If you didn't know about the recent explosion of cryptocurrency in the past few years, I'd ask you if you were living under a rock!
Cryptocurrency exchanges have become a popular topic of conversation lately, and cryptocurrency's value has increased.
But, what is a cryptocurrency, and how does it work?
Keep reading as we explore everything you need to know about crypto trading apps, how they work, and why crypto is such a valuable asset. Say goodbye to your normal trading platforms, and say hello to crypto trading!
Here are 10 of the best crypto apps in 2023.
Table of Contents:
- TOP 10 Crypto Apps in the UK
- 1. eToro
- 2. Coinbase
- 3. Gemini
- 4. Binance
- 5. Kraken
- 6. Crypto.com
- 7. Robinhood Crypto
- 8. Webull
- 9. CoinJar
- 10. Revolut
- How Does Crypto Currency Work
- FAQs
- Conclusion
TOP 10 Crypto Apps in the UK 🇬🇧️
*eToro disclaimer: Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.
1. eToro — Best Overall Crypto App
The virtues of eToro are extolled in all corners of the trading sphere. And there is a good reason for that. In many ways, eToro is the “complete package” for trading apps.
What does that mean? It means that there is nothing that you cannot trade on eToro. Stocks, ETFs, and CFDs can all be exchanged on eToro.
Cryptocurrency can be exchanged as well, but more importantly, you can access crypto exchanges on eToro, and exchanges for other securities.
eToro users under FCA regulation cannot open CFD crypto positions; all orders are opened as real assets.
When most people think of cryptocurrencies, they think of Bitcoin. Maybe Ethereum if they spend time around people who talk about crypto. But there are hundreds of different cryptocurrencies.
Visit eToro76% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.
One of the best parts about eToro is that you can use it to trade them all.
Other Features
And not only can you trade many different types of crypto, but you can also use eToro to trade them for each other. This is possible because eToro tracks the value of each currency.
Because they know how much Bitcoin is worth and how much something more obscure like the Graph is worth, they can facilitate a fair trade between someone offering Bitcoin and someone else offering the Graph when ordinarily a trade would be tough.
Drawbacks 👎️
The biggest issue that eToro has is the size. Its community is big, but it is made manageable by the fact that you will only need to approach a single part of it at a time. On the other hand, the rest of the app can feel as large and challenging to navigate as the market itself.
If you know what you are looking for beforehand, it can be made much easier. So, advanced traders will feel at home using eToro. But newer traders will feel overwhelmed, and even people experienced in the cryptocurrency exchange will feel like they have to sift through too many other securities to get what they want.
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2. Coinbase — Best Crypto Investment App
Coinbase is one of the most well-known platforms for serving cryptocurrencies exclusively.
For that reason, you can be assured that basically, you will be able to access every type of cryptocurrency using this crypto trading app.
But the focus of Coinbase is not cryptocurrency trading. Rather, it is about investing. How does investing in crypto work though? It is simple: Either you invest in the currency itself, or you trade the currency like foreign currency. But not everyone has traded in foreign currency, so let’s review what that means.
Trading in foreign currency is a complex business in practice, but in theory, it is quite simple. Think of any given currency. We will use French francs as an example again. Francs change in value relative to, say, the Euro. Sometimes they are worth more, and sometimes they are not worth as much as Euros.
You can buy francs with Euros while they are not worth as much, and then sell them when they are worth more than Euros. Just by moving money around you have increased your amount of Euros.
You can do the same thing with cryptocurrencies, except it is even easier to do with crypto. The funny thing is that its difficulty is the inverse of standard foreign currency.
With normal foreign currency, the idea behind it makes sense and is somewhat easy to track. But the practice of it is difficult due to all the hoops brokers make you jump through. Cryptocurrency is far harder to track, but there are far fewer hoops to jump through to do it because it is more secure.
Other Features
So, Coinbase lets you trade and invest in cryptocurrency. What else does it do?
