First of all, when choosing an exchange, traders look at the reliability and functionality of the exchange. Also, many traders need the ability for anonymous trading. Today we look at one of the young but reliable exchanges - KuCoin. Is KuCoin secure enough to store the funds there? Is Kucoin really safe to use? Is it a scam or reliable service? All of these questions we will review in this article.
- What Is KuCoin?
- Features
- KuCoin Fees
- KuCoin API
- How to Get Started with KuCoin
- How to Use KuCoin
- Customer Support and Reviews
- A Hacking Incident
- Is KuCoin Safe?
- Conclusion
What Is KuCoin?
KuCoin is a Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange launched in September 2017. This is a third-party exchange that allows you to buy, sell, and trade various cryptocurrencies.
This exchange was created by a group of experienced business professionals who previously worked on projects such as Ant Financial and iBox PAY.
Few people know that the KuCoin exchange was previously known as Kubi, which operated in China. The rebranding occurred due to the tightening of the rules for trading virtual assets, which forced the leadership to curtail their project and relocate to Hong Kong.
The founders' goal was to create a simple and secure platform for people around the world so that they could easily trade an extensive list of various cryptocurrencies. Also, the creators of the project strive to create a platform that will stand out from competitors by its user orientation. For example, the exchange offers a profitable bonus program, as well as round-the-clock and operational support. Since its launch, the KuCoin exchange has not experienced any noticeable problems, and in general, the platform does not suffer from system overloads.
The coins on KuCoin are usually added even before they appear on competing platforms. On the site, you can find a list of cryptocurrencies preparing to be included in the listing in the near future. Currently, about 200+ coins and 400 trading pairs are supported, among them the most popular coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Tether, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, EOS, Tezos, Stellar, Monero, Cardano, Tron, DASH, NEO, Ethereum Classic, ZCash, IOTA, NEM, Ontology, Cosmos, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Gold, etc. The full list of cryptocurrencies supported you can find here.
KuCoin is very popular among the new cryptocurrencies that passed through the ICO, which means that you can buy their coin while they are still at the beginning of their journey. You can access the KuCoin platform through a desktop computer, as well as through the Kucoin application on Android and iOS.
The exchange also has its own KuCoin Shares token (KCS), which allows you to trade on more favorable terms. A similar system is used on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. KCS tokens are a decentralized cryptocurrency issued on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC20 tokens).
The exchange website has been translated into 15 languages, including English, Chinese, Russian, and others.
Features
In general, the platform is designed with the user's needs in mind. Let's dwell on the features of the platform that distinguish it from other cryptocurrency exchanges.
The main feature of KuCoin is its own cryptocurrency KuCoin Shares (KCS). For holders of coins on the exchange, developers offer a number of advantages:
- Dividends. Every day, 50% of all commission fees on the exchange are evenly distributed between each KSC token, that is, all KuCoin Shares holders make a profit every day.
- Discounts on commissions and withdrawals. Users who have a KSC receive a 1% discount on trading fees for every 1000 KCS they hold (up to a maximum of 30%).
- Special offers. The exchange promises to periodically make promotions and special offers for all KSC holders.
The commission share is a kind of cryptocurrency cashback model, thanks to which the team successfully supports the influx of new customers, and experts make optimistic forecasts for the growth of the KCS rate. KCS tokens can be bought directly on the KuCoin exchange.
There is a bunch of other advantages that distinguish the exchange from its competitors:
- KuCoin Exchange has created its mobile application for the convenience of users. The mobile application is available for iOS and Android.
- A quick exchange and withdrawal - KuCoin declares that cryptocurrency assets arrive in customer accounts within 2 minutes, and withdrawals within 10 minutes.
- Stable service - KuCoin uses the “advanced multi-level and multi-cluster architecture” of the banking level, based on three data centers that can perform many tasks simultaneously.
- High-performance engine - The KuCoin trading engine is capable of processing up to two million orders per second and up to one million other requests.
- Many cryptocurrencies - KuCoin supports many cryptocurrency markets. The exchange compares favorably with the advanced server part, which allows it to add new cryptocurrencies in the shortest possible time.
- Support Service - KuCoin offers round-the-clock support on Telegram, WeChat and other platforms. Practice shows that they answer all questions very quickly, which most cryptocurrency exchanges today cannot boast of.
KuCoin Fees
One of KuCoin’s main goals is to provide very low trading fees. Cryptocurrency deposits are free, with the exception of the transaction fee on the blockchain that you pay for the transfer. Of course, this will depend on which cryptocurrency you use.
