Bitvavo Pros
Bitvavo was founded in 2017. They started as a broker but quickly switched to a real exchange. This allowed them to offer common payment methods such as credit card and bank transfer, combined with extremely low trading fees. Where some competitors charge up to 3% per transaction, Bitvavo charges a maximum of 0.25% per transaction. Read more: crypto.nl.
The platform is suitable for novice users with the basic interface but also suitable for experienced traders because of the advanced interface. This means you do not have to switch platforms if you want to trade with advanced orders and tools. Below are Bitvavo pros:
- Extremely low trading fees up to 0.25%
- Staking interest up to 10.5%
- Insured wallets up to $255 million
- Funds are managed by a separate foundation
- High-level safety
Bitvavo Cons
While there are many pros to Bitvavo, there are also cons to it:
- Digital support only (no phone number)
- Advanced trading not via the app
- Futures/Margins trading not possible
- You can buy and sell cryptocurrency with a limit of 2500 euros
- Rates vary according to your level of investment
Bitvavo online wallet
Bitvavo offers its users the freedom to indicate during a buy order whether you want to send the crypto to an external wallet or whether you want to use the wallet support on the platform. The last option is the default, but risky, if you plan to leave the crypto in your wallet for the long term (HODL).
Bitvavo offers hosted wallets to all its users. A hosted wallet is a wallet in which your digital currencies can be stored easily and securely. You will need a different wallet for almost every digital currency.
As soon as you have created an account at Bitvavo, Bitvavo will automatically provide you with a hosted wallet for every digital currency available for trading on Bitvavo. There are some advantages in using hosted wallets from Bitvavo:
- You don’t have to download software to be able to store the digital currency
- It’s easier to send digital currency to other wallet or receive digital currency on your Bitvavo hosted wallet
- You will always have access to your digital currency and can sell or exchange it for a different digital currency at any time.
- Bitvavo hosted wallets are well secured and completely free
Besides using Bitvavo wallet, you can also choose to store your digital currency in one of the following ways:
- A personal wallet that you manage yourself. This will require you to download the software but allow you to remain completely independent.
- A hosted wallet is offered by another third party. Many parties provide (free) hosted wallets.
In case you have crypto that Bitvavo supports at another provider or on an external wallet, you also have the option to transfer that crypto to your Bitvavo account. There is an exception for one crypto, namely Ethereum Classic. For this one, it is not possible to deposit or withdraw.
Due to the introduction of the fifth anti-money laundering directive, which came into effect in the Netherlands on May 21, 2024, Bitvavo has come under De Nederlandsche Bank’s supervision. According to De Nederlandsche Bank, this supervision means that digital currencies may only be sent to verified wallet addresses.
After you have added an external wallet address to your address book, you need to have it verified by going to your address book and clicking on verify,’ take a screen recording of the platform or external wallet address you want to send your digital currency to and make sure the address is visible. Share the screen recording and confirm adding the external wallet address. Confirm the email sent to your email to complete the verification.
The Bitvavo compliance team will assess your screen recording, the external wallet address will be added to your address book, and after which withdrawals to this external wallet address will be possible. If you are worried about your privacy and security, Bitvavo only processes your data only insofar. This is required to provide you with the requested services and insofar as required by laws and regulations.
Bitvavo supports staking for several cryptos. If you have crypto in your Bitvavo wallet and you HODL or you don’t do anything with it or crypto you can send to Bitvavo, you may be eligible for staking. Staking is earning or being rewarded from crypto and comes in two forms:
- Off-chain Staking: Services that allow you to earn rewards by leaving the crypto on your Bitvavo account.
- On-chain Staking: services that offer the possibility to actively contribute to the approval of transactions (similar to mining) on a proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain. Anyone with a minimum of certain crypto can validate the transactions to receive staking rewards on the POS blockchain.
If you have one of these cryptos on your Bitvavo account and want to earn staking rewards, all you have to do is enable the ‘opt-in’ function of the service. This option can be found in your account under ‘Staking.’ But put in mind that Bitvavo is not a bank and/or regulated as a bank or similar banking institution. The staking services are not insured and are not part of a national and European deposit guarantee system.
You can quickly transfer digital currency that you already own (for example, in your external wallet) to your Bitvavo wallet. You only have to sign in to your Bitvavo account, go to the digital currency you want to deposit and click on it.
Generally, the transferred digital currency will be added to your Bitvavo account within a couple of minutes to several hours. The time frame depends on how the network quickly confirms your transaction and how many confirmations we require, which differs for every digital currency.
Please be careful when depositing digital currencies. In cases where asset/token recovery is desired and possible due to user error concerning deposits, for example, depositing assets to the wrong address or depositing unsupported assets, Bitvavo will charge you a €250.00 fee for the recovery.