The best feature of Coinbase is its app and interface. All cryptocurrency trading apps have an interface for crypto trading, but not all are created equal. In the case of Coinbase, its interface makes navigating the hundreds of cryptocurrencies surprisingly easy.
On top of that, it also has currency tracking so that you can get alerts when certain currencies increase, decrease, or reach certain thresholds of value. And finally, it has an excellent knowledge base — so users don't need to be advanced crypto traders.
Drawbacks 👎️
The real issue with Coinbase is that for all it does to allow you to trade and invest in crypto, what you will find is that many more obscure currencies will have to be traded for “translator” currencies first.
This means that while every currency is one step away from being tradable for every other currency, it still will have to go through that step. A translator currency is a currency that all currencies can be measured against. For example, consider Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
Maybe you cannot trade Bitcoin for Dogecoin to an exact degree of value, but you can trade either or both to a translator currency. And only then can you trade that currency for either of the others for a highly exact amount that reflects the value of what you are getting.
This complicates the process of trading, making the interface improvements feel wasted.
Read our in depth Coinbase review for further details.
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3. Gemini — Best Security
Most people who get into crypto nowadays come from finance. That means they approach crypto as if it were just another security, such as stocks or bonds. But anyone who started dealing in crypto back when it was first coming out will tell you that security is the most important feature to help you find the best crypto trading apps.
This might seem obvious. Of course, you want your money to be secure. But security works differently for the cryptocurrency than it does for other securities. That is what Gemini addresses so well.
Security
Holding onto cryptocurrency means keeping that cryptocurrency in a “wallet”. That wallet is technological in some way. It will be a website, an app, or a physical memory stick. In any case, it is something that you need a computer to access. That is its greatest strength and its biggest weakness.
You need a computer to access your crypto because you need the internet to connect to the blockchain. But when you connect to the internet, the passwords that secure your crypto can be compromised.
When this happens, it is like if someone steals money out of your safe—who is to say why it got transferred? Once it leaves your account, it can be very hard to get it back by any means.
Gemini uses layers of security measures to ensure that your crypto stays yours. The main method it uses is by protecting all of your account access behind a wall of 256-key encryption. This is encryption that is unbreakable by even the most advanced computer, as it takes far too long for a computer to break it.
But that is not all it does. The thing about the blockchain is that once it changes, it can be hard to undo those changes without another record to contradict it. Gemini supplies those records. Because they keep track of your crypto, they can make disputing issues in the blockchain much easier.
Other Features
All of that accounts for how good Gemini is as a wallet. But it also serves as a cryptocurrency debit card, as well as a trading platform that is pretty intuitive. Its focus is on cryptocurrencies, trading over 70 different coins, as well as having its translator currency to make sure you can trade all of them.
It also has cashback opportunities and various account options from demo accounts, professional investor accounts, and even student accounts with a more manageable interface.
Drawbacks 👎️
Gemini's focus on cryptocurrency means that it is, rather knowingly, not going to be getting into public trading. It has more in common with a crypto wallet than a trading app. So, while you can trade cryptocurrency on the app, it will not let you use that currency to get stocks, bonds, CFDs, etc.
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4. Binance — Best Translator Currency
We just got done saying translator currencies are a pain. But that is what makes Binance great: It solves the problem of translator currencies.
How? By having its own translator currency.
Unique Translator Currency
When most apps use a translator currency, they are using a currency that they do not have control over. Because they have control over that currency, value will be lost in a few ways when the translator currency is used—transaction fees, processing times, that sort of thing that adds up over many trades.
But Binance’s translator currency is local to the Binance platform. That means that it can be used without any slowdown to the trading process and with no value lost.
Binance also allows you to buy its currency from it and store it elsewhere. It can do this because the total amount of Binance is always capped. Only a certain amount exists, and the blockchain allows the market to quickly assess its value. That makes it an easy currency to track in many ways.
