The Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges available to New Yorkers
Disclaimer: I am not a certified accountant, lawyer or financial advisor. Everything I write is for educational purposes. Before conducting on any of the information, please be sure to consult an expert.I originally wrote a guide at the beginning of the year of 2022, a comprehensive guide of available exchanges for people residing in New York. I found two flaws with it; despite being comprehensive, it included a list of exchanges no ordinary retail investor should ever consider using and the information has already become outdated, especially regarding Gemini in which my research placed the emphasis on selling mostly ethereum and erc-20 tokens. So I felt compelled to create an updated version of my guide that whittles down the number of exchanges and some updated information about the cryptocurrency exchanges. I’ll provide a shorthand list of the exchanges available for those who do not want to read the entire article.
Suggested Cryptocurrency Exchanges
If you would like a far more comprehensive selection, please be my guest and search for more information on the NY State Department of Financial Services Website if you do not like the selection I presented. They are the ones which regulate centralized exchanges and which ones are permitted to operate in the state of New York.
Gemini
Pros:
Emphasis on Security
Offers Yield on Cryptocurrency
Large Selection of Cryptocurrency
Offers a large selection of Cryptocurrencies
Servers tend to operate when high volumes of trading occur
Cons:
Initial Account Setup can be frustrating
Highlighted Coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (Matic)*, Fantom (FTM)*, Tezos (XTZ).
*Note: These ERC-20 tokens which need to be bridged to be used on their respective networks
Many of the initial advantages of using Gemini have eroded away for New Yorkers. In my original post, I called Gemini a no brainer. Gemini still holds up as the best exchange to use as a New Yorker with some of the richest features available. However, Gemini used to provide uniform services to all its customers regardless of location. This is no longer the case which is a small blemish. However, they have stepped their game in terms of selection. My initial article highlighted how they mainly support Ethereum and ERC-20 Tokens. They now have expanded the quantity of ecosystems they offer. In my opinion, Gemini tends to add new ecosystem coins(Layer-1, Layer-0 and Layer-2) when they believe it will have strong investor support or have a strong bluechip potential.
Another great feature about Gemini is the Gemini Grow program. It used a yielding platform that offers two services, Gemini Staking which permits on exchange staking and Gemini Earn which lends coins to institutions on your behalf. Unfortunately Gemini Staking is not available to New Yorkers at the moment.
Coinbase
Pros:
Richest selection of Cryptocurrencies to choose
ATOM coins available exclusively to New Yorkers on Coinbase
Largest selection of ecosystem coins available to New Yorkers
Provides free crypto for their learning program
Cons:
Security isn’t a default feature, you must set it up
Not as uniform in terms as services and products as Gemini
Some Cryptocurrencies are a little more speculative
Highlighted Coins: Bitcoin(BTC), Ethereum(ETH), Cardano(ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (Matic), Avalanche(AVAX), Cosmos (ATOM), Algorand (ALGO), FLOW (FLOW), Internet Computer (ICP), Tezos (XTZ), Mina (Mina), Celo (CGLD), Cartesi (CTSI), AERGO (AERGO).
As a rule of thumb, If I can’t buy it on Gemini, I instead buy it on coinbase. In Gemini, security is forced onto the user to help users not lose funds. It can be annoying but certainly worth it. In coinbase, you’re going to have to take extra precautions to make sure you do not lose your funds.
As a general rule of thumb, Coinbase lets in far more speculative assets versus Gemini which tends to focus more on more bluechip potential projects. That doesn’t mean those projects are bad. However, You should proceed with some caution. Coins such as ICP ended up dumping as soon as it was launched on coinbase and has been in downfall ever since. This is despite ICP having its own emerging ecosystem.
Bitstamp
Pros:
The only exchange in New York offering Hedera Hashgraph.
A good backup exchange if Gemini or Coinbase are not operating.
Cons:
The selection of altcoins overall is still significantly less than you could expect from Coinbase and Gemini.
Highlighted Coins: Bitcoin(BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC)*, Avalanche (AVAX), Hedera Hashgraph(HBAR), Fantom (FTM)*, Algorand(ALGO).
*These are ERC-20 Tokens that need to be bridged over to their native networks
As I said in the pros section, this is a fair substitute for using Gemini or Coinbase. It does provide the feature to stake on exchange with ethereum but it currently isn’t available to New Yorkers. You’ll also notice that it covers most of the other major ecosystem coins available on the other two exchanges with the notable exception being Tezos. The one notable advantage for opening an account with them is if you like the Hedera Hashgraph ecosystem, which is still very much small. Outside of that, there is no other particular advantage to using Bitstamp over Gemini or Coinbase.
itBit by Paxos
Pros:
Fairly Easy sign up process
Cons:
Sparse selection of cryptocurrencies
No Mobile App
Available Coins: Bitcoin(BTC), Ethereum(ETH), PaxG(Pax Gold), Chainlink(LINK), AAVE(AAVE), Polygon (Matic)*, Uniswap (UNI), Bitcoin cash(BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Pax Dollar (USDP), Binance USD (BUSD)*
*These are ERC-20 tokens that need to be bridged over to their native networks.
I wasn’t initially going to add itBit to my list until I realized it had a slightly better selection than Bitflyer. It didn’t make sense to at least not consider adding it. For the overall retail investor, the four other exchanges are far more advantageous. The fact that they do not have a mobile app for their exchange should indicate they aren’t built primarily for retail investors. I remember sometime back when the founder, Charles Cascarilla, said in an interview that most of their business comes from their OTC desk.
Bitflyer
Pros:
Trading is actually free on this platform but profits from the spread.
Cons:
An extremely limited amount of coin selection
Available Coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum(ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin(LTC), Bitcoin Cash(BCH).
If you look at the coins on this list, you’ll realize that it is extremely limited. In fact, this is largely designed to be a trading platform above anything else. If that is what you are looking for, Bitflyer is a suitable exchange to use. I would recommend the past three exchanges mentioned earlier. The crazy part is that their platform offers cryptocurrencies like Tezos and Polkadot, you just can’t buy them in New York.
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