The Coinify Exchange

Coinify has always been more a payment processor than a typical digital exchange. Established with the principal aim of becoming the default crypto gateway for European merchants, the platform’s prime focus is to enable mainly online merchants to accept bitcoin as payment from clients. In a nutshell, the platform allows vendors to be paid in bitcoin and a few other cryptos, and then have the exact equivalent in fiat paid over into their bank accounts.

Coinify is a payment facilitator that forms a bridge between fiat merchant dealings and the digital currency world. The exchange offers two basic products - Coinify for Trade and Coinify for Merchants. Users looking for a bustling bitcoin exchange are going to be disappointed, however, as the “trade” aspect of Coinify is more an afterthought with the company, or a logical extension of their offer to merchants. The prime focus remains an offer that allows merchants to accept bitcoin and ether and a few other crypto payments, converting these into fiat and paying the funds into a merchant’s account, without deductions.

It would appear that the core workings of the service entail the customer paying a slight surcharge, whereas the merchant receives their full payment. The company has been active in developing the complex relationships behind being able to bring business protocols, cryptocurrency and fiat payment processing into a single service point for businesses.

The presentation of the exchange also seems to be an even split between ecommerce and trading services. The reality of the present day, however, is that the company is far more a crypto Visa than a Californian Coinbase. The company has also done extensive development to generate plugins that enable existing Shopify, Magento and other clients to easily integrate bitcoin payments into their business model.

Coinify Establishment

The Coinify exchange was launched in 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Coinify Trading Volumes

Coinify is not listed on CoinMarketCap or other typical digital exchange data venues, as the exchange and trading aspect of the company is negligible in comparison to almost all other true digital currency exchanges.

Although the company seemingly allows for up to 15 digital currencies to be employed by buyers and sellers using the gateway, it is really a bitcoin-dominated payment processor, paying its merchant clients in USD, EUR and other fiats post transaction directly into their bank accounts.

The number of coin pairs on Coinify

It remains difficult to determine exactly which “trading pairs” are offered by the platform, as unless one engages the platform as a merchant, exact details on services offered remain buried in the sign-up process.

For all intents and purposes, while merchants using the platform might well be able to trade bitcoin for ether, for instance, this is a minor add-on. It’s not the purpose of the exchange, which is essentially a fiat/crypto payment facilitator and processor.

Who owns Coinify?

Coinify was co-founded by Mark Højgaard and Lasse Birk Olesen, who remain in control of the company.

Coinify’s Main Function, Features, Benefits, And Reputation

The nutshell offer to merchants from Coinify has always been: sell your goods for bitcoin, and without any deductions, receive fiat settlement directly into a nominated bank account.

Very much like a client swiping a Visa card at a merchant is enabling a funds transfer to the merchant’s account, so too does Coinify process bitcoin payments for their clients. The difference is that Coinify handles incoming bitcoin payments, and converts them to a fiat amount that is then deposited into a merchant’s account.

In theory, if a merchant is paid $100 in bitcoin, the $100 is paid into a merchant’s account without forfeit of any further fees, other than legacy banking charges.

The company has faced challenges in effecting what appears to be a simple yet savvy facility, as complaints still populate chat rooms regarding inexplicable deductions and less than satisfactory payment time. Merchant clients on the platform can use their credit cards or other legacy protocols to buy bitcoin too, and the platform’s wallet facility enables not only the crypto/fiat conversion, but also the prospect of swapping bitcoin out online, albeit very limited in scope.

There is no detailed trading intel on the platform, nor is there any leverage or other advanced trading tools typical of true digital exchanges. The company is a crypto/fiat payment interface focused on ecommerce entities looking for digital payment solutions that tie into existing fiat protocols.

Fees are pitched as fundamentally less than existing service providers like Visa and MasterCard, and the company also sports a mobile app that acts as a mobile payment processor. The app appeals to intermittent vendors or mobile vendors like taxi drivers and others who need a point of sale solution. On the platform, any credit card payments attract a $3 fee, while wire transfers are levied 0.25 percent.

There is a 0.0001 BTC transaction fee, and legacy bank charges are still added by the merchant’s bank. Overall, however, costs are slightly less than legacy payment processors charge. The exchange also gleans profit from the exchange rates between bitcoin and the assorted fiats it works with, although how the exchange rates are calculated is not listed in company information.

Coinify KYC And AML requirements

Any digital exchange dealing with fiat currency nowadays has relatively standardized KYC and AML protocols in place. This is a result of the early 2018 global regulatory community’s movement to ensure exchanges’ compliance with consumer protection and other legislation.

That said, because the company is dealing with existing credit card holders and other pre-identified fiat users, verification is limited and not onerous. Various daily movement levels are offered to merchants, which all hinge on a relatively simple identification process.

Coinify Fiat Acceptance

The company accepts fiat from users who want to buy bitcoin through their wallets.

The exchange also “accepts” several common fiat currencies, insofar as it will pay merchants with these currencies post a bitcoin payment.

Coinify Trust Level

Notwithstanding teething problems that stem from the complex world of online payment processing, the Coinify exchange is largely seen as a professional, ambitious company that has made great strides in marrying the two worlds of fiat and crypto for business.

Trust levels are high as the company has remained true to its stated aims and is seen as reputable and responsive.

Coinify Customer Experience And Support

For a company trying to return bitcoin to fiat quickly and at a lesser cost overall than a legacy payment, user complaints are minimal. In fact, the customer experience is very much aligned to that of MasterCard, Visa or any other legacy payment processor’s offer.

Some complaints of simply unexplained deductions can be found, but overall support is more aligned to legacy experiences, while Coinify has also ensured that the speed and overall nature of any transaction closely resembles that of conventional payments, occasional bitter complaints notwithstanding. Although support is sometimes a bugbear, no different to modern banks, it is way ahead of the average digital exchange.

Coinify Security History

The exchange has never suffered a hack or made headlines for the kind of persistent shrinkage associated with many others. Although no doubt a target for cybercrime as any other online crypto handler, Coinify is not a churning hub of daily crypto trading, being far more a payment processor than exchange.

Coinify Listing Procedures

From the outset, not only was Coinify more an ecommerce partner than exchange, the “coin pairs” offered by the platform were focused on bitcoin conversion into prominent fiats. Although users can buy and sell bitcoin via digital wallets or bank accounts, there is no real crypto trading “range of coins” offered beyond a very basic facility for users.

Coinify Conclusion

More coincidentally an exchange than a true digital asset trading platform, Coinify is really a cryptocurrency payment processor allowing member merchants to accept virtual currencies as if they were fiat payments.

Growth has been slower than many digital exchanges and more nuanced, and none of the usual metrics like market cap, daily volume and coin pairs offered really apply. Coinify’s intrinsic value is that of a digital Visa, a friend to ecommerce, rather than that of a bustling exchange that attracts crypto traders and investors.

Indeed, traders might do better swapping out cryptos and fiats on other platforms, at least in terms of daily trading, although fees for doing so on the Coinify platform are competitive. Now in its fourth year of operation, the company is notable for its singular focus and unwavering commitment to living up to the improved merchant experience promised at its launch.

A sleek and polished platform, users issues appear to be slowly diminishing. It can be imagined that going forward, the company will attain its aim of becoming the default crypto/fiat payment processor on the European continent.