It is so easy to track that some other sites and platforms have begun using Binance as a translator currency in contexts outside the Binance platform. This is generally a good thing, but those apps will occasionally saddle you a transaction fee for a currency that does not require it.
Using the Binance app ensures you do not get tricked.
Other Features
Besides that, Binance is a great app for trading every cryptocurrency worldwide (even new and obscure ones). Because you can buy Binance directly from the app, it is also an excellent entry point for newer traders starting only with real-world money and wanting to get into crypto, learning about trading fees and crypto exchanges with ease.
Drawbacks 👎️
That said, it is one of the more simple apps out there. Its interface is clean, but you should not expect to buy other securities on it, or even be alerted to certain currencies’ prices.
Its main function is the translation of different currencies between each other. This is an irreplaceable niche to fill, but because it is focused entirely on that, it does not do much else.
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5. Kraken — Best Beginner App
When you think of what is keeping you from getting into crypto, what do you think of? The cost? Knowledge? Ease of access? There are probably a thousand more things that are in your way, whether you know about them or not. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app designed to circumvent those?
That is precisely what Kraken aims to do. Where there is a need, the free market often rises to meet it. In this case, that need is for an app that helps one get started in digital currencies.
Kraken starts by having a low cost of entry. You do not need to have crypto to get it—you can pay into the app by putting £7.50 into your app’s account, which you then use to buy up to 65 different currencies.
Knowledge Base
And if you are unsure which currencies to buy, the Kraken has you covered on that front as well. They have extensive knowledge base that they offer you just for having an account. This knowledgebase includes the fundamentals of cryptocurrency, as well as which currencies are used for what purposes.
This is important, as the differences between market currencies like Bitcoin and translator currencies like Binance might indicate to you. But while these differences are critical to getting the right currency, they are not always well-advertised. The right information can save you from buying the wrong coin.
Other Features
Kraken does not throw it in your face on their site, but through their trading platform, you can access several types of securities. They are focused on crypto, and as such, they do not pull from that many other markets. But the markets they draw from are well-covered.
These securities include standard stocks and bonds to more advanced securities like ETFs and indices. This means that you do not just have to learn through stuffy tutorials. ETFs and indices are not just securities but also great tools for learning practical lessons about the market.
Drawbacks 👎️
Some traders will find Kraken's user-friendliness to be almost extreme. One of the classic tensions in designing a platform like Kraken is that you cannot please everyone. If you hold a new user’s hand, you will hold an experienced user back from what they want to do on the market.
And if you make things easy, you also deny the user the ability to optimize their money-making ability. You can feel this in Kraken’s design since crypto trades are far easier to make than other securities. Also, Kraken cannot reliably facilitate users’ securities trades using crypto.
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6. Crypto.com — Best Spending App
So, you have made your first hexa-deca-septillion dollars from cryptocurrency.
Now what? How do you spend it? The answer to that is not so easy. In the case of most crypto, it is quite complicated.
You see, due to the way the blockchain works, you will have trouble spending your money like a normal person. If you are at a gas pump, you cannot pay for the gas you buy with Bitcoin. You know how when you swipe your card, there is a period when the system verifies that you have the money?
In that moment, the machine you swipe your card at asks the bank if you have money. If that bank says yes, the system accepts that bank’s word. Transferring the money from the bank to where you are swiping your card takes longer than that, but the value of the bank’s word makes it faster.
Because cryptocurrency uses blockchain technology, that “word” needs to be gotten not just from one bank but from every link in the blockchain. That means it is hard to have a Bitcoin credit card.
Crypto.com seeks to solve that problem. They do this by essentially structuring themselves as a cryptocurrency bank. They participate in the blockchain, but they transfer the value of your money and their own in several ways to ensure that you can use their debit card like a regular card.
In short, Crypto.com is the app you want to use if you intend to manage and use your crypto like normal money. You can apply for a card easily and start trading and using your crypto as you see fit.
