KuCoin

KuCoin is an increasingly popular crypto exchange, also known today as “The People’s Exchange”. With a wide range of cryptocurrencies, innovative features and a user-friendly interface, KuCoin has created a special status among both newcomers and experienced traders and “HODLars”. In this review you will find out everything you need to know about this exciting platform.

KuCoin: Overview

KuCoin is a Seychelles-based crypto exchange that has accumulated more than 20 million users in over 180 countries since its launch in 2017. The mission of this exchange is to “facilitate the global free flow of digital value”, which is why they put emphasis on an intuitive design, a simple registration process and a high level of security. The platform supports futures trading, built-in P2P exchange, the ability to buy cryptocurrencies with a credit or debit card and instant exchange services.

KuCoin was one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to focus on more serious traders who needed a robust and comprehensive crypto trading platform. KuCoin has been providing this service very well for years, but now it has taken a similarly ambitious path to Binance, offering an impressive amount of features and products for crypto enthusiasts to immerse themselves in. According to the exchange’s own words, 25% of all cryptocurrency traders in the world use it, which seems quite plausible to us – after all, KuCoin is known for listing new and hard-to-find altcoins faster than any other major exchange. Well, that’s probably partly due to the fact that they’re not as regulated and licensed, which is why KuCoin boasts the largest selection of altcoins of any major exchange.

KuCoin: History

KuCoin has been providing a platform to crypto traders since 2017, making it an OG in the world of cryptocurrencies. But interestingly, the team actually started working on blockchain technology back in 2011, and started designing KuCoin in 2013. It took several years, however, for their platform to be perfected and ready for the market. In its early days, KuCoin differentiated itself by offering a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including a number of lesser-known altcoins. This strategy quickly attracted a diverse group of traders and investors, and by the end of 2017 KuCoin had over 200,000 registered users. In the same year, the exchange also launched its own KCS token to reward its users for trading on the platform.

In 2018, KuCoin raised 20 million dollars (in Bitcoin) in Series A ICO funding from IDG Capital, Matrix Partners and Neo Global Capital. The funds were used to overhaul the platform’s infrastructure, expand into new markets and improve customer service. KuCoin has always been at the forefront of innovation. In 2019, it launched KuMEX, a platform for trading crypto derivatives. It also introduced Pool-X, a platform for staking and liquidity trading. In 2020, KuCoin expanded its offering with the launch of peer-to-peer (P2P) fiat securities trading, a trading bot for automated trading strategies and KuChain, a public blockchain for decentralised applications (dapp). Then, in 2021, the platform raised another $100 million for the KuCoin Metaverse Fund.

Hacker attacks

1/ The @kucoincom handle was compromised for about 45 mins from 00:00 Apr 24 (UTC+2). A fake activity was posted and unfortunately led to asset losses for several users. KuCoin will fully reimburse all verified asset losses caused by the social media breach and the fake activity.

— KuCoin (@kucoincom) April 24, 2023

Despite its success, KuCoin’s journey has not been without difficulties. On September 26, 2020, KuCoin’s security systems were compromised, resulting in a loss of $281 million in various cryptocurrencies. The breach was one of the largest in the history of crypto exchanges, sending shockwaves through the community. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in KuCoin’s hot wallets, gaining unauthorized access to a massive amount of funds. The breach affected Bitcoin, Ethereum, and several other ERC-20 tokens. The hackers then attempted to move these stolen assets to other exchanges and DeFi platforms. KuCoin’s handling of the situation was commendable. Within hours of detecting the breach, they suspended all deposits and withdrawals and moved the remaining funds to a secure cold wallet.

On 24 April 2023, the Twitter account of the KuCoin exchange was hacked. The hackers posted a fake gift scam that resulted in $20,000 worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen. The intrusion lasted approximately 45 minutes, during which time the hackers posted a tweet that appeared to be from KuCoin. The tweet said that the exchange was giving away USD 20.000 to its followers. The tweet included a link to a fraudulent website that looked like the KuCoin website. When users clicked on the link, they were redirected to the fraudulent website. On the website, they were asked to enter their KuCoin login details. Once users had entered their credentials, hackers were able to access their accounts and steal their cryptocurrency.

KuCoin has since taken steps to secure its Twitter account. The exchange has also compensated the victims of the hack. It should be noted here that this was a social engineering attack on a social media account and not an intrusion into the KuCoin system itself.

Registration on KuCoin

As with any centralised exchange, registration on KuCoin is fairly straightforward and follows the following steps:

1. Visit the official website: Go to the KuCoin website and click on the “Sign up” button located in the top right corner of the screen.

