Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, news, and educational platform all rolled into one. The sheer amount of versatility you have in one app is pretty astonishing, and I wanted to go into a deep dive on what kind of tools are available within this specific service.

The Basics:

Coinbase Exchange allows you to purchase, swap, and store crypto assets all in one place. In addition to being a news resource where you can even qualify for loans, Coinbase also allows for asset staking for up to 6% APY!

There are even video lessons where you can learn about the reasoning behind the creation of certain currencies, such as CGLD, COMP, NMR, and more, where you can earn a few bucks in that asset as a reward. The best part about this specific feature is that however much you receive from the lessons is still capable of growing later on. I myself have received $31 that's grown to over $50 just in the few months I've been getting on this app. Another great tool is live market updates with details up to the second, with a clean UI that's easy to understand even for beginners. You're even able to search for specific tokens by the biggest gainers and lovers in the market, as well as just sorting out which coins can be bought on the exchange.

But as always, nothing is perfect and here are the areas where Coinbase excels, as well as needs a bit of work.

The Pros:
•Allows purchases with fiat currency via bank cards or linked bank accounts. Many exchanges won't allow this, requiring you to have crypto in your wallet before buying.
•Relatively low fees for transactions, also done in fiat currency. Pictured here are the fees for a $5 purchase of ADA, so fairly manageable where transaction fees or miner fees can easily be more that the amount of the tokens you're trying to move.

•Speed. Transaction times, price updates, everything happens in seconds rather than hours or days with some exchanges.
•Lessons with over $30 of initial benefit that has a chance to grow to more.
•Latest news on various currencies not limited to ETH or BTC. Most media coverage by far tends to favor the two crypto giants, and leave the rest up to mystery.
•UI is very crisp, leaving buys and market position very easy to understand, even for beginners. No visually confusing graphing or convoluted buying processes that require multiple YouTube tutorials to grasp.       

•Many crypto earning games and mining applications allow for easy transfers to Coinbase, so long as that coin is viable for them.
•Customer service interactions have been very quick to respond, incredibly kind, and professional.

The Cons:
•Limited ability to buy based on what's available in their exchange. They are already addressing this, and in the last few weeks have added ADA, STORJ, SUSHI, ANKR, and CRV. I'm personally waiting for them to add XYO before I can be 100% happy with them.
•Requires Coinbase Wallet for full utility. While the apps connect and interact seamlessly, you do have to have both set up if you truly want to use Coinbase. The Wallet does allow for a much wider array of assets than the exchange, you're just looking at holding them there until they can be moved into an Exchange or used directly in a transaction.
•You are REQUIRED to log your social security number if you're a US user. Meaning that you probably don't have much of a chance of avoiding being taxed.


Overall, I highly recommend Coinbase's services. There are gaps that need fixing, but most are already in the works to being corrected. I've only had positive experiences thus far, several assets earning interest and paying out every single day. The only way I could see this going south is by them just not having all the coins you're wanting to invest in.

If you'd like to get started on Coinbase to try it out for yourself:
http://coinbase.com/join/

If anything, I strongly recommend getting this app just to reap the rewards from those free lessons, and grabbing a few cryptos that can be staked for a decent interest rate. Please be mindful that this is not a paid endorsement or advertisement for Coinbase, rather an opinion piece from a current user.