Trading crypto is exciting and can be profitable, but it’s essential to understand the risks involved and choose the right trading platform for your crypto investments. There are plenty of options to choose from, but which one is right for you?
Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. It’s a publicly-traded company that allows users to trade more than 250 cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase One is Coinbase’s subscription model. It offers subscribers benefits that they can’t get from using the free platform. In this review, we’ll take you on a deep dive of Coinbase One, helping you get a handle on the benefits and decide whether paying for a Coinbase One subscription is something you want to do.
What Is Coinbase One? How It Will Help You to Grow Your Investment Strategy?
Coinbase One is the Coinbase premium subscription service that offers Coinbase users additional features and protection they don’t get with a free account.
One of the most important things to know about Coinbase One is that it offers zero-fee trading (with a few limitations that we’ll talk about later).
Regular Coinbase subscribers pay fees when they buy, sell, or convert cryptocurrencies. There’s no set fee because the amount charged varies based on an array of factors, including:
- The chosen payment method
- The size of your order
- Jurisdictional location
- Market conditions
- Order size
Coinbase makes its fees transparent, which means that when you initiate a transaction, you’ll see the fees in the trade preview screen. Completing the transaction means that you’ve agreed to the fees. Our only issue is that we wish the fees were easier to understand before initiating a trade.
Simple trades on Coinbase One are fee-free up to a monthly trading cap. We’ll go into a lot more detail about that in the next section.
Coinbase One benefits include enhanced customer service and the ability to get more cryptocurrency for your money thanks to its fee-free structure. There’s also some extra protection offered to subscribers in exchange for the monthly fee.
Our overall take on Coinbase One is that it’s worth buying if you’re someone who’s serious about crypto trading and wants access to premium features that you can’t get for free on Coinbase.
Key Features of Coinbase One
Now, let’s review the key features of Coinbase One, so you can determine whether the monthly cost is worth it to you.
Zero Trading Fees
Since fees are what most crypto traders care about the most, let’s start there. Coinbase One offers zero-fee trading up to a monthly cap of $10,000. If you trade more than that amount, which includes buying, selling, and converting crypto, then you’ll be charged Coinbase’s regular fees.
If you plan on trading less than $10,000 per month, and your fees would total more than the cost of a monthly subscription, then it’s probably worthwhile to pay for Coinbase One.
Boosted Staking Rewards
Another feature of Coinbase One is the ability to get increased rewards for staking eligible cryptocurrencies. These are cryptocurrencies that use a proof-of-stake model, which is more energy-efficient than the proof-of-work model used by Bitcoin, for example.
Some examples of proof-of-stake coins include Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and Cardano. You must have a Coinbase One account in good standing to collect stake rewards. Coinbase verifies eligibility daily and there’s a waiting period to collect staking rewards. Details are on the Coinbase website.
Priority Customer Support
Coinbase One users get access to priority customer support. What does that mean? What they say is that they have “dedicated” customer support with rapid response times for resolving any issues that may arise when using the exchange.
Phone, email, and chat support are available 24/7. We’ve seen some complaints about regular Coinbase customer service, but Coinbase One customers appear to be happy with their expedited service.
Enhanced Account Protection
One of the most important benefits of using Coinbase One is that the company has purchased insurance coverage to protect traders from up to $1 million in losses due to deficiencies in their system.
It’s important to note that Coinbase holdings and deposits are not insured by the FDIC the way bank deposits are. Coinbase’s insurance won’t protect you if you share your login information or give someone else access to your wallet.
Cost of Coinbase One
The Coinbase One cost is $29.99 per month, which works out to $359.88 per year. The subscription fee is charged on a monthly basis and may be paid using a variety of methods, including:
- ACH via your linked bank account
- Debit card
- Paypal account (US and EU available countries)
- Crypto (USDC and USDT only, available balance of $100 required)
Paying with crypto is something that’s only available to US subscribers at the moment. Coinbase One states that if your primary payment method fails, it will use your backup method to collect the monthly fee.
Coinbase One fees differ from regular Coinbase fees. Here’s a table illustrating the key differences, although we should note that fees vary depending on several factors, so you may see different fees when you trade on Coinbase.
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| Coinbase | Coinbase One | |
| Cash and crypto ballance | No fee | No fee |
| Transfer to another user | No fee | No fee |
| Transfer off the Coinbase network | Miner/network fees to be specified at the time of transfer | Miner/network fees to be specified at the time of the transfer |
| Trading fees | Based on market fees, disclosed at time of the transaction | 0% fees up to a cap of $10,000 per month, simple trades only |
There’s a 30-day free trial of Coinbase One and you can cancel your subscription at any time.
