Crypto.com Review 2022: Visa Cards, Exchange, Safety and Fees

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com bridges the gap between blockchain technology and the world of traditional finance. With more than three million users worldwide, Crypto.com offers an extensive list of products, including multi-currency Visa cards with cashback on spending, interest on savings, non-custodial wallets, and an excellent all-around trading platform with competitive rates.

In short, Crypto.com represents one of the most powerful platforms available, backed by a public and well-known management team, a total insurance coverage of $360m, certification by Bureau Veritas, and partnerships with Ledger and Visa card issuers in the US, Europe and Singapore. But how does it stack up against the competition?

In this review, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Crypto.com, including the mobile app, interest accounts, Visa cards, exchange, fees, and more to help you decide if this provider is a good fit for you.

Key takeaways

Having spent months testing the best cryptocurrency lending platforms and interest accounts, these are our top takeaways for Crypto.com:

1. Originally launched as “Monaco” in 2016, the company rebranded itself under the domain “Crypto.com” in 2018. Trusted by three million cryptocurrency enthusiasts across the globe, Crypto.com now experiences a massive growth with the expansion of its reward-driven Visa cards, feature-rich trading Exchange, and interest on crypto deposits.
2. Our research found that Crypto.com founders headed failed online deals site “Ensogo” until June 2016 before launching Monaco in the same month, raising $26.7m with Monaco’s ICO in May-June 2017. Despite initial scam allegations, the firm honored its original promise “to put cryptocurrency in every wallet” by creating a complete ecosystem and launching its crypto-driven Visa cards.
3. Thanks to its team of recognized cybersecurity professionals, “Defense in Depth” philosophy, and partnership with Ledger, 100% of crypto-funds are reportedly secured in cold storage accounts with a total insurance coverage of $360m.

Crypto.com main features

Crypto.com pros and cons

Crypto.com offers a complete package of interconnected tools, products, and services.

• The ecosystem consists of two native tokens, the MCO and CRO, a feature-rich mobile app supporting 55 cryptocurrencies, MCO Visa cards, and a trading platform with 51 tradable currency pairs.
• Depending on the amount of staked MCO with the platform, everyday investors can enjoy between 1 – 5% cashback on spending with the Visa card paid in MCO, free access to airport lounges worldwide, and 100% reimbursement in MCO on Spotify and Netflix subscriptions.
• Last but not least, investors can earn interest on cryptocurrencies, ranging up to 12% for stablecoins and up to around 6% for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Paxos Gold.

On the negative side, the company is not regulated by any financial authority, making it a high-risk venue for investors.

Moreover, the company performed a highly controversial token swap in August 2020 with no prior announcement. The original ICO-token MCO was retired, and users were forced to swap their MCO tokens for CRO at a rate determined by the company. Looking backwards, the move was not unexpected, and many believe it helped simplify the ecosystem. To soften the blow, users who performed the swap before September 2020 were also given an ‘Early Swap’ bonus equivalent to 20% of the amount swapped.

Pros

Cons

What is Crypto.com?

Crypto.com is a complete ecosystem of several interconnected cryptocurrency investment services and crypto-to-fiat consumer products. As such, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that one of the stated goals of the company is to help accelerate “the world’s transition to cryptocurrency.” 

The main drivers of Crypto.com are the smartphone App, the MCO Visa Card, the Exchange, and the non-custodial Wallet.

Each service works together to simplify the process of buying, selling, earning, storing, and transferring crypto and fiat funds, all evolving around the intuitive App that even a complete novice can use. 

Products and platforms

Crypto.com has an impressive product selection that keeps growing larger. Its portfolio is powered by the native CRO token and is highly geared towards everyday investors looking to get the most out of their digital assets without spending too much on fees.

The Crypto.com app

While its main selling point revolves around the MCO Visa Card, the central access point to Crypto.com’s services is its mobile App.

The Crypto.com App is a custodial wallet, investment, and trading app in one that encompasses a range of products that promote the adoption of digital coins on a wide scale.

With the App, you can buy and sell over 55 digital currencies, access over 20 different interest-bearing crypto accounts, control the MCO Visa Card, get instant loans with Credit, participate in different reward and cashback programs, and send coins and tokens to friends fee-free.

You can also exchange fiat currencies, track coins, and send payments to other wallets.