Other Features
Everything about the practical uses of Crypto.com’s debit card is great, but some people will want a good trading platform. Crypto.com has that too. Trading in over 250 different currencies, trading stocks on margin, CFDs, options, and binary options, the app lets you trade in a vast number of ways.
The goal of Crypto.com is to blur the line between crypto banking and normal banking. For this reason, they naturally have a lot of tools for making sure you can trade whatever currency you hold for whatever security you want. Even if a currency is incompatible, they will help you translate it.
Drawbacks 👎️
The nature of Crypto.com living on the cutting edge means that sometimes, you get cut. Many of the markets Crypto.com participates in are risky and volatile. This extends to the securities they trade-in.
Crypto.com has a huge community with many traders and different currencies, but it sometimes has trouble keeping up with its size. It will help you use a strange currency, but that help might come from a customer service representative rather than the app itself if it is too weird.
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7. Robinhood Crypto — Best Community
The community around Robinhood Crypto is a curious one. Whenever we talk about an app, we try to focus on what needs it fulfils. What does the app do that no other app can do? In the case of Robinhood Crypto, the app has a community that no other app has, despite what the app itself wants.
That is an odd statement. To clarify: Robinhood Crypto is the cryptocurrency branch of the biggest mobile trading app in the world. That does not make it the best trading app in the world, though it does have quite a few good features. Its community is the real attraction here, though.
There are times when Robinhood will be restricted by the rules of its home country (the United States) or seek to modify stock trades in its favour (such as by delisting stocks). The community works to keep the app honest, providing communication and feedback with the developers to let their voices be heard.
As a result, the Robinhood community can act as a knowledgebase, a trading group, a mutual fund, and an index all at once. And not only that, but you can engage with these things on a personal level.
Other Features
Due to being one of the biggest apps in the world, Robinhood Crypto allows you to integrate into the actual Robinhood app. This means access to a vast selection of markets and securities.
These include foreign currency, stocks, commodities, bonds, ETFs, indices, CFDs, binary options, futures, and options. That is every security under the sun, and it includes more than 100 different cryptocurrencies. In short, there are a few things on Robinhood that you cannot do.
Drawback 👎️
That probably makes it sound like the #1 app, but there is a reason it is the #9. Robinhood Crypto has an issue of integrating all those different currencies. It is also well known for having outages, security breaches, and suspicious activity. These are all things that the community helps with.
The community can help you keep track of trades while the app is unresponsive, recover and even prevent security breaches, and spot suspicious activity. But of course, that is a lot of work that not everyone wants to do.
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8. Webull — Best Long Term Investments
Many apps focus on the retail investor—that is, the everyday person looking to get into the stock market—but it is oftentimes in the most predatory way. They make it easy for retail investor to lose money in increasingly more convoluted ways. Investors rarely know what they are getting into.
The most common reason this kind of investor gets into the cryptocurrency market is to grow a retirement fund. This is the case with the stock market as well. They want to make small investments that appreciate over time. But if an app is taking your money, how can it do that?
Webull’s priority is making sure that your investments grow. To that end, they offer great counseling services and tax information to make sure your investment strategy pays off in the longest run.
Other Features
The focus of Webull is growth. That means they are all about analysis, prediction, and strategy. If you have a good investment strategy, you can weather even the most turbulent financial situations. Webull helps you develop one with its many tools.
In particular, they help you do this with cryptocurrency. This is a new feature, but Webull handles it very naturally. And this is great since so many apps treat crypto like a lottery ticket.
Drawbacks 👎️
Webull is focused on growth. That means that, as an app, it is not focused on trading. You can use it to buy different currencies and invest in stocks, but the interface is geared more towards analysis than making these actions easy to take. This is by design, but it appeals to a very small niche.
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9. CoinJar — Best Ease Of Use
When compared to other exchanges, CoinJar offers some of the greatest overall value.
