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Lyle Daly is a personal finance writer who specializes in credit cards, travel rewards programs, and banking. He writes for The Ascent and The Motley Fool, and his work has appeared in USA Today and Yahoo! Finance. He was born in California but currently lives as a digital nomad with a home base in Colombia.
BlockFi filed for bankruptcy and paused client withdrawals at the end of 2022. The platform is now frozen and you cannot open a new account or deposit funds. For other options, we suggest reviewing our list of the best crypto apps and exchanges.
BlockFi and Coinbase are well-known cryptocurrency platforms that allow U.S. investors to trade the major coins. If you're looking for a place to invest in crypto, both offer an easy-to-use design and reasonable fees.
Of the two, BlockFi became popular for its interest accounts, but it currently can't offer those to U.S. investors due to an order from the SEC. Coinbase is one of the earlier exchanges and is known for being feature-packed, with advanced trading options and a massive number of cryptocurrencies. See how these platforms stack up in our BlockFi vs. Coinbase comparison.
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Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Variable fees (Coinbase), 0%-0.60% (Coinbase Advanced Trade), $29.99 monthly (Coinbase One)
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While BlockFi technically doesn't charge transaction fees, it does charge a margin of about 1% on average when setting trade prices. This can be much higher if liquidity is low on the cryptocurrency you're buying or selling.
BlockFi also charges withdrawal fees, which is one of its biggest drawbacks. The fee amount depends on the cryptocurrency. Here are BlockFi's withdrawal fee amounts for each cryptocurrency it offers:
| CRYPTOCURRENCY | WITHDRAWAL FEE |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.00025 BTC |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0.0135 ETH |
| Chainlink (LINK) | 2 LINK |
| Litecoin (LTC) | 0.001 LTC |
| U.S. dollar stablecoins (GUSD, USDC, BUSD, PAX, DAI, USDT) | $25 |
| PAX Gold (PAXG) | 0.035 PAXG |
| Uniswap (UNI) | 2.5 UNI |
| Basic Attention Token (BAT) | 60 BAT |
Coinbase charges fees on cryptocurrency trades. It offers a simple trade and an advanced trade option, and it uses a different fee structure for each one.
Fees are much lower with Coinbase's advanced trading tool, where fee amounts are based on your 30-day trading volume. On these trades, Coinbase uses a maker-taker fee model. Trades that are filled immediately by an existing order are charged a taker fee, and trades that aren't filled immediately are charged a maker fee.
Here's the fee table for advanced trades on Coinbase:
| 30-DAY TRADING VOLUME IN U.S. DOLLARS | TAKER FEE | MAKER FEE |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $10,000 | 0.60% | 0.40% |
| $10,000 to $50,000 | 0.40% | 0.25% |
| $50,000 to $100,000 | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| $100,000 to $1,000,000 | 0.20% | 0.10% |
| $1,000,000 to $20,000,000 | 0.18% | 0.08% |
| $20,000,000 to $100,000,000 | 0.15% | 0.05% |
| $100,000,000 to $300,000,000 | 0.10% | 0.02% |
| $300,000,000 to $500,000,000 | 0.08% | 0.00% |
| Over $500,000,000 | 0.05% | 0.00% |
For simple trades, Coinbase doesn't have a published fee structure and instead says that fees are calculated when placing an order. However, the exchange does seem to have a set fee structure it uses. Simple trades of $205 or more incur a fee of nearly 1.5%. Smaller trades have flat fees of the following amounts, based on the value of the trade:
There can also be additional fees charged based on the payment method you use. If you pay with an ACH bank transfer, then there are no additional fees.
Coinbase doesn't charge a withdrawal fee, but there is a network fee on withdrawals. The network fee depends on the crypto you're withdrawing and how busy its network is.
To get an idea of how pricing compares across both exchanges and Coinbase's buying options, here's how much a Bitcoin transaction would cost on each one:
| CRYPTO EXCHANGE | FEE ON $1,000 BITCOIN PURCHASE |
|---|---|
| BlockFi | Approximately $10 in margin fees |
| Coinbase Simple Trade | $14.68 |
| Coinbase Advanced Trade* | $6 |
Coinbase has one of the largest cryptocurrency selections, even compared to other top crypto exchanges, and it's well ahead of BlockFi in this regard.