Benefits of Subscribing to Coinbase One
Here are some of the most important Coinbase One benefits to consider before you become a subscriber.
Cost Savings
You already know that Coinbase charges fees based on a variety of factors, including the type of coin you’re trading, where and when the trade takes place, and the volume of the trade.
With Coinbase One, you pay no trading fees at all for simple trades up to a $10,000 monthly cap. Because trade fees vary, we can’t give you a definitive assessment of how much you’ll save, but people who trade frequently can totally offset the subscription cost with savings.
Improved User Experience
Coinbase One offers a better user experience when compared to Coinbase. As we mentioned earlier, users get access to priority, 24/7 support to ensure they can get help whenever they need it.
US-based traders who use Coinbase One will also get pre-filled tax forms, including Form 8949, something that simplifies the tax-filing process for cryptocurrency transactions.
Increased Earnings Potential
Coinbase One offers boosted staking rewards when you hold proof-of-stake coins. Some of the top proof-of-stake coins include Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Avalanche, and TRON.
How much more can you earn with Coinbase One’s boosted staking? If you bought Solana on Coinbase and decided to stake $5,000 worth of holdings, you could earn 6.33% APY on your holdings. So, after you staked your holdings, if you left them in place for a year, your stake would be worth $5,316.50.
The Past Performance of Coinbase One
Coinbase has millions of monthly users, and paid subscribers make up a small percentage. The platform has grown substantially. For example, they had one million users in 2014. By 2019, that number had grown to 13 million, and by the end of 2024, it’s estimated to reach 115 million.
Only a small percentage of those users are paid subscribers. One estimate says that approximately 400,000 users are paying subscribers. Since Coinbase doesn’t disclose subscriber statistics, we can only guess at how many of those people pay for Coinbase One.
Pro Tip:
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Is Coinbase One Right for You?
By now you’re probably wondering, is Coinbase One right for you? Here are the things we think you should think about.
Ideal User Profile
The ideal user profile for Coinbase One is someone who wants to get serious about cryptocurrency trading and has money to spend. If all you’re looking for is an app that will allow you to get your feet wet with crypto trading, then you don’t need to pay for Coinbase One.
On the other hand, if you’ve got a significant amount to spend on crypto and you want the option to earn extra money with staking, then it’s probably worth the $29.99 monthly fee to become a Coinbase One subscriber.
Considerations Before Subscribing
Here are a few things to consider before you subscribe to Coinbase One.
- Will you earn enough to offset the subscription cost?
- Are you knowledgeable about staking and comfortable with the risks?
- Do you plan to trade crypto regularly or only once in a while?
- How much do you plan to invest?
- Are you aware of and comfortable with the overall risks of trading cryptocurrency?
We recommend reading reviews like this one, estimating how much you plan to invest in cryptocurrency, and deciding if the $29.99 monthly price tag is something that’s worth it to you.
Keep in mind that as a rule, cryptocurrencies are far more volatile than other investment classes such as stocks and ETFs. We recommend having a diversified portfolio that includes a variety of investment classes and then adding cryptocurrency.
Pro Tip:
Sign up for Coinbase One Today and Receive $50 in Free BTC after your First Trade!
Conclusion
In summary, Coinbase One offers some advantages to crypto investors, including no-fee simple trades up to a $10,000 monthly cap, boosted staking awards, enhanced customer support, pre-filled tax forms, and insurance to protect your holdings against breaches or theft due to deficiencies in Coinbase’s security.
With a monthly cost of just $29.99, many intermediate and advanced crypto traders may save and earn enough to make a subscription worthwhile. Beginner traders may also find some benefits, but it’s important to consider whether your savings will be enough to justify the monthly price.
You can cancel your subscription at any time, which is something that’s not possible with every trading platform.
Coinbase One is a premium subscription service offered by Coinbase. Subscribers get no-fee trading up to a $10,000 monthly cap, boosted staking rewards, enhanced customer service, and insurance to protect their holdings.
The monthly cost for Coinbase One is $29.99. You can cancel your subscription at any time.
We believe Coinbase One is worth the cost for intermediate and advanced crypto traders who can make the most of fee-free trading and staking rewards. Beginning crypto traders may want to start out with the free service and then switch to Coinbase One.
If you’re already a Coinbase user, you can navigate to your account settings to upgrade to Coinbase One. As a new user, you’ll need to create a free account first.