You can apply for the MCO Visa Card right on the app itself. Applying for your card of choice is painless and will only take a few minutes. 

Another popular feature of the app is that it rewards you for inviting your friends. The company offers a lucrative referral program that provides $25 USD equivalent sign-up bonuses for you and your friend. 

Crypto.com App features and highlights:

Crypto.com Wallet

The Wallet is the integrated custodial wallet and trading application of the Crypto.com App. This is where you can store, buy, sell, deposit, and withdraw your coins and tokens. The main features include:

• Buy and sell around 55 cryptocurrencies and execute your trade instantly as a market order.
• Track your balances and their gains and losses in real time
• Deposit or withdraw crypto and fiat currencies

Crypto.com Earn

The Earn feature of the app contains the interest-bearing cryptocurrency accounts of Crypto.com. Like other crypto interest accounts, users can earn interest on their savings by staking for a short or long term duration, with flexible, one-month or three-month terms available. Users can up their earnings by keeping a stake of 500 MCO.

This includes up to 6% interest on popular digital instruments like BTC and ETH, up to 12% on stablecoins, and up to 18% on CRO, the native token of the company.

As of July 2020, all app verified users except citizens and residents of Hong Kong SAR, Switzerland, or Malta can use Earn. However, some coins are not available in certain jurisdictions.

Earn currently supports 22 coins and tokens and 8 stablecoins. This includes most large cap tokens and a number of small caps as well.

The following coins and tokens are available on Crypto.com Earn:

• ADA
• ALGO
• ATOM
• BAT
• BCH
• BNB
• BTC
• CRO
• DAI
• ENJ
• EOS
• ETH
• GBP
• ICX
• KNC
• LINK
• LTC
• MCO
• MKR
• PAX
• PAXG
• TAUD
• TCAD
• TUSD
• USDC
• USDT
• VET
• XLM
• XRP
• XTZ

Crypto.com interest rates

The interest for your Crypto.com Earn deposit is calculated as simple annual interest (APR or annual percentage rate) which means it does not compound. All accrued interest will be credited to your wallet every seven days, and it will be paid in the same currency as your deposit. At the end of the term, your deposit will be transferred back to your wallet.

Your returns depend on three factors:

1. the deposited currency
2. the duration of the staking term
3. whether you have an active MCO stake of minimum of 500 for the MCO Visa Card.

Here are the valid interest rates as per July 2020 with the different terms and with and without an active MCO stake of 500 MCO:

Crypto.com Earn offers three distinct staking terms for users to choose from:

• Flexible Staking: This is the most flexible plan, providing a lower-risk savings solution that allows you to dip your toe in the water, so to speak, and essentially test the service out. Stake your coins and earn with the flexibility to withdraw at any point, penalty-free.
• 1 month: You can bump up your yearly interest by choosing the 1-month plan. The 1-month plan involves locking your coins temporarily. However, doing so allows you to accrue more interest than you would with the flexible plan. 
• 3 months: The 3-month plan allows you to earn the maximum interest. While your savings may be locked away during this duration (just like with the 1-month plan), you will earn the maximum amount of rewards. 

When we compare the no-stake, three-month interest rates for Crypto.com Earn with its immediate competitors over 12 months, the results are mixed. If you are willing to make a 500 MCO commitment, Earn is clearly the winner. However, your choice for interest-account provider should ultimately not be determined by the rates alone.

How to Use Crypto.com Earn

To get started with Earn, tap the logo on the bottom menu bar. Then hit “Earn”.

The next page might look a bit confusing, but don’t worry, we’ll go through everything step-by-step.

1. First, choose whether you want to earn crypto with (1) 50 or less MCO staked or (2) 500 or more MCO staked. The second option brings higher returns, but also carries the risk that your staked portfolio might lose value over time, resulting in an overall loss.
2. Hit “Start Earning Now” and select the cryptocurrency you wish to deposit into “Crypto Earn.” The returned interest rate varies depending on which coin you choose. Select the terms you wish to use (more on this later) and hit “Continue”.

3. Check that you’ve read all the legal information. Enter the amount you wish to lend out. Here’s some general limits that will help you out with understanding Crypto Earn, with the minimum deposit amount for each currency:

4. Finalize the whole thing by entering your passcode.

That’s all there is to using Earn. Again, accrued interest will be accredited to your wallet once a week.