There are well over 150 cryptocurrencies available on Coinbase. It has plenty of different types of cryptocurrency, from the market leaders to smaller tokens, and it adds new ones regularly. There are several big cryptocurrencies that are available on Coinbase, but not on BlockFi, including:
BlockFi has over a dozen cryptocurrencies, so it gives you some investing options, but its selection is far more limited. To its credit, BlockFi is great for stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to another asset. The platform has multiple U.S. dollar stablecoins. It also has a gold-backed stablecoin, PAX Gold (PAXG), that isn't available on Coinbase.
RELATED: What Are Stablecoins?
BlockFi offers a custodial wallet, a type of wallet that's controlled by the crypto platform. With a custodial wallet, the risk is that you aren't in complete control of your funds. Some investors prefer to transfer their crypto to their own non-custodial blockchain wallet for this reason.
You can transfer most cryptocurrencies on BlockFi to another wallet. However, it doesn't allow external transfers with three cryptocurrencies: Dogecoin (DOGE), Algorand (ALGO), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). That's a notable downside if you were planning to buy any of those on BlockFi, because you won't have full control of them.
Coinbase offers a custodial wallet and a non-custodial wallet, Coinbase Wallet, where the user controls their crypto. Coinbase Wallet is a hot wallet, meaning it's connected to the internet, and it's available for download on desktop and mobile devices. You don't need to be a Coinbase user to download Coinbase Wallet; it's free for anyone to use.
SEE MORE OPTIONS: Best Crypto Wallets
Both BlockFi and Coinbase provide a high level of security. The biggest difference between them is how they store cryptocurrency funds.
BlockFi doesn't hold funds itself and instead uses custodians to protect these assets. Its primary custodian is Gemini, an extremely secure crypto exchange. Gemini stores most digital assets offline in cold storage and carries insurance for crypto stored in its online hot wallet.
RELATED: What Is Cold Storage in Crypto?
Coinbase is the custodian of its customers' crypto funds, and it uses the same storage methods as Gemini. It keeps 98% of crypto assets in cold storage and insures the remainder that is stored in hot wallets. Coinbase also offers FDIC insurance of up to $250,000 per individual on cash deposits, while BlockFi doesn't.
These platforms offer some of the same security features, including:
BlockFi and Coinbase have each had security incidents in the past, including a 2021 hack of Coinbase and a 2022 data breach involving BlockFi. To their credit, they're both proactive about fixing security issues, and neither has allowed their clients to lose funds. When hackers stole crypto from Coinbase customers during that 2021 hack, the exchange reimbursed them.
For most crypto investors, Coinbase is a better choice than BlockFi. It offers far more cryptocurrencies and features, including simple and advanced trading options, great educational content, and opportunities to earn interest on your holdings. Overall, it's an exchange that can work for just about everyone, from beginners to experienced traders.
The main draw of BlockFi is its BlockFi Interest Accounts, but these are no longer available to U.S. investors. If you're not a U.S. resident, then BlockFi is worth a look for earning interest. It's easy to use, and you can collect interest on any of the cryptocurrencies it offers automatically. But for those in the United States, BlockFi simply doesn't have much to offer compared to Coinbase.
There are hundreds of platforms around the world that are waiting to give you access to thousands of cryptocurrencies. And to find the one that's right for you, you'll need to decide the features that matter most to you.
To help you get started, our independent experts have sifted through the options to bring you some of our best cryptocurrency exchanges for 2022. Check out the list and get started on your crypto journey, today.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
Lyle Daly owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and USD Coin.
*BlockFi Disclaimer: The BIAs have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States, to U.S. persons, for the account or benefit of a U.S. person or in any jurisdiction in which such offer would be prohibited.
The BIAs have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States, to U.S. persons, for the account or benefit of a U.S. person or in any jurisdiction in which such offer would be prohibited.
