Assessment
Strong points
Are you looking for an exchange for your crypto trading activities? The range of crypto trading platforms is very extensive, so you have plenty of choices. In this guide, we present the crypto exchange KuCoin, which is one of the most significant platforms in the market right now. So, what is KuCoin exchange? Is KuCoin safe and regulated? How to do crypto trading on KuCoin? Below, you will find an overview of the KuCoin exchange. KuCoin is not available in the USA.
KuCoin is one of the most exceptional crypto exchanges today. Is it safe to use?
This tokize review shall give you an overview, answering all your questions.
In today’s crypto trading platform ecosystem, you can quickly get spoilt for choice due to the many rich options. The KuCoin crypto exchange is one of them. It is among the best-known and most important platforms in the world. So, what is the KuCoin exchange? Is KuCoin safe and regulated? How do you trade crypto on KuCoin?
In this KuCoin review below, we shall examine every facet of the exchange. Read on.
KuCoin is a crypto trading platform that enables you to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. Although it is less popular than giants like Binance or Coinbase, KuCoin is a well-known exchange worldwide. These are some statistics about the company:
The platform is known for stimulating the listing of new cryptos. Moreover, the platform can offer up to 600 cryptos for trading, making it one of its strong points. The native token of the platform is KuCoin or KCS. Here are some views of KuCoin from recognized players in the crypto sector:
The Ascent named KuCoin as one of the best crypto exchanges and apps of 2022.
KuCoin was created in 2012 and is based in Seychelles. KuCoin’s founders are Michael Gan and Eric Don. The former is a computer enthusiast who took his first steps in coding at eight years old! Precocious, Michael created his first start-up at 16. In 2021, he heard about Bitcoin for the first time from Eric.
Michael quickly started mining Bitcoin and resold his coins on a well-known crypto platform at the time, Mt. Gox. Faced with the lack of user-friendliness of the platform, an idea was born in the minds of the two people – that of creating their crypto platform. At the end of 2013, Michael and Eric began creating an exchange; KuCoin was about to be born!
In 2017, KuCoin officially launched, and crypto trading became possible. The exchange raised funds via an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) for this. This ICO occurred from August 13, 2017, to September 1, 2017. The ICO aimed to distribute as much of its native token, the KuCoin Shares (KCS) (now called KuCoin token), as possible at a reduced price.
The following year, 2018, was a year of growth for the exchange. KuCoin was called “the people’s exchange” due to its user-friendliness and many trading pairs available. The exchange continued to develop and was used in many countries to reach a recognized position in crypto platforms in the next few years. Moreover, in 2021, the famous Forbes Magazine cited KuCoin as among the “best crypto exchanges” of the moment.
A considerable strength of KuCoin is its complete ecosystem. In this next section, we shall explore the different services offered by the KuCoin platform:
The main activity of the KuCoin platform concerns crypto trading. Ideally, you can buy, sell, and exchange cryptos. As mentioned above, KuCoin has the edge of offering many cryptocurrencies, with over 650 coins available.
Thus, the exchange offers the main cryptos but also “smaller” crypto or tokens such as:
The platform is known for responsiveness and does not delay the quick listing of new tokens. For example, the platform recently added the following tokens:
KuCoin offers three possible types of trading:
Trading bot: These robots can place orders on your behalf extremely quickly to take advantage of market variations.
KuCoin also offers crypto derivatives trading services (“Derivatives” menu), such as
KuCoin Spotlight could be compared to Binance Launchpad. It is a platform for launching new projects and tokens. This tab allows you to participate in the financing of new crypto projects by buying tokens at discounted prices. If the project subsequently develops and gains some notoriety, the token’s price explodes, and then you can earn money. Of course, everything depends on the choice of the basic project.
The KuCoin platform offers crypto loans. Concretely, this service allows you to:
Does cloud mining mean something to you? Mining (or mining in French) is the activity that allows the creation of new cryptos by validating transaction blocks. You have certainly already heard of, for example, Bitcoin mining, an increasingly complicated but very profitable activity.
