• Changelly advertises itself as an instant and easy-to-use cryptocurreny exchange
• Its users can send coins to Changelly, choose what coins they would like to exchange funds for, and receive their chosen cryptocurrency in a matter of minutes
• Changelly supports over 70 different cryptocurrencies and processes over 15,000 transactions each day

What is Changelly?

Changelly provides a way for cryptocurrency holders (or HODLers) to exchange coins just like they would at a real-world currency exchange.

Using the service is simple: First, select bitcoin or any of 80 different altcoins that you have and enter the amount. You then select what coin you want to receive and Changelly processes transactions almost instantly.

Changelly is often compared to its closest competitor, Shapeshift. We took a close look at the two here:

• Changelly vs. Shapeshift

The two are very similar, though there are some important details to be aware of.

How to Use Changelly,

One of the biggest draws to using Changelly is how easy it is to use. Here are the steps needed to buy cryptocurrency on Changelly:

• STEP 1: First you must have a cryptocurrency wallet, because this is where you will send your coins
• STEP 2: Visit Changelly and choose the cryptocurrency you have or if you want to purchase with a credit card
• STEP 3: Select which cryptocurrency you want and double-check the amount against current exchange rates
• STEP 4: Enter the wallet address that you want the new coins to go to (carefully make sure it is correct!)
• STEP 5: Confirm and pay
• STEP 6: Wait 5 – 30 minutes for your cryptocurrency to arrive in your wallet

Changelly Fees

Changelly allows you to essentially do two different things on its platform, and the fees are different for these. You can 1) swap one cryptocurrency for another or 2) buy cryptocurrency with a credit card.

Altcoin swaps: If you are swapping one coin for another, the fee is reasonable. For facilitating trades, Changelly applies a flat 0.5% transaction fee. However, we recommend you check the amount you will receive carefully because, depending on may factors, you may not be getting a great exchange rate. Sometimes the exchange rate is taking a small additional fee and other times it can be quite a bit larger.

Buying crypto with a credit card: If you buy cryptocurrency using a credit card on Changelly, the fees are higher. The fee is 10% – Changelly takes 5% and Simplex (who powers the transactions) takes an additional 5%.

So, in the case of buying with a credit card, the fees are quite high, but in return for this fee, you get a very quick, simple and (sometimes) anonymous cryptocurrency swap (more on anonymity later).

Payment Methods

Changelly allows you to buy cryptocurrency with a credit card, using bitcoin or any of the 70+ altcoins that they support. When using a credit card, you can pay with USD or EUR.

Supported Currencies

In addition to supporting the most popular coins such as bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Stellar, Ripple and ZCash, the exchange also supports a variety of hard to find altcoins such as Basic Attention Token, Zap, Viberate, SkinCoin and LBRY Credits.

Currently, Changelly supports over 75 different altcoins.

Who Uses Changelly & Why?

At present, regular digital currency exchanges like Binance charge a tiny fee of just 0.1% on like-for-like cryptocurrency transactions. This means that Changelly charges much more than exchanges which require users to sign up and verify their identity. However, unlike exchanges like Binance, Changelly prides itself on simplicity.

On many exchanges, you cannot always exchange directly between the currency you have and the currency you want. For example, you may have to first trade your coins for bitcoin before then trading that bitcoin for the coin you want.

With an instant exchange like Changelly, the swap is done in one step.

The user interface is also quite simple, perfect for beginners and people who aren’t planning to trade regularly.

Another advantage to Changelly is that the limits for how much you can trade are often higher than at cryptocurrency exchanges.

Changelly Limits

Changelly claims not to have any limits when using their service crypto-to-crypto, and this does seem to be the case.

Changelly’s limits for purchasing with credit card (in USD or EUR) are:

• $10,000 USD for your very first transaction
• After that, the daily limit is $20,000
• And the monthly limit is $50,000

However, since Changelly usually only requires from you an email address, it is possible to transact higher amounts using different email addresses and (possibly) a VPN service.

Is it Private and Anonymous?

In most cases, yes, Changelly is private and anonymous and only requires from you an email address.

However, a recent policy change has been to sometimes require verification for certain privacy coins (see the section on Changelly disadvantage below).

An interesting and important side note is that the company has not been transparent and the owners of Changelly are still unknown. The CEO is Konstantin Gladych.

Customer Support

There are a couple different options for getting support from Changelly.

The first is to visit their FAQ section which answers most questions regarding how to use the service and what to expect.

If you need to contact them, you can visit the Changelly website and scroll to the bottom and click “Support” and you will be able to send them a direct message through their contact form. You can also email them directly at support@changelly.com.

Changelly Benefits

New to market investors who don’t intend to trade cryptocurrency professionally, find it much easier to use Changelly than they do other exchanges.

• Changelly users don’t need to create complicated buy and sell orders to exchange coins
• Changelly does not restrict what cryptocurrency pairs can be traded (as opposed to most exchanges which use trading pairs such as BTC: ETH). Instead, users use drop-down menus to select whatever currencies they wish to exchange
• Changelly is easy to send coins to and receive coins from, even for novice cryptocurrency users
• In some instances, no ID verification is needed (see below)

Changelly Disadvantages

For the most part, Changelly is a very good resource for new investors and cryptocurrency users who don’t feel comfortable exchanging coins at exchanges. Even better, when exchanging altcoins, Changelly only requires a verified email address to get started.

However, Changelly is far from perfect for more experienced investors and traders.

• Changelly fees are high compared to exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini, especially if buying with a credit card
• Recently, Changelly has started implementing stricter ID verification policies on people exchanging privacy coins like Monero
• Some Changelly users have reported that Changelly will freeze privacy coin funds after deposits have taken place and not release funds until users have verified their identity

Thanks to a new policy of requiring stricter ID verification for privacy coins, Changelly may not be suitable for anyone looking to buy or sell anonymous coins like Monero or Dash.

Also, if you plan on using Changelly make sure you are prepared to verify your identity should Changelly request it. If not, any deposited funds will only be recoverable at the discretion of Changelly itself.

Changelly vs Binance and Other Exchanges

To understand how Changelly benefits users, it is important to understand how exchanging cyptocurrency works.

Most exchanges and trading platforms only support specific coins and trading pairs and/or have a very limited number of available altcoins.

On Coinbase, for example, users can only buy and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecion, and Bitcoin Cash.

Conversely, altcoin exchanges like Binance support hundreds of altcoins. However, in many cases, limited trading pairs mean that you may have to take multiple steps to make your desired trade.

For instance, to exchange Zcash for Ripple, users first need to use your Zcash to buy bitcoin, and then exchange this a second time for Ripple itself.

Because using exchanges like Binance can be confusing for cryptocurrency market newcomers, Changelly provides the perfect compromise. Instead of creating multiple buy and sell orders, Changelly users exchange one form of cryptocurrency directly for another.

So, in our example above, you could directly swap your Zcash for Ripple, without needing the extra bitcoin transaction (and fee) in between.

Buy Bitcoin Direct Using Visa & Mastercard

For users who wish to buy Bitcoin and other coins directly, Changelly currently supports direct Visa and Mastercard purchases. However, when purchasing coins using fiat cash, Changelly charges a flat fee of 10%, as mentioned above.

The big advantages to this is that this is one of the few ways left to be able to simply, quickly and (sometimes) anonymously buy cryptocurrency.

Currently you can buy the following coins via credit card on Changelly: bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick, easy and simple way to swap one cryptocurrency for another, Changelly is an excellent resource if you are willing to pay a higher fee for the convenience, and if you are content to verify your identity if requested.

Have and experience with Changelly or questions about its service? Leave a comment below.