When making a transaction, you pay only 0.1% of the amount you spend on the purchase. For example, if you want to buy Bitcoin for $ 1.000, you will only pay $ 1. This is one of the lowest commission rates among exchanges, which is a good reason to use KuCoin.
In terms of withdrawing your funds from the exchange, the commission depends on what cryptocurrency you want to withdraw. Click here to learn more about the fee structure of KuCoin.
KuCoin API
The KuCoin’s trader and developer documentation documents outline the exchange functionality, market details, and APIs.
The whole documentation is divided into two parts: REST API and Websocket feed.
The REST API contains four sections: User(private) , Trade(private), Market Data(public), Margin Trade and Others(public).
The WebSocket contains two sections: Public Channels and Private Channels. You can find more information about KuCoin API here.
How to Get Started with KuCoin
One of the first questions that interest a potential customer of a service is “Do I need a registration?”. Nowadays, privacy and the ability to protect personal data are more relevant than ever, and sometimes the user wants to gain access, including to anonymous cryptocurrency trading. And the KuCoin team is ready to meet this need.
Registration
First of all, to get started you need to click on the “Sign Up” button in the upper right corner to start the registration process.
In the form given to you, you will need to fill the email and verification code fields. Use the correct email address in the case to be able to get access to it.
After entering your email, a verification code will be sent to this address and you will need to enter it in the second field within 60 seconds.
Upon a completion, you will need to set a login password. Enter your password twice and click “Submit” to finish the registration process.
That’s it! The registration is completed and you can start work with KuCoin exchange.
How to Use KuCoin
Verification
To trade on the KuСoin exchange, you do not need to go through the procedure of mandatory verification. But if you want to rise your limits and get more benefits, you need to be prepared that KuCoin verification can take a couple of hours or several days. The latter happens extremely rarely, and the user usually manages to verify the account on the same day when he/she provides the system with all the necessary documents.
To start the verification process, you need to click on the account icon in the upper right corner and in the drop-down menu click on “KYC Verification”.
KuCoin reminds us of our current benefits: Deposit, Exchange and Margin Trade. However, after successful verification, the following benefits will be available to you: Daily Withdrawal Limit 2 BTC, Max. Leverage on Contract Trading 100x, Daily Trading Limit 1400 USDT. To start verification press the green button in the lower right corner.
To strengthen the security of your account you need to supplement the information in the form provided. You need to enter your Country, First Name, Last Name, Identity Document Type and ID Number. Upon a completion press “Submit”.
That’s it! Now you have a Second Verification Level. If you want to rise your limits (Daily Withdrawal Limit 100 BTC and Daily Trading Limit 70000 USDT) you need to pass the next verification level. To start, press to “Continue to Get More Benefits” button.
In this form, you need to scan your Identity Document (front, back, and handheld ID) and attach the files to the page. Please ensure the characters on the photograph are clear and recognizable. Supported formats: JPG and PNG. Maximum file size: 4 MB. Once all the photos/scans are attached, press the “Submit” button.
How to Deposit on KuCoin
The KuCoin trading platform is considered one of the easiest to use, so it is also easy to replenish your account and withdraw funds from the exchange. In order to top up the funds, just click on the "Deposit" button in the assets menu and select the currency in which you are going to transfer.
Once you choose the cryptocurrency, KuCoin will generate you the recipient address right away.
There are some tips that KuCoin team is giving to us:
- The address is not allowed to deposit other assets other than BTC, and any other asset deposit will not be recovered.
- The deposit transaction will be automatic, and the BTC transfer will need to be confirmed by the entire BTC network, and your BTC will be automatically deposited to your account after 2 confirmation.
- This address is the only one you can use on your own, and you can do multiple recharging at the same time.
Copy this address or scan a QR-code and send the funds to this address.
How to Withdraw from KuCoin
Withdrawing funds is as simple and quick as depositing. In order to withdraw the funds from your account, just click on the "Withdraw" button in the assets menu. In the opened window you must enter the withdrawal amount, wallet details, code from Google Authenticator to order payments. Also, immediately the system shows a KuCoin commission for withdrawing funds from the exchange. As a rule, money arrives at the destination address 10 minutes after the creation of the withdrawal request.
How to Trade on KuCoin
In order to go to the trading window and familiarize yourself with the tools, you need to click on the "Trading Account" in the assets menu. In the window that opens, in the list of currencies, select the asset you want to start trading with.