MCO Visa Card

Most people who download the Crypto.com app likely do so to get their hands on one of the highly coveted MCO Visa Cards. The primary goal of the MCO Visa Card is to provide increased accessibility to cryptocurrency accounts, allowing users to spend them instantly on everyday purchases.

Have you ever imagined purchasing your daily shot of espresso with digital currency? Well, with the MCO Visa Card you can. The MCO Visa cards can be used worldwide at most merchants that accept Visa Debit Cards, both offline and online, with a few restrictions.

MCO Visa Card review

The Crypto.com MCO Visa cards are prepaid metal cards that can be used almost anywhere regular Visa Debit Cards can be used. There are five different card tiers, each level providing an expanding number of benefits. The lowest level is free, while the upper levels require users to purchase MCO tokens and hold them for minimum six months.

The MCO Visa metal cards offer a range of unique benefits, including:

• Using your card and earning MCO cashback in return
• Fee-free spending in foreign currencies with zero mark-ups
• Up to 100% rebates on Netflix and other subscriptions
• Free access to airport lounges worldwide
• Better rates from the app’s native interest accounts.

You can withdraw your MCO stake after six months and still retain some of the benefits, but the rewards will be significantly lower. All card tiers share these general benefits:

• Available in the U.S. (49 of 50 states), Europe (£ / €), and Singapore
• Zero annual fees 
• Overseas spending in foreign currencies at perfect interbank exchange rates 
• Lowest card tier is free to acquire
• Between 1% to 5% cashback in MCO on purchases 
• Occasionally up to 10% cashback in MCO on groceries from selected merchants
• Free shipping 

MCO Visa Card main features

MCO Visa Card comparison

Each MCO card comes packaged in tiers, with each level providing an expanding number of benefits, including the aesthetically pleasing (but plastic) baseline Midnight Blue card, which requires no stake whatsoever to acquire. If you’re the dark, brooding type with mountains of money to spend, the cutting-edge metal, Obsidian Black may be more your style (it’ll set you back 50,000 MCO tokens).

Let’s review each of the Crypto.com Visa Cards and take a close look at each of their benefits.

• Midnight Blue MCO Visa Card: Free. The Midnight Blue Visa Visa Card is available right away with no MCO stake required, allowing you to enjoy 1% MCO rewards on all card spending. You will have an ATM withdrawal limit of $200 USD and an perfect interbank exchange rate limit of $2,000.
• Ruby Steel MCO Visa Card: 50 MCO Stake. As the name implies, the Ruby Steel card comes in a refined reddish hue. You will need a 50 MCO stake to apply for this card. Benefits include 2% MCO rewards on all card spending, a monthly withdrawal limit of $400 USD, interbank exchange rate monthly limits of $4,000 USD, and to top it all off, the card is made of composite metal. 
• Jade Green or Royal Indigo MCO Visa Card: 500 MCO Stake. This tier provides 3% MCO rewards on all card spending and requires a 500 MCO stake. These two wonderfully vibrant cards have the same benefits and limits. They’re simply offered in different hues to please those looking for a unique aesthetic. Benefits include LoungeKey™ Airport Lounge Access for the cardholder, a no-fee ATM monthly withdrawal limit of $800, an interbank exchange monthly rate of $10,000 USD, and a card made of composite metal.
• Icy White or Frosted Rose Gold MCO Visa Card: 5,000 MCO Stake. You could say this is where the rubber meets the road in terms of impressive card benefits. That said, the increased benefits of the Icy White and Rose Gold Visa debit cards come at a price (literally). You need a 5,000 MCO stake to apply for this card. Benefits include 4% on MCO rewards on all card spending, LoungeKey™ Airport Lounge Access including one guest, a no-fee ATM monthly withdrawal limit of $1,000 USD, an interbank exchange rate monthly limit of $20,000 USD and a card composed of composite metal. 
• Obsidian Black MCO Visa Card: 50,000 MCO Stake. For the true high rollers, there is the Obsidian Black Visa Card. You will need a whopping 50,000 MCO stake to apply for the card. It offers 5% on MCO rewards on all card spending, LoungeKey™ Airport Lounge Access plus one guest, a no-fee ATM monthly withdrawal limit of $1,000 USD, and an unlimited interbank exchange monthly rate, and a card made of metal composite.

