token and network. Up-to-date fees can be found on the KuCoin Fees Page
KuCoin Security
After the large hack in 2020, KuCoin significantly enhanced its security and introduced some robust security protocols and does a pretty solid job when it comes to securing customer funds.
They follow the most important rule in exchange security, and that is that they keep the majority of funds in offline cold storage wallets where hackers cannot get access to them. They have also partnered with Onchain Custodian to help ensure the crypto held on their exchange is secure and KuCoin holds insurance to cover customers in the event of a hack.
The KuCoin platform features encryption technology and there are a number of control departments in place that provide round-the-clock activity monitoring to identify suspicious behaviour.
From a user perspective, KuCoin traders can benefit from the following security measures:
- Two-factor authentication
- Security questions
- Anti-phishing safety phrase
- Login safety phrase
- Trading password
- Phone verification
- Email notifications
- Restrict login IP address
That summarizes a high-level overview of KuCoin. It is a fantastic place to trade and there is a reason it has been such a dominant player in the exchange industry for such a long time. If you don’t mind the lack of regulation and fiat offramp, it's tough to find a better platform.
SwissBorg Review
What is SwissBorg
SwissBorg was founded by Anthony Lesoismer and Cyrus Fazel in 2017. The two initially raised $53 million to fund the project, and they put the money to good use as SwissBorg became one of the top European crypto exchanges with impressive growth in 2021 and made our list for the Top 5 Regulated Exchanges.
Shortly after, SwissBorg achieved the coveted status of “Unicorn,” hitting the $1 Billion market cap milestone for their BORG token.
Headquartered in Switzerland, SwissBorg became one of the most popular exchanges for European traders and its comprehensive regulatory and licensing frameworks make it one of the most trustworthy exchanges in the world.
SwissBorg is far more than just an exchange, they are more of a blockchain-based wealth management platform for cryptocurrency investments and offer such a unique and much-needed product in the crypto industry that they have won multiple awards for their app and services.
The SwissBorg app is available on IOS and Android and has impressive star ratings and reviews across both app stores.
SwissBorg provides products and services for crypto that have existed in traditional finance for decades. In our SwissBorg review, I mention how using the app feels like having access to a portfolio manager and financial advisor in your pocket and without the stuffy business suits and bank room meetings.
The team aims to simplify the process of investing in cryptocurrencies and take away the uncertainties by providing education and useful metrics about the cryptocurrency teams and projects available on their platform.
The powerful platform is available in over 115 countries around the world, with a notable exclusion being the United States. You can find which countries are supported by visiting the Swissborg Supported Countries page.
Cryptocurrencies Offered
SwissBorg supports 43 different cryptocurrencies, including the majors like Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with some alternatives like Chainlink and Avalanche.
There are also plenty of stablecoins available and 16 fiat currencies.
SwissBorg Products
We cover SwissBorg’s products in more detail in our SwissBorg review, but here is a high-level overview of the most prominent features.
Cryptocurrency Trading
One thing that I really like about SwissBorg is that they make trading cryptocurrency incredibly easy with a simple touch of the screen. The trading function is also an aggregator, sourcing the best prices from multiple exchanges like Binance, Kraken, and others, so SwissBorg users always know they are getting some of the best prices around.
Trading is done by what SwissBorg refers to as their “Smart Engine,” which scours the crypto industry sourcing the lowest prices and best liquidity in seconds. One of the reasons I always recommend SwissBorg to new users is that they offer the lowest “one-click” convenient style of trading fees I’ve come across and because the platform automatically connects to some of the largest exchanges in the industry, the process is always seamless.
Not only do SwissBorg users benefit from best-in-class trading execution, but they also have access to over 2,000 unique crypto-to-fiat trading pairs, and trading is done with zero spreads and no inflated exchange rates.
SwissBorg Earn
Passive income has become one of the staples of why users love SwissBorg. For anyone who loves DeFi but hates the complexity and learning curve involved, not to mention the lackluster user interface inherent in clunky DeFi protocols, SwissBorg connects to a full range of DeFi protocols which can all be accessed from their award-winning interface and conveniently from within the app.
I feel like an old man here in saying this, but back in my day, DeFi was, and to a large degree, still is a bit of a nuanced nightmare. The largest hurdle to DeFi adoption is the complexity, I will never forget how confusing it was the first time setting up MetaMask and how I need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the different wallets I have connected to who knows how many different DeFi protocols.
SwissBorg makes DeFi access so much easier as the beginner-friendly interface of the app connects behind the scenes to platforms like Compound, Curve, Aave, Uniswap and more, enabling users to access a full suite of DeFi products all in one place. A definite game-changer.
The platform has a full suite of investment products for users to earn attractive yields with solutions for all risk appetites and goals. Investments can be tailored to individual users based on terms, returns, and users can select from predefined investment strategies or customize their own.
SwissBorg is one of the best places for users who are looking for safe, slow and steady returns on their crypto, or choose to go for the “Brave” option, which exposes traders to more volatility for more upside (and downside) potential, or why not choose both and diversify your risk?
Portfolio Analytics
Portfolio Analytics is a great feature available within the app that features in-depth investment statistics in a visually pleasing way that is simple to understand.
With Portfolio Analytics, users can gain instant insight into things like:
- Token Balance- Shown in both fiat and token denominations
- Diversification- What percentage of your funds are allocated to what assets
- Profit/Loss- Track the performance of your assets and investments
- Fees- Find out how much you are spending on fees.
It is also worth mentioning the analysis section of the platform.