2. Choose a registration method: You can register on KuCoin using your email address or mobile number:
   • To register by email, enter your email address in the box provided and click “Send code”. KuCoin will send a verification code to your email address. Get the code and enter it in the “Email Verification Code” field.
   • To register with a mobile number, select the country code, enter the mobile number and click “Send code”. KuCoin will send a verification code to your mobile number. Obtain the code and enter it in the “Mobile Verification Code” field.

3. Set up password: Create a strong password for your account. Your password should be a combination of numbers, letters and special characters to ensure maximum security. Confirm your password by re-typing it in the “Confirm password” field.

4. Read the terms and conditions: Please read the terms and conditions carefully. When you have done so, tick the “I have read and agree to the Terms of Use” box.

5. Complete registration: Click on the “Sign up” button to complete your registration. Congratulations! You have now successfully created your KuCoin account.

6. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA): For greater security, it is highly recommended that you enable two-factor authentication (2FA) in your account. You can do this by going to the “Account Security” section of your account settings and following the instructions to set up 2FA.

KuCoin: Offerings

As mentioned above, KuCoin offers both a wide range of alternative coins as well as a number of advanced trading and yield framing features. We will cover all of this in this section.

Podprte kriptovalute

KuCoin stands out in a crowded market of crypto exchanges because of its extensive list of supported cryptocurrencies, including altcoins not yet available on other exchanges. So far, KuCoin supports trading in more than 700 cryptocurrencies. Among the largest we can find cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Polkadot (DOT), Decentraland (MANA), Arbitrum (ARB), etc.

Trgovalne funkcije

KuCoin is not just about diversity, it’s also about versatility. The platform offers spot trading, futures trading, margin trading and staking. One of its stand-out features is the “Trading Bot”, which allows users to automate their trading strategies. This feature and its high liquidity make KuCoin the preferred choice for both beginners and experienced traders.

KuCoin supports up to 100x leverage for margin transactions, allowing the trader to trade contracts with a value greater than the funds available for trading in the account. BTC and USDT are among the most commonly traded contracts. Two types are usually available: Futures Lite and Futures Pro. The former is for beginner traders, while the Pro version is for experienced traders or professionals. In addition, KuCoin allows investors to peer-to-peer transfer or exchange cryptocurrencies directly from their accounts to other users, avoiding the need for a broker or financial institution.

Below we present KuCoin’s unique trading features:

1. KuCoin Trading Bot

The KuCoin Trading Bot is an automated trading function that allows users to execute trading strategies 24/7 without the need for constant manual intervention. The Bot is designed to make trading decisions based on predefined rules that take into account factors such as cryptocurrency price movements, market volatility and other relevant indicators. The KuCoin Trading Bot supports a variety of trading strategies, including:

• Classic Grid: A simple trading strategy to profit from market fluctuations through sell orders and buy positions. It involves buying orders at a lower price and selling them at a higher price. Traders can optimise the trading machine even if they lack market knowledge. KuCoin’s trading machines are powered by artificial intelligence and the grid version is optimal for beginners.

• DCA: It is a dollar cost averaging strategy, where cryptocurrencies are invested in at regular intervals, regardless of price.

• Futures Grid: This is comparable to that of a Spot Grid Bot, as both can generate passive income through low purchases and high sales. However, the Futures Grid has special features that can help investors maximise profits.

The Kucoin Trading Bot thus offers users a number of benefits:

• Efficiency: The bot can execute trades much faster than a human trader, increasing the chances of exploiting short-term trading opportunities.

• Eliminating emotional trading: The bot operates on the basis of predefined rules, eliminating the emotional decisions that often lead to poor trading results.

• Time saving: With the bot taking care of trading activities, users can free up their time to focus on other important aspects of their investment strategy.

2. KuCoin Earn

KuCoin Earn is a financial product that allows users to earn a stable profit (yield farming) through expert asset management. Here, users can stake their tokens via staking, stake for ETH 2.0, participate in the Polkadot on-chain ecosystem and find promotional bonuses for higher APYs for specific pledgeable assets. KuCoin Savings is similar to a bank savings account in that it allows you to deposit funds and earn a reasonable amount of rewards. This flexible scheme allows you to deposit and withdraw funds at any time. Savings allows your cryptoc to generate a stable daily profit. For example, USDT Savings allows you to earn an interest rate between 5% and 8%.

When you look at the full range, you’ll find a variety of APY rates – from 0.4% all the way up to 101% on 70 different assets, with many ranging from 20-60%, which is great for some of the more speculative tokens. There are different lock-in periods available, ranging from flexible to 365 days.