Additional benefits of holding a stake-required MCO Card include rebates on entertainment services such as Spotify, Netflix, Expedia, and Airbnb.

Here’s an overview to help clarify the numerous benefits presented by the various MCO Card tiers: 

The staking period required to order a metal card is six months, and you’ll have to continue holding MCO tokens to maintain the staking-benefits, which will otherwise drop significantly, as shown in the picture above. You’re also required to deposit the funds that will be used on your card. However, Crypto.com does not charge monthly fees or require minimum balance requirements, and you can cash out after the six months period.

How exactly does the MCO card work?

While you might not realize it, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes whenever you use your MCO Visa Card. You’ll notice that with every usage of the card, your balance will go down, much in the same way your checking account shrinks to reflect the double espresso you bought at your local Starbucks. 

Though it may seem like you’re using your coins to make purchases, you’re actually using fiat currency. 

This is where the app comes into play. If topping up your card balance with crypto, the crypto to fiat exchange occurs in the background with each purchase you make. This process involves loans, buy/sell orders, etc. on different exchanges. Essentially, the app trades crypto coins on an exchange on your behalf, allowing you to use fiat funds every time you swipe your card to make a purchase. 

Ultimately, the transaction fees are paid by the merchant, as per Visa merchant card acceptance guidelines, making it essentially fee-free to spend in any denomination you desire.

Staking benefits

Applying for a metal MCO Visa Card (those with premium rewards) requires you to lock up MCO tokens with the app for six months. Since not everyone is a fan of saying goodbye to their coins and tokens for half a year, the platform offers a number of benefits for those who dare to ride the wave of chance.

Here’s a complete overview of the advantages staking provides:

Think of the the six month stake to order a metal card as an annual fee that is returned to you are the end of the staking period. Yes, they do offer you reasons to keep the MCO tokens staked, but that is completely up to you.

While we haven’t discussed the individual features yet, let’s nonetheless go through the main staking rewards:

• Card purchases, you’ll earn more MCO rewards
• Crypto Earn: Better annual interest rates

Furthermore, you’ll receive yearly interest in MCO on your stake, credited to your wallet every seven days:

• With 500 MCO staked, you’ll receive 6% yearly interest.
• With 5000 or 50,000 MCO staked, 8% yearly interest.

What is cryptocurrency staking?

There’s been plenty of talk about staking, but what is it exactly? As defined on the Crypto.com website, “Stake” or “Staking” means the holding of MCO in your digital coin wallet for an agreed period of time in return for rewards. As such, it’s an incentive to support the blockchain network and to provide stabilization to their operations.

You might recognize the term “stake” from the world of poker, where staking refers to putting money up on behalf of a player in hope that he succeeds. By the same token, when staking in support of the company behind the app, you gamble on the value of MCO, which might go up or down during the locking period.

Crypto.com Exchange

With the success of its popular mobile app, Crypto.com launched its own browser-based exchange in late 2019. The Exchange integrates with the rest of the company’s ecosystem and offers some unique features like ‘soft staking’, deep discounts of up to 50% on newly listed coins and tokens through ‘Syndicate’ events, and lowered trading fees through CRO staking.

Crypto.com Exchange review

The Crypto.com Exchange is a beginner-oriented trading platform that offers very competitive fees through CRO staking, discounted sales event, and an intuitive interface. The drawbacks include a limited number of trading pairs, lack of fiat deposits, and average liquidity in terms of filling orders.

Crypto.com Exchange supports a limited number of coins and tokens, but new currencies are getting listed every month. There are currently 51 trading pairs available, spread across three core bases in BTC, CRO, USDT. In terms products, the Exchange only supports spot limit and market orders, and there are no OCO or stop-loss or other advanced order types that would be expected from an ambitious exchange. That said, the Crypto.com Exchange is still in Beta, and amendments would be expected once it is fully deployed.

Some Crypto.com Exchange core features include:

• Stake CRO and save on fees: Staking CRO for six months on the Exchange provides ample discounts on trading fees of up to 100%, when you pay fees in CRO. Staked CRO will yield a target return of 20% per year while locked up.
• The Syndicate: Investors who have staked min. 10,000 CRO on the Exchange can participate in its initial exchange offerings to fundraise the launch of new digital assets and receive priority token allocation with 50% discount.
• Benefits for new users. As of July 2020, new users get a 2% bonus on their crypto deposits paid in CRO and zero-fee trading during the first three months.
• Soft staking with no lock-up. To incentivize users to keep their assets on the platform, the Crypto.com Exchange offers an option to earn interest on idle holdings with no commitment period required.