Cloud mining at KuCoin allows access to mining without purchasing advanced IT equipment, which is very expensive. With cloud mining, you invest money that is pooled with other participants. This money is used globally to buy and maintain mining equipment. The earnings from mining are then redistributed in proportion to your investment.
Another crypto mining service offered by the exchange is the KuCoin Pool. A mining pool is a team of miners who pool their computing power. Since crypto mining (for cryptos operating with POW) requires more and more computing power, setting up a pool increases the chances of winning the race. The KuCoin Pool aims to become the largest POW mining pool in the world.
The native token of the KuCoin platform is KCS. It allows the operation of the exchange and facilitates certain procedures for investors. KCS owners can also enjoy exclusive benefits. For example, the platform sets up a KCS bonus system that rewards holders of KCS tokens.
Concretely, owners of at least 6 KCS receive gifts from sharing half of the daily trading fees. Additionally, when users choose to pay their transaction fees in KCS, they receive a 20% discount. Currently, the KuCoin token has a capitalization of more than 1.5 billion euros, which ranks in the top 100 worldwide.
Like other exchanges, KuCoin quickly understood the success of NFTs and now offers its own NFT platform. On its marketplace, you can buy NFTs and discover NFT collections from new artists. This is a great way to start with NFTs and invest in a promising sector. The latest collections highlighted on the marketplace could gain value quickly.
How to trade crypto on KuCoin?
Now that you are familiar with KuCoin and its ecosystem find out how to trade crypto on the platform.
As is often the case, the first step is to open an account on KuCoin. To do this, you need to go to the KuCoin homepage and log in. To create an account, you only need to provide a password and then a phone number or email. Whether you use your email or phone number, the platform will carry out a verification.
Secondly, the platform will ask you to provide more personal information. This approach meets the requirements of KYC or Know Your Customer regulation. These questions allow KuCoin to know your identity and understand your profile.
The next step is to fund your KuCoin account so that you can then use the funds for trading (for example). To do this, you must click on “Assets” and then go to “Main account.” Then, you must click on “Deposits” then “Fiat Currency” and select the currency of your choice (euro, for example). You can transfer funds through a wire transfer or credit card.
If you already have cryptos stored in a wallet, you can also transfer them directly to KuCoin.
You have two accounts on KuCoin. One is the main account; the other is the trading account. You cannot trade from funds in your main account. To trade crypto, you must, therefore, transfer funds from your main account to your trading account.
Then, all activities for trading take place in the “Market” tab. Once you have selected the crypto to buy, the platform will ask you to enter your trading password, which consists of 6 digits.
Then, in a classic way, KuCoin offers two types of order:
The KuCoin crypto trading platform implements the following fee schedule:
The KuCoin exchange suffered a major attack in 2020 which led to the theft of approximately $275 million. The attack was attributed to a group of North Korean hackers called “Lazarus Group.” Following this theft, the platform worked hard to recover the funds. While it took some time, the KuCoin exchange was eventually able to recover 84% of the stolen funds. The rest was taken from the exchange’s own funds.
If the attack negatively impacted the platform at first, it also allowed KuCoin to enhance its security protocols. The platform did not simply survive the attack; it emerged from it stronger, as evidenced by its now-acquired place among the largest exchanges in the world. No attack of this scale has since been deplored.
The KuCoin exchange can therefore be considered safe. For example, it has developed measures against phishing. In addition, it also implements a two-factor authentication (2FA) service and security questions
The KuCoin platform is not regulated by any government agency. However, this does not mean that you cannot use the platform. This simply means that the exchange operates without a license, and as such, it is not obliged to ask you for personal information. In fact, the platform still follows the principles of Know Your Customer for certain operations.
What we like
Low trading and withdrawal fees
Free deposits.
Large selection of cryptocurrencies with more than 600 coins.
24/7 customer service.
Ability to buy cryptocurrencies directly with fiat money.
Complete crypto ecosystem, including crypto loan solutions, etc.
Ability to trade on margin and use trading bots.
What we don't like
No fiat trading pairs.
Interface partially translated into French.
No regulations and random KYC checks.
The platform was the subject of a major hack in 2020, even though no major attacks have been reported since then.