Kucoin Earn therefore offers a number of advantages:

• Passive income: KuCoin Earn offers the opportunity to earn passive income from your cryptocurrencies. The interest earned can be a steady source of income to supplement any gains from price appreciation.

• Flexibility: With KuCoin Earn, users have the possibility to choose between different products and cryptocurrencies. This allows users to diversify their earning strategies according to their risk tolerance and investment objectives.

• Easy to use: KuCoin Earn is designed to be user-friendly. Earning interest is as simple as having supported cryptocurrencies in your KuCoin account.

3. KuCoin Lend

As the name suggests, this cryptocurrency peer-to-peer lending programme allows users to earn interest on their digital assets by lending them to fund margin traders on the platform. At the time of writing, there are more than 55 different cryptocurrencies (including BTC, ETH and USDT) available to lend, and looking at the annual interest rates, the returns are between 3% and 5.5%. Users can choose the duration of the lending period, ranging from 7 to 28 days. This flexibility allows users to lend their funds according to their personal preferences and financial plans. As for the interest rates on the loan, they are determined by supply and demand in the market and are therefore often competitive compared to traditional financial institutions. KuCoin Lend is designed to be user-friendly. Lending your digital assets is as simple as selecting a cryptocurrency, setting the terms and conditions and clicking “Lend”.

So far, we have not heard of any cases where lenders have lost their tokens, and KuCoin “guarantees” that lenders’ tokens will be returned to them. This can be a good source of passive income as long as there are merchants who want to borrow cryptocurrencies.

4. KuCoin Spotlight

KuCoin Spotlight is a start-up platform that aims to help blockchain projects raise the necessary capital, while giving KuCoin users early access to promising new tokens. The programme uses a lottery system to distribute new tokens, with users’ chances of winning based on their holdings of KuCoin’s native KCS token. This is similar to DeFi’s Binance Launchpad, which offer similar initial IEO/IDO/ICO offerings.

Kucoin Earn therefore offers many opportunities for both projects and users:

• For projects: KuCoin Spotlight provides a platform for new projects to raise capital, gain visibility and build community. The programme also offers projects the credibility that comes from being linked to a well-known exchange such as KuCoin.

• For users: KuCoin users have the opportunity to invest early in promising projects. The lottery system also ensures a fair distribution of tokens.

• Incentive for KCS holders: The scheme provides additional benefits to KCS holders, as the number of lottery tickets a user can claim is based on their KCS holding. This not only incentivises KCS token holders, but also adds another useful value to the token.

5. Kucoin Win

This feature is for all casino and gambling enthusiasts. It is a platform of the KCS ecosystem that combines fun with a token list, providing KuCoin users with another way to access their preferred initial coin distributions that were previously out of reach of the average retail dealer. KuCoin Win offers a variety of easy-to-participate lottery games, offering users the chance to win prizes. The participation programme uses KuCoin’s own KCS token, which adds another utility to the KCS token and encourages token ownership and use.

6. KuCoin Community Chain (KCC)

KCC is a decentralised public blockchain developed by KuCoin token fans (KCS) and KuCoin. It aims to provide users with a secure, efficient and scalable blockchain infrastructure. KCC is built on the Ethereum platform, ensuring compatibility with existing Ethereum smart contracts and offering low transaction fees. In 2022, there has been a significant increase in the number of projects deployed or integrated into the KCC platform, including NFT, GameFi, DeFi, Web 3 infrastructure and others.

By mid-2022, the number of titles in the KCC chain had increased by more than 500% to almost 600,000 in December 2022. The community chain also announced an ecosystem incentive programme of up to $50 million, the KCC Unicorn Contest, which attracted more than 100 projects, of which more than 40 have been effectively deployed in KCC.

What is the KuCoin Token (KCS) and what are its benefits?

KuCoin Shares (KCS) is a proprietary token of the KuCoin exchange. It was first issued in September 2017 and runs on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token. KCS plays a key role in the KuCoin ecosystem and offers several benefits to its holders:

• Trading fee discounts: KuCoin offers KCS holders discounts on trading fees. The more KCS a user holds, the greater his discount on trading fees.

• KCS Bonus: KuCoin operates a unique KCS bonus programme, under which it shares up to 50% of its daily trading commission income with KCS holders. The bonus is distributed on a daily basis and is proportional to the amount of KCS held by the user.

• Participation in KuCoin Spotlight: KCS holders have the opportunity to participate in the KuCoin Spotlight programme, which allows them to invest in new and promising cryptocurrency projects launched on the KuCoin platform.

• Voting rights: KCS holders have the right to vote on various decisions, such as the listing of new tokens. By doing so, KCS holders have an influence on the development and direction of the KuCoin platform.

