Coinmate is a cryptocurrency-focused online exchange with a few years of experience and based in London, UK. However, according to its website, it aims its operations at the Eastern European clientele and was founded by two Economics graduates from Prague, the Czech Republic. It only supports EUR and CZK, which makes it completely inaccessible to people living in other parts of the world. Coinmate is not one of the brokers that we recommend and you will discover in this review exactly why. Here are more details on what made us reach this unfavorable conclusion.

About Coinmate

Firstly, the Coinmate crypto and fiat availabilities are extremely weird and not really helpful for a lot of people who may want to exchange. Besides only having EUR and CZK as the main currencies available, the crypto offer is also rather poor with only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. So, in case you are looking to buy ETH or other popular cryptocurrencies, this exchange is not for you. The platform also uses the SEPA and SOFORT systems which are meant to help clients fund their accounts. This is again sketchy because it means that third parties will always have access to your funds and personal details whenever they need them. The transfers are also only done through Czech banks which limits their cover area hugely and also limits you as a client.

Coinmate has three separate account types that people can pick from and those are the Basic, Verified, and VIP accounts. According to them, there is thorough verification of your data and bank information whenever you want to open an account. They go as far as to claim that they are the only exchange that video calls their clients and makes them take a snapshot of various documents confirming your identity and residency. The problem is that we have found no proof whatsoever that this really happens. They can claim anything they want as long as there is no actual way of finding out the truth.

The Coinmate trading platform

First and foremost, Coinmate does not offer its clients a mobile trading app which is already a big disadvantage for anyone who travels and wants to trade. They claim that their web-based platform has been optimized for mobile screens too but this doesn’t mean that it actually works well on mobile devices. The only platform that Coinmate has comes with an advanced trading mode and a quick buy/sell one. The latter is extremely simplistic and only lets you trade and see prices, without any additional info and even a short tutorial on how you should proceed. This can lead to serious issues for the trader, especially if they are new.

As for the advanced trading platform mode, it is extremely complicated and does not offer any indications as to what you should do. Basically, both versions of the trading platform are not very intuitive and do absolutely nothing to help the trader in any way, shape, or form. So, you are basically left alone to make mistakes and lose money so they can take advantage.

Hidden fees and a complete lack of information

When it comes to actually fund your account, you should know that you can only deposit Bitcoin into a virtual wallet and that there is no way of knowing that your crypto is safe. As for fees, Coinmate uses the maker/taker model to establish those. They claim that the maker’s fee is 0.05% while the taker’s fee is 0.35%. There are also some other fees available on the website but, according to information from former clients, there are lots and lots of hidden fees and costs that you will need to pay in order to trade properly. These are added afterward and you will have no choice but to pay them if you want to continue your trading activity.

Withdrawals on Coinmate take an eternity and nobody bothers to inform you about anything. This is probably due to the fact that their customer support system is only available via e-mail and it’s usually pointless and non-responsive. So, you will be left wondering what happened to your money. Usually, it takes a lot of days for your money to reach your account and sometimes, the money doesn’t come at all. And because their support system is almost non-existent, there is nobody who can tell you how you should solve your issue. This is how they end up taking your money and abandoning you and this is probably the biggest reason why we do not recommend signing up for Coinmate.

Not a trustworthy exchange

All in all, everyone should be aware of the fact that Coinmate is not a trustworthy exchange because, besides having hidden fees and a generally poor and restrictive offer, doesn’t do anything to help its customers. Their client support system is unavailable, the withdrawals take way too long or don’ happen at all, and there is no reason why you should put your trust in them.