The spread, a cost that is sometimes disguised by cryptocurrency exchanges, is extremely minimal, and both deposits and withdrawals are free.
Customers in the United Kingdom may make pound sterling (GBP) deposits and withdrawals free of charge. CoinJar charges a tiny percentage for trading, with a slightly greater cost for using the Instant Buy feature for cryptocurrency.
Taker and maker fees on the CoinJar Exchange are among the lowest in the industry. More transactions result in a reduced charge. CoinJar provides additional benefits to its patrons. For instance, with the crypto debit card, customers can both spend and earn CoinJar Rewards on their digital assets.
Other Features
Use CoinJar whether you are just starting out or are a seasoned investor. Despite its efforts to catch up to the likes of Binance and KuCoin, the exchange still falls behind.
However, if you need a simple, fast, and accessible platform, CoinJar is your best bet. The platform also includes a crypto debit card and a built-in wallet for storing digital currency.
All in all, CoinJar is a great way to store and manage your cryptocurrency, but for now, it can only be used in Australia and the UK. If you find that CoinJar does not meet your needs, you may want to look at some of the other top cryptocurrency trading platforms listed above.
Drawbacks 👎️
The costs associated with transactions are additive. On top of the price of each item, CoinJar applies a one per cent transaction fee, which is then refunded in the form of CoinJar rewards points. When you make purchases internationally, you will be subject to additional costs.
Also, it puts a limit on your spending. The maximum amount that may be spent in a single day is £2,500, or 25 separate transactions. With restrictions on withdrawals. The maximum amount that may be withdrawn from an ATM in a single day is £500, and there is a restriction of 5 withdrawals.
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10. Revolut — Best All-In-One Platform
According to UK law, crypto-asset enterprises headquartered in the UK must register with the Financial Conduct Authority, and Revolut is included in that.
With this milestone in the crypto space, Revolut is rapidly becoming a comprehensive cryptocurrency platform.
A number of new offerings, such as a debit card and crypto staking, have been implemented since it was included in the FCA's comprehensive registry of crypto asset enterprises.
The Bitcoin functions of the user-friendly digital app are seamlessly integrated with the existing account services. Within seconds, users may purchase, store, and trade more than 90 different cryptocurrencies without leaving the app.
You can begin investing instantly with the money in your Revolut checking account (keep in mind, Revolut is not an official UK bank).
Also, manage your cryptocurrency portfolio using the app's performance data, acquire cryptocurrency on a recurrent basis, transmit cryptocurrency to other Revolut members, and more.
You can pay for things with quickly converted tokens by activating a crypto-spending mode on your current Revolut debit card.
Other Features
The cryptocurrency fundamentals may be learned via a series of lessons called “Learn and Earn” that are available on Revolut.
With each module completion, a modest number of DOT, 1INCH, AVAX, and ALGO coins will be awarded to those who complete the quiz successfully. In addition, specific tokens may be staked in order to get rewards on Bitcoin.
Revolut is unparalleled in the cryptocurrency industry. When it introduced cryptocurrency purchases via its mobile app in 2017, it was the first challenger bank to do so.
As well, using Revolut makes purchasing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a breeze. The purpose of Revolut is to simplify their use so that you do not need to be a computer genius to benefit from them.
- ✔️ Cryptocurrencies. Includes Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and XRP — all are available to customers.
- ✔️ Exchanges. Trade in one of the app's basic currencies for a different one; convert British pounds to XRP or Euros to Bitcoin. You get to decide.
- ✔️ Spot prices. See current prices on live charts. And get notifications when the value of your coin reaches a predetermined threshold.
- ✔️ Payment using a debit card. Use your Revolut debit card or make quick purchases using tokens in your crypto wallet.
- ✔️ Good fees. For Standard/Plus customers, Revolut's Bitcoin transaction fee = 1.49%. (Premium/Metal users = 0.99%)
- ✔️ Learn & earn. Get free crypto by completing courses, earn DOT tokens.