Tutorial: How to Use the Crypto.com App 

Now that you have a grasp of how the system works, it’s time we reviewed how to navigate the Crypto.com app with a step-by-step guide. The app is highly intuitive, allowing for even first-timers to get around easily. 

Let’s jump in. 

Verifying Your Identity

Before you’re allowed to jump into the app, you will be required to go through a quick verification process. The process involves giving your full legal name, ID, and a selfie:

While the verification process is very straightforward, you’ll have to take extra care when taking your selfie. If you mess up – such as taking your selfie in a poorly lit room – you’ll have to repeat the process over…and over…and over again until you get it right. Do yourself a favor and save yourself a headache by getting your selfie right the first time.

When finished, you should see this screen here:

You’ll typically have to wait two to three days after this point for the verification to go through. You should receive an email verifying that you have been accepted. You will then be free to access the app.

How to Deposit And Withdraw on the Crypto.com App

Now, a fair warning to those who wish to deposit or withdraw money from the crypto.com app. Very carefully double check your wallet address. If you’re off by even a single letter you will put yourself at risk of losing the funds you’re attempting to deposit or receive. 

This is an issue you’ll face with the vast majority of crypto platforms out there. In other words, this isn’t a problem exclusive to only Crypto.com. However, it’s still fair to offer this warning to ensure you don’t run into any careless mishaps.

Depositing funds

To deposit funds, simply select the “transfer” option from the home screen:

You’ll be greeted by a page with a wide range of cryptocurrencies, like so: 

After selecting your cryptocurrency of choice, you’ll be presented with your wallet address, allowing you to share it with anyone you see fit so they can deposit funds into your account.

Setting Up Your Fiat Wallet 

Next, you’ll want to set up your fiat wallet. First select “Home” on the home screen which is the first option from the bottom left.

Then click “Fiat Wallet”.

Now select “Set Up New Currency” on the following screen:

You’ll be presented with options ranging from the US dollar and Euro to the Croatian Kuna to the Japanese Yen.

Select one of the currencies to continue the transfer process.

• If you’re depositing US Dollars, this page is followed by a page that requires your address and social security number.
• If depositing Euros, you’ll have to chose between SEPA and SWIFT. (SEPA is the easiest and fastest option for citizens of the European Union).

Read the terms and conditions and check the box.

Following that, you’ll be presented with a green screen, verifying that you completed the process of setting up your fiat wallet.   

Now you’ll be free to purchase cryptocurrency on the app.

How to buy and sell

Buying crypto is just as easy as depositing funds into your account. Simply click on the “buy” button to get started: 

You now have three options for buying crypto on the app. You can either access the amount available in your smartphone crypto wallet, complete the purchase with a credit or debit card, or use the amount available in your fiat wallet.

Using your credit or debit card involves a 3.5% processing fee per purchase which goes to the card processor, not Crypto.com. I personally avoid instant top-ups by card and deposit all fiat through traditional bank transfers (which takes around one business day with Revolut). But this option is obviously not ideal for those looking to buy and sell crypto instantly.

Pick whatever method you prefer, and select your cryptocurrency of choice.

Hit purchase and you’ll be good to go. As a side note, make sure you have the adequate funds to actually complete the transaction.

How to sell

The easiest way to sell cryptocurrency is to navigate to your “Wallet” on the bottom menu bar.

Select the coin you wish to sell.

For the sake of this example, we’ll be selecting Bitcoin. 

As you can see, this account has 0.00916227 Bitcoins available to be sold, equivalent to $83.93 USD.

With the amount input for the example, you’ll see that you will receive 19.92 MCO to your mobile crypto wallet: 

Hit “Sell.”

This sends you on to the final page.

You’ll now have a few seconds to insert your passcode to confirm the sale.

If everything went well, you’ve completed the sale. Now you’ll have these funds ready to be used on your Crypto Visa Card.

