Changelly Review

Founded in 2015, Changelly is a cryptocurrency exchange that operates out of the Czech Republic. It differs from other sites by using a trading bot that monitors top exchanges and suggests the best current rates.

In addition to this unique aspect, Changelly also supports a wide number of cryptocurrencies. You’ll be able to exchange all of the prominent coins along with some of the more obscure altcoins.

Changelly has all the promise of a great exchange. Let’s delve deeper into how they operate to see whether they ultimately live up to this promise.

Payment Methods

You can purchase crypto with credit cards and debit cards here. Unfortunately, they don’t accept bank transfers or e-wallets.

Changelly requires very little information for you to get started. That said, they don’t accept as many payment options.

The key thing to note is that this exchange does offer fiat on-ramps. Therefore, you don’t have to go through a convoluted and often expensive process of buying crypto elsewhere then sending it to Changelly before being able to trade cryptocurrency on their platform.

Speed of Purchases

As a rule transactions with Changelly take between 5 and 30 minutes to be processed. If your transaction takes longer, this could be due to a variety of factors, including:

• Blockchain overload. There are many transactions waiting to go through, including yours. This issue occurs on the Bitcoin and Bitcoin-based blockchains. Unfortunately, the only thing to do is wait. Changelly has no control over a blockchain overload.
• Coin updates - Changelly may turn off some coins to update a client. This can take some time. You will get your money as soon as we turn it back on.
• As mentioned before, Changelly’s trading bot suggests the best rate at the time for a particular cryptocurrency. However, this rate can fluctuate slightly at the exact moment when your order goes through.

Fees

Changelly charges a 0.5% trade fee. This fee isn’t the cheapest in the industry, but it’s at least competitive.

Where you really need to watch Changelly is with purchase of fiat currency. These purchases can feature fees much higher than 0.5%.

The reason for the higher than normal charges on fiat buys is that Changelly goes through a third party (e.g. Indacoin) to complete these transactions. These third parties often have their own fees that are added on top and they can vary wildly and charge higher amounts.

Changelly withdrawal fees are fixed. This means that they don’t depend on the withdrawal amount. Each cryptocurrency has different fees associated with it.

However, the fees can be changed depending on the market situation and the network workload to ensure the high speed of transaction processing. The full list of withdrawal fees can be found here.

Buying Limits

Your buy limits depend upon what country you’re trading from. Australia, Canada, and the US, for example, can only make a first-time purchase worth $50.

They can buy up to $100 the next time. However, they must wait until four days after the first transaction.

After seven days, their limits increase to $500. Following the first month after the initial buy, they won’t be subject to any limits.

Those living in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are afforded the highest initial buy limits. They can make a first-time purchase of $200.

Just 24 hours later, their buy limit increases to $2,000. They can spend up to $10,000 total in the first month. Following this, they don't have to deal with limits anymore.

Does Changelly Hold Your Funds?

Changelly is a non-custodial exchange which means that it doesn’t hold your cryptocurrency in an account. Rather, they send your coins to a specific wallet address which could be either your own personal wallet or a wallet held at another exchange.

You can, however, use this site to exchange your crypto into another coin. For example, you could trade Dogecoin into Komodo, or vice versa.

Customer Support

The customer service team here is only available through email. Unfortunately, the popular live chat option isn’t available. You can use the FAQs section to check for answers to frequent problems if you don’t want to wait on an email response.

Which Coins Are Supported?

Changelly supports well over 150 cryptocurrencies. You’ll have access to everything from Bitcoin to some of the more-obscure altcoins.

Here are some of the coins that you can purchase:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Ripple
• Bitcoin Cash
• Binance Coin
• Dash
• FunFair
• Golem
• MaidSafeCoin
• Ontology
• Tron
• VeChain
• Stellar
• Monero

Which Countries Can Use Changelly?

This exchange accepts users from every country. Changelly is rare in this regard. Most other trading platforms restrict at least a few nations.

Affiliate Program

Changelly does offer an affiliate program. Once you sign up as an affiliate you will be provided a unique url that links to Changelly's homepage. If a person uses your link to sign up and purchase cryptocurrencies then once the transaction is complete, 50% of the transaction fee will go to you.

Basically, the more coins are exchanged through your link, the more profit you get. You can find out more about their affiliate program here.

Verification Process

You barely have to provide any information to get started at Changelly. This exchange does ask for an email for marketing purposes. However, they don’t share your email with third parties.

You don’t have to provide government documentation or a phone number. Therefore, you can get started rather quickly.

Privacy Features

Changelly requires you to set up two-factor authentication (2A) before getting started. They also require you to send your cryptocurrency to a personal wallet, meaning your coins can’t be stolen from the exchange.

An additional security measure is the lack of verification and personal details required. Hackers would really only stand to gain your email if they were successful at breaching Changelly, which is a lot less damaging than if they were able to access your funds.