Users can make better-informed decisions before investing with asset analysis that is updated hourly. SwissBorg utilizes machine learning to provide trend predictions on every asset available in the SwissBorg app. Users have access to the following analytical tools:
- CyBorg Predictor- Machine learning algorithm that forecasts an asset’s movement over the next 24 hours.
- SwissBorg Indicator- Combines the most popular technical indicators so users can understand market trends at a glance.
- Community Sentiment- A gauge that shows the volume of transactions in the app over the past 24 hours, revealing the balance between buying and selling pressure.
- Support/Resistance- Levels of support and resistance are shown to help traders see key levels of price.
SwissBorg Thematics
Thematics is a crypto-centric investing product that provides investors with theme-based diversified crypto bundles. These bundles are hand-selected by experts and advanced AI algorithms.
I am a huge fan of this product for a few reasons. For any of you who are like me, I cannot even count the number of hours of research I have conducted for my own cryptocurrency investments. For example, I am a big fan of layer 1’s and GameFi tokens, and to make informed decisions, a good investor needs to sift through the dozens, if not hundreds of projects available to determine which projects to allocate funds to.
Crypto investing for many is akin to a part-time job, eating up a serious amount of time and energy. With SwissBorg Thematics, users can simply allocate funds to a pre-built portfolio that provides exposure to carefully selected crypto projects.
Here is a look at some of the benefits:
SwissBorg’s Thematics product makes crypto investing exponentially more hassle-free. So far, SwissBorg has launched a thematic that spreads funds around leading layer one blockchains and the Golden Thematic, which splits funds between Bitcoin and tokenized gold. You can learn more about this product in our Thematics review.
Types of Accounts and SwissBorg Fees
SwissBorg offers one type of account with tier levels dependent on the number of BORG tokens being held. Fees are highly dependent on what loyalty tier level users fall under.
Exchange fees will vary from 1% at the most to 0% at the lowest for users in the Genesis level. SwissBorg has no deposit fees and crypto withdrawal fees are dependent on the network and an additional 0.1% fee charged by SwissBorg.
Fiat withdrawals also vary significantly depending on the currency and method selected. You can find the full fee breakdown on the SwissBorg Fees page.
SwissBorg Security
As mentioned earlier, SwissBorg is highly respected and trusted within the crypto community for being one of the most secure crypto platforms available.
The SwissBorg app leverages the security capabilities of modern smartphones such as password and biometrics protection, along with resistance to malware and viruses to help ensure the app remains free from security breaches. The app also utilizes Multi-Party Computation (MPC) keyless technology to eliminate single-point-of-failure risks.
Users of SwissBorg can enable recovery phrases to help ensure recovery of accounts is possible, and enable a separate pin to prevent unauthorized withdrawals.
Finally, SwissBorg has partnered with Fireblocks to further help ensure the platform is well protected from hackers and bugs. For an additional sanity check, in March 2021, SwissBorg hired SCRT, one of the most reputable security providers in Switzerland to run penetration tests on the SwissBorg app and the app was found to be highly secure. You can see for yourself the results from the SCRT Penetration Test.
KuCoin or SwissBorg: Conclusion
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of which platform is best to suit your crypto needs. Sometimes these comparison articles can be quite tough to determine which is best suited to each trader as many exchanges offer very similar offerings, but this one is quite easy as they target two very different types of users.
If you are looking to make a career out of actively trading, or you are interested in crypto bots then KuCoin is the clear winner out of these two as SwissBorg doesn’t support advanced charting and order-type capabilities.
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If you are more of a long-term crypto holder and want to get serious about investing in crypto, and not day trading, then SwissBorg cannot be beaten. SwissBorg is also head and shoulders above KuCoin when it comes to being beginner friendly and is a fantastic platform for buying, holding, and growing your crypto assets.
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Frequently Asked Questions
SwissBorg and Binance are very different platforms catering to different clientele. Binance is quite similar to KuCoin in product offerings and is better than SwissBorg for crypto users with advanced needs.
Binance is better suited for active traders and has the most robust earn section of any crypto exchange. You can learn more about why Binance is the #1 exchange in the world in our Binance Review.
SwissBorg is considerably more user-friendly than Binance and is the only crypto platform to offer Thematics investment products. SwissBorg is the better platform for long-term investors and those looking for easy DeFi access that can be done through a centralized platform.
SwissBorg is not the lowest-fee exchange around, but their fees are not exorbitantly high either. Users are evidently happy to pay the fees, indicated by the fact that SwissBorg was one of the fastest-growing exchanges during 2021-2022.
Users are typically happy to pay slightly higher fees knowing that SwissBorg invests a significant amount of platform earnings back into the platform and the community, and the SwissBorg team goes above and beyond in ensuring platform safety by hiring third-party security companies and conducting regular security checks.
SwissBorg fees can be lowered by holding the CHSB token as well.
As KuCoin is one of the longest-standing and largest crypto exchanges, beloved by millions of users worldwide, KuCoin is a great exchange.
They are highly respected and trusted within the crypto community and are constantly innovating and launching new products.
KuCoin is one of the leaders among crypto exchanges, offering a massive selection of products and features, and is a great platform for traders regardless of their skill level or background.
KuCoin is better than Coinbase for users who are looking to get into serious trading as KuCoin offers significantly more tradeable markets and assets than Coinbase.
KuCoin also offers an infinitely better Earn section and features products like auto trading and leveraged tokens. KuCoin is also far cheaper than Coinbase.
Coinbase is better suited to beginners who are looking for an easy platform to simply buy and hold crypto, and features a fiat offramp, making it the better platform to sell crypto for fiat.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.