- ✔️ Connect. Send to other Revolut users.
- ✔️ Staking. Get rewards by staking.
Drawbacks 👎️
There are certain frequent money transfers that do not incur any fees, but the vast majority of transactions do. To use some features, you will also be required to sign up for a paid account, which starts at £/€/$9.99 per month.
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How Does Crypto Currency Work?
Cryptocurrency is defined by two traits: The first is that it has no physical counterpart. Picking a completely random example, only so many French francs exist. It would be all the French money if you emptied all the French banks, wallets, and couch cushions into one big pile.
The biggest advantage and drawbacks of physical money are the same: Holding the money implies ownership. It does not guarantee ownership in all cases, but it does in most cases.
That means if all of the French francs you own are in a safe in your house and the money gets stolen from the safe, then it is almost impossible to prove that the money was ever yours.
“But wait”, you might say, “it was in my safe!” Yes, and as long as it is in a safe that you own it is easily proven to be yours. But once it leaves that safe, who is to say who owns it beyond who holds it? Most people keep their money in banks because they can use the bank’s authority to claim ownership.
This is why cryptocurrency must be non-physical. Because it has no physical counterpart, no one can steal it from anyone else. Many people hear that and think it is an exaggeration—how can a currency be immune to being stolen? Well, that is what is so special about cryptocurrency.
The second trait that defines cryptocurrency is its “blockchain”. Holding cryptocurrency does not grant you ownership of it. So, what does grant you ownership of it? That is why the blockchain exists.
What is the Blockchain? ⛓️
The blockchain is a computer program whose job is to validate the existence and ownership of cryptocurrency. Each cryptocurrency has its blockchain, though some crypto shares blockchains with another crypto or are at least tied very closely to the blockchain of that other cryptocurrency.
But what does “validate the existence and ownership of cryptocurrency” mean?
Well, imagine you have a single Bitcoin. And then you buy something from me that costs one Bitcoin. To complete this transaction, you and the seller must report that purchase to the blockchain program.
Then, the blockchain program reports to the rest of the blockchain that this transaction occurred. The rest of the blockchain acknowledges that the seller owns the Bitcoin you gave them for your purchase.
Think back to what we said about money in banks. Most people keep money in banks because the bank has the authority to say that the money exists and that you own it.
The blockchain accomplishes that same thing, but rather than the authority coming from the reputation of a single entity, it comes from all the different Bitcoin holders on the blockchain. All those little voices throughout the whole blockchain add up to one big voice claiming it has financial value.
FAQs
Here we will answer some lingering questions you might have about cryptocurrency trading.
How Can I Find the Best Crypto Exchanges?
To find the best crypto exchanges, you must evaluate your level of experience. When trading crypto, you need assurance that the exchange provides you with accurate and reliable information. If you are a beginner, you'll need to choose a crypto exchange with plenty of knowledge resources and a user-friendly interface. If you're an advanced crypto trader, you can easily use more complex trading platforms, without needing spelled-out information.
What are the Biggest Red Flags when Trading Crypto?
When trading crypto, it's important to only use platforms with advanced security. Some red flags to avoid in crypto apps and exchanges are:
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Trading in countries with limited AML regulations.
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Limited customer service options.
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Negative reviews of the platform concerning security.
Before using a service, reading about any horror stories from traders using the platform is essential. This way, you can take caution to avoid making the same mistakes.
Which is the Best App to Start Using Crypto?
Coinbase and Kraken are both excellent places to start when exploring digital currencies. Both are equipped with extensive knowledge bases to help you get started and understand your options.
Conclusion 💡️
Most crypto apps exist to fulfill a niche. Trading is one thing, but keeping your cryptocurrency secure is another. Some apps are good all-rounders but not as good at fulfilling your needs.
So, know what you need as you get into crypto. Whether you need somewhere to bet big on trades or slowly grow your assets, there is undoubtedly a crypto app.