The interface of the trading terminal is designed taking into account all the needs of professional traders. Here you can see a graph of price and market depth changes for different periods for the selected currency with the possibility of fine-tuning from TradingView, see the latest news about the exchange, see the available balance in the context of the selected currency pair and see the statistics of the latest transactions. Also in this section you can create and view the history of created orders for the purchase/sale of cryptocurrencies.
KuCoin offers users 3 types of orders:
- Limit - you buy/sell cryptocurrency at the desired price. Upon reaching the price set in the order, the operation will be automatically performed.
- Market is the easiest and fastest option. You buy/sell cryptocurrency at the current market rate.
- Stop orders - complex orders, there are 2 options available on the exchange:
- Stop market - is used to limit the loss on the exposed position. Immediately after the purchase/sale of cryptocurrency, the trader can place a stop market order and if the position brings a loss, it will close when the stop price is reached.
- Stop limit - when the asset price reaches the set stop price value, a limit order for buying or selling is immediately placed. The value of the limit order may be the same or different from the value of the stop price.
Customer Support and Reviews
The exchange has a very developed Help Center system, where the user can easily find the answer to any question in the search line. Zendesk platform includes FAQ, Guides, Articles, etc.
In case you did not find an answer to your query or you have any other questions, you can submit a request in the KuCoin form. Also, you can forward your questions to the KuCoin social media Facebook or Twitter. Subscribe the pages in case to be aware of the latest news and updates.
Users are generally satisfied with the work of the exchange, they like a large number of trading pairs, convenient interface and the lack of mandatory verification. However, users lack the ability to purchase cryptocurrency inside the service for fiat. Also, there are often problems with trading volume. More reviews you can find on Trustpilot.
A Hacking Incident
On September 26, 2020, KuCoin was subjected to a hacking attack in which thieves have stolen $285 million worth of cryptocurrency. Happily, many communities behind the coins that were stolen reacted quickly and changed smart contracts (through token swaps) and managed to return 84% of the stolen funds. Most of the stolen ERC20 tokens were upgraded on time and the money was protected. Part of the money was recovered with the help of law enforcement.
However, the way the situation was handled was criticized by many crypto community members as it created a situation where the old tokens (same as those that were stolen) still were on the market and people were selling and buying them without realizing that there was an upgrade. The very situation when projects had to quickly upgrade their tokens because of the KuCoin's failure raised questions in the community.
More than that, some of the reps of the projects traded on KuCoin now assume that KuCoin is trading phantom coins and manipulate the prices and liquidity. Apart from these assumptions, there are no apparent reasons to suspect KuCoin of being a scam.
Is Kucoin Safe?
It is very important to understand if the exchange you want to use is safe and does enough to make sure your funds won't end up in the pockets of thieves. In the case of KuCoin, this question is especially actual considering the recent incident when the wallets of the exchange were accessed in a hacking attack and the money was stolen.
Let's stress that despite the fact that the security was breached and the way the money was recovered was met with displeasure by many members of the crypto community, the stolen assets were mostly recovered and returned to owners. This outcome means that the platform cares of its reputation and the safety of its users and prioritizes it above the difficulty of the faced problems. Moreover, the case shows how much respect KuCoin has in the crypto community as the incident didn't affect the position of the exchange on the market that much. It's understood that there's nothing pleasant in the fact that the customers' money got stolen but the KuCoin team showed that they really care about safety of users' funds as the money was returned.
KuCoin provides multi-layered protection like the banks and financial institutions do. Most of the money is stored on the cold wallets. However, the exact amount is not disclosed. There are separate wallets that are used exclusively for small sum withdrawals. All the data stored on the platform's servers is encrypted.
One of the most important protection measures on KuCoin that can be applied on the users' side is 2-factor authentication (2fa). This feature is quite common for different crypto platforms as it efficiently helps to prevent the individual account hacks. When 2fa is enabled, the only person who can enter the account or perform the withdrawal of funds is the one who has a mobile device associated with the account. Sining in, withdrawals, and other critical actions triggers the one-time password request. The password is generated on the account owner's mobile device so the hackers who don't have access to this device won't be able to steal data or money.
Conclusion
KuCoin exchange is a great platform that guarantees a high degree of protection for your assets. Transactions occur quickly enough, and the withdrawal of funds is almost instant. The main difference of the exchange is the existence of its own blockchain and cryptocurrency KuCoin Shares. For exchange currency holders bonuses are provided. It will be a good choice for newbies and experienced traders.