Bithumb Exchange Review (2023): Good for Beginners and Large Trading Volume
Bithumb is a leading cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013 by BTC Korea.com Co. Ltd, offering users the ability to buy, sell and trade a range of digital assets with a daily trading volume of up to $2 billion. We will review how Bithumb works, and then it’s advantage and disadvantages.
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What is Bithumb?
Bithumb is a leading cryptocurrency exchange, established in 2013 by BTC Korea.com Co. Ltd. and headquartered in South Korea. With a wide range of digital assets available for trading, Bithumb is one of the most established exchanges in the industry.
Bithumb is boasting an average daily trading volume of over $100 million. On some days, Bithumb has seen trading volumes as high as $2 billion.
It also offers accounts for institutional investors, which helps to ensure a high trading volume and ample liquidity in the market for successful trades. Bithumb, designed to be user-friendly and perfect for beginners, supports multiple languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Hindi. It makes it accessible to traders from all over the world, with a large percentage of users from South Korea.
Key Features and Advantages of Bithumb
Payment Methods
When choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, it is important to consider the payment methods available. Bithumb offers fiat currency deposits and withdrawals for South Korean residents using KRW. However, this is not available to customers outside of South Korea.
If you are not from South Korea and are looking to start trading cryptocurrencies, the best way to do so is to open an account at KuCoin or Coinbase. Coinbase allows you to register an account and deposit using a debit/credit card or bank account. Then, KuCoin allows you to purchase one of the top cryptocurrencies and transfer it to Bithumb.
Deposits, Withdrawals & Trading Fees
Depositing funds into your account with cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple and EOS is free, while Bitcoin, Dash and Litecoin deposits incur a very small fee of 0.001 BTC.
When writing this Bithumb review, we found that the minimum deposit limits were very low. For example, the minimum Litecoin deposit is 0.1 LTC and the minimum Ethereum Classic deposit is also 0.1 ETC.
Withdrawing cryptocurrencies from Bithumb comes with fees that vary depending on the type of coin. For instance, Ethereum withdrawals cost 0.01 ETH and Bitcoin withdrawals cost 0.001 BTC. To stay up-to-date on the latest fees, be sure to check the Bithumb website.
At Bithumb, you can enjoy some of the lowest fees in the industry. For example, when you buy $1000 worth of Ripple, you will only pay 0.15% of the total amount, which is just $1.50.
Binance offers one of the lowest trading fees in the industry, with a flat rate of 0.1%. However, you can get even cheaper rates by using the Bithumb voucher, which is available within your Binance account. Furthermore, with those discounts, you can less up to 0.07% for high-volume traders. If you were able to get the maximum discount, Bithumb becomes one of the cheapest fees in the industry!
Coin Availability
At Bithumb, you can buy, sell and trade a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, including the most popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. They also have lesser-known coins like Ethos, Augur and Aeternity. With over 103 coins available, Bithumb has something for everyone.
South Korean exchanges are renowned for their professionalism, fast withdrawals, and top security. This is why popular coins like Bitcoin are often more expensive than exchanges located in other countries.
In spite of being one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Bithumb offers a much smaller selection of coins compared to other exchanges such as Binance and Cryptopia. Those have hundreds of different cryptocurrencies available for trading, with new coins being added regularly. This has become increasingly popular among Chinese traders, who are unable to trade cryptocurrencies in their own country due to the ban.
Bithumb is known for its selectivity when it comes to listing coins, with the most recent addition being Cardano and Status Token in June 2018. This can be frustrating for those who prefer a wide selection of coins. However, the Bithumb team only supports projects they deem to be legitimate.
Key Disadvantages of Bithumb
Slow verification process. Unlike other cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb takes time to verify new account registrations due to their previous announcement about restriction on new accounts.
History of Hack last 2017. Last June 2017, Bithumb suffered a major security breach resulting in a loss of approximately $94 million and affecting over 31,000 individual accounts.
How to Sign-up on Bithumb?
In May 2018, the Bithumb team announced that they would be restricting account registrations from 11 countries identified as Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) by the Financial Action Task Force due to money laundering weaknesses.
To sign-up, follow the following instructions:
- To get started with Bithumb, visit the official website and click the Sign Up button to create an account.
- Next, you will need to provide some basic information, such as your email address. To ensure compliance with Korean regulations, Bithumb requires a few more details than some other exchanges. After entering your email address, click on the ‘Check Duplicate’ button and tick the box to confirm you are not a robot.
- Enter your nationality and cellphone number to complete your registration. It is important to provide accurate information.
- Once you have entered your cellphone number, click on the SMS Request button. You will then receive a 6 digit code via SMS which you need to enter into the Cellphone Verification Number field.
- Enter your personal information, such as full name, date of birth, gender, and full home address.
- Create a strong password that is between 8 and 12 characters long. Re-enter it in the box below and choose a 4-digit pin number that is difficult to guess, such as a combination of numbers and letters.
- You must also tick the two terms and conditions boxes to complete your registration with Bithumb. It is important to read and understand the terms and conditions before agreeing to them.
- Complete the sign up process by clicking the Sign Up button. You will then receive a confirmation email, which you must click to complete the registration.
If you want to trade large amounts on Bithumb, you will need to upgrade your account to the next level. This requires you to upload identification documents such as a passport and proof of residency. To find out how much you can deposit and withdraw before needing to upgrade, please contact Bithumb directly.
Who Should Use Bithumb?
Bithumb is an ideal platform for novice traders, with its user-friendly website featuring clear labeling and simple colors. Trading on Bithumb is straightforward and easy to understand. Open an account with Bithumb to get the best out of the platform and test it out with virtual credits before using real funds.
Bithumb is an ideal platform for professional traders, offering a range of trading tools such as chart analysis and candlestick bars. With one of the highest trading volumes in the world, Bithumb provides excellent liquidity for those looking to trade large amounts.
Furthermore, it is also offering a range of features such as remittance, which allows users to send funds internationally.
If you’re looking for an anonymous trading experience, Bithumb might not be the best choice for you. Although you can deposit and withdraw using cryptocurrency, you still need to provide a full range of personal information in order to use the exchange.
Conclusion
Bithumb stands out from other cryptocurrency exchanges due to its stringent sign up process, which requires users to provide personal information even when only using cryptocurrency for deposits and withdrawals.
It is a great exchange to use, despite the hack in 2017. To ensure safety, it is recommended to not keep funds in the exchange for too long, as with any other exchange.