Coinhako vs Luno – Which Exchange Should You Use?

Last updated on June 6th, 2021

There are many crypto exchanges that you can use to buy cryptocurrency.

2 of them include Luno and Coinhako.

Which one is better and which one should you choose?

Here’s what you need to know:

The difference between Coinhako and Luno

Luno is based in London, while Coinhako is based in Singapore. Coinhako charges higher fees and has a wider variety of cryptocurrencies, while Luno only has 6 currencies but charges lower fees. Both exchanges allow you to quickly transfer your money in to start trading.

Here’s an in-depth comparison between these 2 exchanges:

Founder

Coinhako is a cryptocurrency exchange that is based in Singapore and founded in 2014. Meanwhile, Luno is based in London and was founded slightly earlier in 2012.

However, Luno can be found in 8 countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Both of them seem to be rather reputable companies that have a strong background in the cryptocurrency scene.

Number of currencies

Coinhako allows you fully trade 21 tokens, while it has limited support for 9 other currencies:

Full support for 21 tokens

Coinhako allows you to Buy, Sell, Swap, Send or Receive 21 currencies on their platform.

Swapping refers to you switching between one cryptocurrency to another.

Some of the more popular ones include:

1. BTC
2. ETH
3. DAI
4. LTC

Coinhako is one of the few exchanges that allow you to buy DOGE directly from SGD.

Limited support for other tokens

Coinhako also has a few tokens that you can have on their platform. However, the functions that you can use with them are quite limited:

You are able to buy ADA and BNB, which aren’t found in most crypto exchanges that support SGD.

For trade-only tokens, you can only Buy, Sell or Swap these currencies. You are unable to send or receive them from external wallets.

For USDT and USDC, these are rather complicated. You are able to receive both USDT and USDC from external wallets.

However, they will be converted into USD and be credited into your USD wallet on Coinhako.

If you wish to withdraw from your USD wallet, you can only do so in the form of USDT or USDC too.

Luno only supports 6 currencies

Meanwhile, Luno has a much more limited cryptocurrency offering. They only allow you to trade in 6 currencies:

1. BTC
2. BCH
3. ETH
4. XRP
5. LTC
6. USDC

These currencies are the more stable ones that have been around for quite a while!

Methods of funding your account

To start buying crypto on either exchange, you will need to fund your SGD wallet. Here are some ways you can do so:

#1 Xfers

Both exchanges allow you to deposit SGD using your Xfers account.

Xfers is a payment solution that allow you to transfer your money securely into the crypto exchanges.

It sort of acts like the middleman between your bank accounts and the exchanges.

However, you will need to first transfer your SGD to your Xfers account via FAST. After that, you can transfer your SGD from your Xfers account to either Coinhako or Luno.

One thing you may want to note is that you will be charged a deposit fee for Coinhako, but it is free for Luno!

#2 FAST transfer

Coinhako also allows you to fund your account via bank transfer. You are able to send your money to Coinhako directly via FAST.

However, this option is not found in Luno!

Methods of buying crypto

There are 2 main ways that you can buy crypto on either exchange:

1. Your SGD wallet
2. Via a credit or debit card

For Coinhako, you are able to use both methods.

However for Luno, you are only able to buy crypto from your SGD wallet.

This makes Coinhako slightly more flexible in terms of buying crypto. However, you may incur more fees when purchasing with a credit or debit card!

You are buying crypto directly instead of trading

When you are purchasing crypto on either exchange, you are buying it directly based on the prevailing market rate.

This is slightly different from trading, where you get to choose the limit price that you pay!

As such, the exchange rate of the crypto that you’re paying may differ slightly.

Withdrawal of funds

Coinhako allows you to withdraw your funds to your bank account,

while Luno only allows you to transfer to your Xfers wallet.

This is slightly more troublesome as you’ll need to withdraw your funds from your Xfers account. As such, this will be an additional step that you’ll need to do!

Sending and receiving crypto

Both Coinhako and Luno allow you to send and receive crypto from external wallets. You are able to send and receive all 6 currencies on Luno.

