With Coinbase raising fees on Pro, I figured my weekly passive buys might be in danger of a fee hike as well. This prompted me to search for better alternative. I figured with the exchange competition heating up, I might able to find a better fiat to crypto on ramp. This led me to the Voyager App. Their website promoted commission-free trades combined with smart order routing for the best spot price. Through various partnerships they're able to pool orders from multiple platforms and consequently offer their clients superior pricing. This a net positive for both parties. The user saves money and voyager pockets a small portion of the savings. The app is able to link your bank account and buy your bitcoin within minutes. The user interface (UI) design is crisp and clean. In terms of the functionality and operability, the Voyager app is perhaps one the smoothest I've ever used. The development team did a phenomenal job with the front end. 

Supported Tokens and Earn Program

The platform support a limited number of coins but more will added in the near future. Voyager strictly adheres to regulatory guidelines, as a result you can be assured the tokens listed have been properly vetted and curated. Despite having good token diversity, the platform only allow for BTC, ETH, ETHOS deposits and withdrawals.They are currently working on adding support for other tokens. Through a recently added feature dubbed the Voyager Interest Programs, users can now earn 3% APY on their BTC deposits. This is accomplished through a partnership with Celsisus Network. There are many platforms offering a better rate on BTC, however most fiat on ramps like Coinbase offer nothing. Unfortunately, there is no passive buy option which a big disappoint to me. Hopefully, they add this feature in future iterations. 

Invest in the Voyager App with Stocks and Tokens

Unlike Coinbase, Voyager is a public traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange. This means users of the platform can buy equity if they believe in the long term success of the platform. Additionally, they have a native platform token recently rebranded from the Ethos token to the Voyager token. Once the team enables full self custody they will be rolling out token incentives. This will grant users discounts and other privileges for holding a certain amount of Voyager token. This is the first time to my knowledge, retail is afforded the opportunity to buy a token and/or a security to share in the platforms success. 

I've personally decided to switch over to Voyager for my weekly Bitcoin buys. Fees may not seem like much, but the cumulative cost can add up over a year. I've spent $1032 over the course of 7 months on fees alone. This doesn't include the premium I pay for spot since coinbase doesn't offer smart order routing. The money I lost in fees could have been used to purchase more sats. Given all the unencumbered competition in this industry, I think it maybe worthwhile to research all your fiat on ramp alternatives. Smaller platforms like Voyager are motivated and hungry for market share. As the they turn up the heat, I think other platforms will be pressured to lower fees as well. 

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