How to Track Coins With The Crypto App

Tracking your coins is also a quick process. Simply hit the “Track” icon on the home screen, and you’ll get a massive overview of allmost all available coins on the market and you can track your coin of choice. 

For this example, lets track the app’s native coin: MCO

As you’ve might have noticed, the MCO, like most coins, closely follows Bitcoin’s development.

The main highlights of the tracking function, I want to mention in this Crypto.com review, are:

• The “Alert” function: This feature is found in the top right corner, symbolized by the bell. It allows you to set alarms for absolute price movements (ups or downs) and percentual movements.
• The “Sort By” function which allows you to see, among other things, the best and worst performing coins.

While it provides a clean and simple overview, tracking coins on the Crypto.com app is pretty basic, and serious traders will probably prefer following their favorite coins on a larger screen when buying and selling crypto.

Concluding the crypto.com app tutorial

While there’s more to the Crypto app, that’s everything you need to know to get around and set yourself up for success. As previously stated in this Crypto.com review, it’ll take a few days for you to get approved before you’ll have access to the app. 

When you are finally approved (check your email and spam folder), don’t be afraid to experiment with buying and selling small amounts of crypto and poke around with the various features to see what the app has to offer.

Fees

Crypto.com has low non-trading fees and average-to-low trading fees. Below we’ve broken down the most important fees for the App, Exchange, and MCO Visa Card (fees as of July 2020).

Crypto.com app fees

A complete fee schedule for services in the app is available in-app under ‘Settings’. These are the most important ones:

• Purchasing crypto with credit card in the mobile app costs 3.5% (reduced to 0% until 30 September 2020) plus $0.10 USD.
• Bank transfers to and from the app are free, although your own bank may charge various fees.
• Sending crypto to other Crypto.com app users via the in-app ‘Pay’ feature is free.
• Costs for sending to external wallets vary depending on the currency. For example, 0.0004 for BTC, 0.003 for ETH, and 1 for USDT and other stablecoins.

Crypto trades in the app are settled instantly as market orders and incurs no direct fees. Instead, users a charged the spread per order. The company does a poor job at explaining how exactly the spread is calculated. But according to an official statement in this Reddit post, users are charged between 8 – 20 basis points (0.08 – 0.2%) per trade, which includes a transaction cost for routing order to external exchanges plus an ‘execution risk cost‘ (the price for the latter is not clear).

In most cases, it will be much more cost effective to transfer to the Exchange and place a limit order.

Transaction fees (deposits and withdrawals):

External withdrawal fees

Withdrawals to external wallet addresses incur a fee depending on the currency. Here is a fee snapshot for some major currencies:

Crypto.com MCO Visa Card fees

There are low to zero fees associated with using the MCO Visa Card for all card tiers and regions.

Crypto.com exchange fees

The Crypto.com Exchange has competitive fees in the same range of major exchanges. Trading fees are divided into tiers, and traders can get large discounts by increasing their monthly trading volume, staking CRO, and paying fees in CRO.

By staking CRO for 180 days, users can get between 20 – 100% trading fee rebate when paying fees in CRO. At the same time, users earn 20% APR on the staked amount of CRO during the locking period, with interest deposited into their account daily.

Since most retail users will never exceed the second tier or stake more than 100,000 CRO on the Exchange, here are the prices for the first two tiers with rebates in the three last columns:

Safety

Like many of its competitors, Crypto.com is not regulated by any financial authority and does not publish its financials, making it essentially a high-risk venue for investors. It can therefore be considered as safe as any other unregulated provider.

Is Crypto.com regulated?

No, Crypto.com is currently not regulated by any financial authority. However, the company has applied for an E-money license in Europe and is in the process of applying for different licenses in the US, Singapore, and the UK. The company has also not been cutting any corners in terms of compliance and restricts usage to products and cards as per local regulatory requirements.

Is Crypto.com safe?

When it comes to safety, you should always be asking yourself questions like these:

• How are my digital funds secured?
• Are my fiat deposits insured?
• What is the history and track record of the company?

Ultimately, you should decide yourself whether to entrust Crypto.com with your funds.

How digital funds are secured

To help you determine whether their services are reliable enough for you to trust, we will be touching on Crypto.com’s security protocols. Crypto.com security features include: 

Cold storage

100% of user cryptocurrencies are held offline in cold storage. That means you’ll have an added layer of protection against potential hacking attacks. Crypto.com takes its security a step further with a strategic partnership with Ledger, a global leader in security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. 

