Changelly Review
Changelly may seem like a new site to the exchange party, yet it has been around since 2013. It was created by the team behind MinerGate – who have a reputation for quality products. The exchange site was released in 2015. The headquarters for the company is in Prague, Czech Republic. It has recently diversified into a casino site.
The vision of Changelly is to remove any technical barriers to trading in cryptocurrency that exist. The site uses an automatic trading robot that integrates with the largest trading platforms – including Bittrex and Poloniex. The bot works by making buds on exchanges before suggesting the best available rate to the user. You can trade on these sites without registration and without verification – therefore allowing for anonymous trading on cryptocurrency.
The site offers over 80 altcoins and has 700,000 customers and trades over 50,000 BTC monthly. Changelly benefits from partnerships with Jaxx, Bittrex, Coinomi, Coinpayments, Coinmarketcap and others.
Pros
Getting started on the site can take as little as 30 seconds. You decide what coin you want to exchange for what currency. You verify the fees you will be charged, enter a receiving address (the wallet where the coins will go) and then confirm how you wish to pay.
Recently Changelly has added fiat currency – with the option for credit and debit card purchases.
The site allows access to trading in almost all the altcoins on the market today. You do not have to shop around lots of different exchanges to find the opportunity that you are looking for.
Cons
Expensive fees for the transaction of fiat currency to altcoin is by far the biggest complaint levelled at the site. The claims that they have a fixed rate on 0.5% is only on crypto-to-crypto exchanges – but the bold marketing on this claim has made some customers feel they have been scammed by the incredibly expensive fiat currency rates. 0.5% is still relatively expensive in comparison to other sites anyway.
The website is fairly young in comparison to other sites and there are some reports of technical and compliance issues that are worth researching and investigating in more depth. It takes time for a service such as this to build a reliable reputation and this site has some way to go before it is thoroughly trusted.
Payment Methods Accepted
The site accepts deposits using credit and debit cards, which is a huge benefit for the site. You can also deposit using cryptocurrency.
Supported Countries
There are different restrictions for use of the site in different parts of the world. In USA, Canada and Australia there Is a $50 cap placed on the first transaction and then an increased cap on the next few transactions. There are similar caps in other countries, just of different values – from $200 in parts of Eastern Europe and Asia to $100 in the EU and the rest of the world. In all parts of the world caps are lifted within about a month of trading.
Privacy
Changelly is one of the best options for trading anonymously, without verification, with some of the major exchanges. Set up takes 30 seconds. You need to confirm an email address – but this merely means clicking in a link sent to that email.
Limits and Liquidity
The site is not responsible for liquidity. You are dealing with another exchange and merely using Changelly as a mediator.
There are no caps on transactions after the initial trades. However, the trade volume is quite low due to the network fees placed by a blockchain. Therefore, you may find that you cannot trade in huge numbers, even though there is no cap applied.
Speed
The site does not hold funds; therefore, exchanges move straight into your wallet. The main selling point of the site is the quick and cheap trade in altcoins.
Reputation
Security on the site includes 2FA and an HTTPS security protocol. Your funds are not stored on Changelly – so there is no need for cold storage – as the coins are transferred directly into your wallet. Therefore, risks from hacking of the site are low.
This is a new site. There are reports of compliance and technical issues – and these are to be expected early in the development of a cryptocurrency exchange service. It is gaining a decent reputation, but it will take time for its reputation to be cemented.
Fees
Changelly has a static -rate fee. All trades are fixed at 0.5% – which means it is cheaper to use than most other marketing platforms. There is 0% withdrawal – and they claim to have no hidden fees – except when using fiat currency – where the rate sky rockets depending on the day. Changelly are open about this high fee and they claim it is out of their control and due to the intervention of third-parties in the process.
Customer Support
Reliable customer support is not something that cryptocurrency exchanges are particularly known for. The increase in users often outstrips the structure of the company and therefore they become overwhelmed by requests. Changelly have experienced some problems but they are working hard to adapt to their increased customer-base. They have a response time of 24 hours to queries – which isn’t great but is better than some.
There is a detailed frequently asked questions section that does answer most questions. There is a customer phone line – which is rare for exchange sites.
Changelly Alternatives
Binance
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows crypto-to-crypto trading. People are attracted to the exchange because of the impressive coin offerings and low trading fees.
HitBTC
HitBTC is a Bitcoin exchange and platform for trading in altcoins. This site is aimed at professional traders and offers robot-friendly API access.
CEX.io
This is a UK based Bitcoin exchange and provides cross platform trading. The site is known for having a high liquidity order book.