• Governance in the KuCoin Community Chain (KCC): KCS holders can participate in the management of KCC, KuCoin’s decentralised public blockchain. They can vote for network certifiers, contributing to the decentralisation and security of the network.

Is Kucoin Token  (KCS) a good investment?

Given the popularity of the KuCoin exchange and the many examples of cryptocurrency use cases within the diverse ecosystem, it is safe to assume that KCS will continue to perform well in the future. Of course, always do your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies and never invest more than you are willing to lose.

Fees

KuCoin uses a tiered fee approach, starting at 0.1% for both maker and taker transactions. Commissions decrease as the user’s 30-day trading volume increases, which encourages high-volume trading. This fee structure is competitive compared to many other cryptocurrency exchanges. If you want low commissions, one of these three exchanges will be your choice, especially with the additional 60% discount on commissions that you can get by signing up via our sign up link.

• Withdrawal fees: Like most exchanges, KuCoin charges a withdrawal fee, which depends on the cryptocurrency being withdrawn. These fees are necessary to cover the costs associated with the transaction on the relevant blockchain network. It is important to note that KuCoin does not charge any fees for depositing cryptocurrencies.

KuCoin itself does not support fiat deposits, but relies on third-party payment processors and does not disclose its partners’ fees on its website. Here’s a look at the different payment processors you can access to deposit over 50 different fiat currencies or directly purchase cryptocurrencies with your bank card, bank transfer, Apple Pay and BTC Direct.

• Discounts for KCS holders: KuCoin offers additional discounts on trading fees to holders of its own KuCoin Shares (KCS) token. Users can pay trading fees with KCS shares and enjoy a substantial discount. The more KCS a user holds, the bigger the discount he receives on trading fees.

KuCoin and KYC

In July 2023, KuCoin removed the option to trade without KYC. Existing users who have not gone through the KYC process will be able to continue to use KuCoin’s services, but will be limited to certain features. For example, they will not be able to deposit new funds or trade on margin.

Many cryptocurrency exchanges now require KYC as standard. Sadly, the days of crypto anonymity in the Wild West are over and, like other exchanges, KuCoin has KYC and account verification requirements for those who wish to trade with any restrictions.

Basic verification requires the following information:

• Country of residence
• Full name
• Type and number of identity card

KuCoin Mobile App

The KuCoin mobile app brings the full functionality of the KuCoin platform to your smartphone. Available for iOS and Android devices, the app provides a seamless and intuitive interface for trading, asset management and access to KuCoin’s range of services. It also supports staking, futures and P2P trading, which may appeal to more experienced users. Virtually everything you can do on the desktop version, you can do on the mobile app.

Customer support

KuCoin strives to provide a smooth and seamless trading experience for all its users through the various support channels available and its commitment to resolving user issues:

• 24/7 support: KuCoin offers round-the-clock customer support, ensuring that users can get help whenever they need it, regardless of their time zone.

• Plenty of channels: Users can contact KuCoin customer support through various channels, including live chat, email and the platform’s official social media accounts. This ensures that users can choose the most appropriate way to get the help they need.

• Comprehensive FAQ section: The KuCoin website has a comprehensive FAQ section covering a wide range of topics, from basic trading queries to complex technical questions.

• Community support: KuCoin has a vibrant community of users who can provide peer support. The platform’s community forums (Discord) and social media groups are places where users can share their experiences and solutions.

Security

Although KuCoin has been hacked, it is considered one of the most secure exchanges in the world. This crypto exchange meets the high industry standards you would expect from a top-tier exchange. They keep most of their assets in cold storage, out of the reach of hackers, while providing users with some robust security features. KuCoin also works with Onchain Custodian to ensure the security of the cryptocurrencies held on their exchange, and has insurance to cover customers in the event of a hacking.

Anti-Fraud Suite: In early 2023, KuCoin announced the launch of an Anti-Fraud Suite to strengthen security and combat business fraud. These measures include advanced anti-phishing and business wallet address verification, which significantly reduces the possibility of fraud.

Conclusion

KuCoin has stuck well to its original mission of becoming a world-class, robust and multi-functional cryptocurrency exchange, which they have done very well. With deep liquidity and offerings among the largest selection of markets and an enviable altcoin offering, it is one of the most popular crypto exchanges today. In addition, users benefit from the additional benefits offered by KCS token. However, like any platform, it has its challenges. Limited support for fiat currencies and regulatory compliance concerns are areas where KuCoin could improve. On the security side, all indications are that KuCoin has taken its intrusions as seriously as possible and has updated its security systems to the highest level. If you’re looking for a reliable and reputable crypto exchange with wide selection of altcoins that are available earlier than on other big exchange, KuCoin might be just right for you.

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