Ledger integrates its multi-signature technologies, Ledger Vault, institutional-grade custody solution, and levering HSM (hardware security modules) to provide world-class security for all Crypto.com users. 

In addition, Crypto.com has cold storage insurance coverage in place to guard against direct loss or theft. This coverage will provide a financial buffer of up to $100 million USD should the worst occur. 

Hot wallet 

While cold storage offers added security measures, hot wallets are still needed for the sake of easy accessibility so customers can make withdrawal requests without extended delays. According to the crypto.com website, “All funds held in hot wallets are corporate funds and leverage HSM (hardware security modules) and multi-signature key-generation technologies.” 

Fiat currency security 

Safeguarding your coins in only one part of the equation. Crypto.com protects the fiat currency of its users by storing these funds in custodian bank accounts that are secured and regulated, providing several advantages regarding security. 

If you’re a US citizen, for instance, your USD funds will be covered by up to $250,000 due to FDIC insurance coverage. In addition, the user maintains ownership of fiat funds stored in bank accounts.

That means Crypto.com – or anyone else for that matter (i.e., creditors) – can’t lay claim to your funds.  

Infrastructure security 

Crypto.com utilizes Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its numerous services and world-class features to provide cutting edge infrastructure security. These features include: 

• Automatic encryption of incoming and outgoing traffic 
• Network and web application firewall capabilities 
• Controlled encryption in transit with TLS (Transport Layer Security) across all services 
• Business continuity in the event of an attack or an outage 
• You can find more details about AWS security features here 

App security features 

The Crypto.com app employs numerous security features to ensure users are capable of safeguarding their sensitive data no matter where they are. These features include: 

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) 
• Withdrawals protection 
• 24/7 live customer support 
• Secure coding 

Overall, Crypto.com offers a wealth of security features designed to protect your funds, its infrastructure, and the privacy of its app users. Due to Crypto.com’s partnership with Ledger, you can rest assured your cryptocurrency is protected by some of the best security in the industry. 

Is Crypto.com legitimate? 

With so many scam sites online nowadays, it can be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate services from the fakes. That said, Crypto.com distinguishes itself as a genuine service by its extensive online coverage.  

By visiting the about us page (and scrolling to the bottom), you’ll find a timeline that follows the journey of the company from inception to present. The timeline is fully interactive, allowing you to click on a wealth of links that point to press releases and coverage from a wide range of widely respected crypto news outlets. 

You can also look to company’s partnership with Ledger and Visa as signs of their commitment to providing a world-class service for their users. A simple Google search will also reveal reviews (many good, some bad) that demonstrate user experiences with the app. 

YouTube is another excellent resource that showcases Crypto.com’s legitimacy. There are numerous videos of users actively purchasing items with their MCO Visa Card, demonstrating first-hand that Crypto.com accomplishes precisely what they set out to do – helping to accelerate “the world’s transition to cryptocurrency.” 

Final words

Crypto.com is on a mission to make cryptocurrency more accessible to our daily lives. It truly is a marriage of the traditional with the cutting edge, allowing even complete novices to get into the swing of investing and using crypto with its MCO Visa Card and numerous staking benefits.

While there’s plenty of good things to say about the app, the company still has a tough road ahead. Various laws and regulations in multiple locations around the world may not make this service a viable option for everyone.

Still, their partnership with Visa allows for everyday purchases to be made with crypto funds, drawing the line ever so closer between the world of digital assets and fiat currencies. 

Alternatives to Crypto.com

Crypto.com isn’t the only kid on the block that offers a debit card or interest accounts with attractive annual returns. As it becomes increasingly mainstream as an investment, several businesses have popped up to facilitate the need to use for everyday services.   

1. Coinloan – Offers a range of lucrative interest accounts through lending, with 8% APR on crypto and stable coins, including USDT, PAX, and USDC. Also provides 8% on Euro deposits (fiat). Interest is accrued daily and paid out monthly.
2. Nexo – Nexo is a straight forward service that provides its customers with a virtual card free of charge for online purchases. Nexo doesn’t charge transaction fees, and you can access your funds with ease. With Nexo, you won’t have to worry about monthly or annual fees.