However, you can only send and receive the 20 currencies on Coinhako!

For those currencies that you can’t send or receive them, the functions will be greyed out.

Fees

The most important thing when it comes to trading crypto are the fees. You should try to minimise your fees as much as possible!

Here are some of the fees you may incur when using either exchange:

#1 Depositing and withdrawing fees

You are not charged any fees when depositing or withdrawing from Luno. However, you will be charged certain fees if you trade using Coinhako!

	Deposits	Withdrawals
Coinhako	0.55% (Xfers), 0 (Inter-bank)	$2 SGD per withdrawal
Luno	Free	Free

It seems that using FAST to transfer your SGD to Coinhako is the better choice. However, you’ll incur $2 for every withdrawal that you make.

If you’re only withdrawing a small amount, the fees may quite hefty!

#2 Buying and selling crypto

Here are the fees that you’ll be charged for both exchanges:

Coinhako charges a flat 1% fee

You will need to pay a flat 1% fee for any transaction you make with Coinhako.

The best part is that you are not charged a minimum fee! Even if you buy a small amount of crypto, you will still only be charged 1%.

However for a limited time, you can use the promo code ‘COINGECKO‘ to trade at only 0.8%.

Moreover if you are buying crypto using a credit or debit card, you will also be charged a 3% processing fee! This fee is charged by the payment provider and not by Coinhako.

Luno has charges a 1% fee for Instant Buy

If you want to use Luno’s instant buy function, you will incur a 1% fee.

This is similar to the fee that Coinhako charges.

However, Luno has an exchange platform as well.

Luno charges you the trading fee based on your 30-day trade volume:

Trade Volume	Fee
SGD 0.00 – SGD 349,999.99	0.10%
SGD 350,000.00 – SGD 699,999.99	0.09%
SGD 700,000.00 – SGD 1,399,999.99	0.08%

There are much higher trade volumes, but I do not think you will hit those amounts.

Even at the lowest tier, the fee charged by Luno is really low.

At 0.10%, it is cheaper compared to most platforms!

The only drawback is that the Luno Exchange only has BTC/SGD as their SGD trading pair.

If you wish to buy other currencies, you will have to make at least 2 trades.

If you are a frequent trader, then you may want to use the Exchange platform instead.

#3 Sending and receiving fees

You may want to send or receive your crypto from an external wallet.

For sending crypto on both Coinhako and Luno, most of the fees charged are dynamic. This depends on the network traffic and miner fees that the exchanges will incur.

Luno only has a fixed fee for sending XRP (0.3%).

If you want to receive crypto from an external wallet, no fees are charged by either exchange.

However, you’ll need to consider the fees you incur when sending crypto from your external wallets!

Limits and minimum amounts

When you want to buy crypto on either exchange, you may be subject to certain limits and minimum amounts.

Exchange	Minimum per Trade	Limits
Coinhako	$45	SGD $20,000 (daily)
Luno	SGD $20	SGD $30,000 (monthly)

The minimum amount to trade with Luno is slightly lower.

Earning interest on your crypto

Luno has one advantage over Coinhako as it has a Bitcoin Savings Wallet.

This is similar to a savings account. Instead of earning interest on your fiat currency, you will earn it on your Bitcoin!

Crypto.com has a similar programme with its Crypto Earn.

Luno projects that you can earn up to 4% p.a. on your Bitcoin. However, the interest rate may fluctuate!

If you intend to buy and hold your cryptocurrency, this is a great way for you to earn some interest!

Security

You may have heard of how crypto exchanges can be hacked, and these hackers can steal your cryptocurrencies!

So how do these exchanges try and combat this?

Coinhako stores the majority of your currencies in a cold storage

Coinhako mentioned that they store the majority of your crypto in their ‘highly secure’ cold storage accounts.

Meanwhile, only a small percentage of your funds will be stored on their exchange. This helps to facilitate liquidity where you are able to sell or withdraw your funds.

If hackers are able to gain access to your holdings, they will only gain access to the small percentage on the exchange.

