As the crypto fever started to take the world by storm, South Korea emerged as one of the leading countries by trading volume and interest showed towards cryptocurrencies.
South Korea is known as a very crypto-avid country, with lots of interesting crypto projects and various noteworthy crypto exchanges such as Bithumb and the second-largest service within the area, Coinone.
Led by CEO Myunghun Cha since 2014, the Coinone crypto exchange aims to open up the South Korean crypto market by offering its citizens the possibility of trading a wide array of cryptos against the Won, Korea’s official currency.
How to start trading
Since it’s mostly aimed at South Korean citizens, by default, the website is in the Korean language. It’s also worth mentioning that there’s an English version available, readily accessible from the upper-left menu.
To start, users are required to create an account by clicking the Register button, located in the same left-sided menu mentioned before. The process involves users having to enter the desired password and a valid email, as well as to performing a captcha.
Users will then have to confirm their email by clicking the link sent via email. The next step involves users having to sign in and to click on the security tab to secure the account. Users are provided with a comprehensive PDF guide with various verification steps. Traders will also be required to verify their phone, as well as to add some photos. Lastly, they will have to provide various banking details, as well as perform an OTP verification.
One of the most important sections of the platform is the Pro Chart which displays a real-time analysis of various important cryptocurrencies. This section provides users with the option to customize their timeline by picking from hourly or weekly summaries for each crypto.
To actually exchange and trade, users need to click Exchange and select any of the provided options such as margin trading, crypto trading, or deposit/withdrawal. The platform also provides its users with a quick way to check their history by simply selecting Transaction.
Features, advantages, and disadvantages
As mentioned before, Coinone has been a solid crypto exchange service in South Korea even since 2014. What’s more, in all its years of activity there haven’t been any reports of hacks or dubious activities.
This brings us to the platform’s security features which are a top priority for the team behind the platform. The platform includes multi-signature wallets, cold storage, and two-factor authentication (2FA).
As mentioned before, Coinone is mostly aimed at South Korean citizens, and the only accepted fiat currency is the Won. However, it’s worth mentioning that the platform also accepts fiat currency deposits via bank transfer, just as long as the bank accounts are Korean as well.
Coinone wouldn’t be the second-largest crypto exchange in a such a competitive market as the South Korean one without low fees. 0.10% is the maximum fee, making it one of the cheapest exchanges not only in Korea but on an international level as well. Traders will also be happy to hear that Coinone does not change any sort of fees for deposits, regardless of the payment method used. As expected, the fees can vary on the amount of KRW traded on a monthly basis, and the taker and maker fees differ. The maker fees range from 0.02% to 0.1%, and takers fees are usually between 0.06% and 0.1%. The exchange has a smart “algorithm” aimed at promoting liquidity which means that the more traders trade, the more their associated fees will decrease.
While Coinone is very much intended for beginners, it does boast a couple of advanced trading features as well. One good example is its support for margin trading, with a maximum leverage ratio of 1:4.
Thanks to a partnership with California-based blockchain security firm, BitGo, Coinone is not only an exchange platform but also a wallet. The platform uses the Multisig Wallet Technology to provide its users with a reliable environment for their coins.
Last but not least, Coinone is worthy of your attention because it comes with support for a decent list of coins, such as BTC, BCH, ETC, XRP, QTUM, XTZ, ZIL, IOTA, OMG, BTG, ZRX, KNC, and LTC. Interestingly enough, the most traded pair is the BTC/KRW pair, with a 24-hour volume of $3,620,303.
Conclusion
To conclude, Coinone is not the second largest South Korean exchange for nothing. It has a very approachable user interface, a lot of security features, and supports enough cryptocurrencies to keep most (even more advanced traders, thanks to its margin trading) traders happy.
The only downsides include the fact that it is a service exclusively designed for the South Korean market (hence, it only accepts trading against KRW), and that many users might consider the verification procedure to be too tedious.
Image Source: CryptoNinjas