To get the rest of your funds, they will need to hack the cold storage account. This is much harder to do!

As such, most of your crypto with Coinhako will be safe and secure.

Coinhako also allows you to use 2FA apps like Authy to make your account extra secure.

Luno uses a similar approach

Luno also uses 2 places to store your crypto:

1. Deep freeze storage
2. Hot wallet

This approach is quite similar to how Coinhako is doing it. Most of your funds are stored in the cold wallet.

However, some of your funds are in their hot wallet, in case you want to quickly withdraw them.

In the hot wallet, another set of keys are held with BitGo. They are considered to be a secure custodian of your crypto.

Once again, your crypto stored with Luno should be rather secure.

Luno provides 2FA to either your email or mobile phone whenever you login to your account.

Regulation

The MAS has explicitly said that they do not regulate cryptocurrencies. This is because they do not recognise it as legal tender.

However, they still regulate most exchanges that operate in Singapore via the Payment Services Act.

In fact, Luno previously halted their services in Singapore due to regulatory uncertainties in 2016. After working closely with the Singapore authorities, they are now able to operate here!

These exchanges would require a license to operate in Singapore. Coinhako and Luno have both applied for a temporary exemption, which will last till 28 Jan 2021.

Moreover, the Singaporean government intends to tighten regulations on these exchanges as well.

This will help to ensure that both exchanges will be under the regulation of the Singapore authorities.

Platforms

Both exchanges have web and mobile platforms.

Here is how Luno’s web platform looks like,

which is very similar to their mobile app.

Meanwhile here is how Coinhako’s web platform looks like,

and their mobile app.

Both of these platforms seem to be very sleek and easy to use.

Verdict

Here is a comparison between Coinhako and Luno:

	Coinhako	Luno
Year Founded	2014	2012
HQ	Singapore	London
Number of Currencies	30	6
Funding Methods	Xfers FAST	Xfers
Methods of Buying	SGD Wallet Credit / Debit Card	SGD Wallet
Withdrawal of Funds	Bank Account	Xfers
Deposit Fees	0.55% (Xfers),  0 (Inter-bank)	Free
Withdrawal Fees	SGD$2 per withdrawal	Free
Trading Fees	1%	1% (Instant Buy) and 0.10% (Exchange)
Sending Fees	Dynamic	Dynamic (Except for XRP: 0.3%)
Minimum Per Trade	$45	$20
Bitcoin Wallet	NA	Present (Up to 4%)
Security	Cold storage + hot wallet	Cold storage + hot wallet

Which exchange should you be using?

Choose Coinhako if you want to trade more currencies

Coinhako does charge higher fees compared to Luno Exchange. Moreover, it has withdrawal fees that can eat into your returns!

Despite that, it provides a wider variety of crypto that you can trade in. If you are looking to trade in currencies like UNI or DOGE, then Coinhako will be the better choice for you!

Choose Luno if you want lower fees

Luno Exchange is the far superior exchange in terms of fees. You will definitely incur less costs if you frequently trade in crypto!

However, the Instant Buy charges the same fees as Coinhako.

With the savings wallet, it does have an attractive feature if you want to buy and hold BTC, ETH or USDC!

However, its main limitation is the number of currencies that are available. With only 6 currencies, your options are rather limited.

Nevertheless, it is still a good exchange to consider if you intend to buy any of these 6 currencies!

Conclusion

Both exchanges provide an easy way for you to start trading in crypto in Singapore.

To really decide between the 2 exchanges, here are some considerations you may want to take note of:

1. The currency that you wish to trade in
2. The fees that you’ll incur
3. The methods of funding and withdrawing from your account
4. Whether you wish to frequently trade or store your currency in a savings wallet

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Here’s what you need to do:

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You will need to purchase BTC using the Instant Buy function. The fees that you incur will be 0.75%.

It would be best to buy only $200 SGD worth of BTC, which only incurs you a $1.50 fee. The $30 SGD bonus will be able to offset the fee!

Are you passionate about personal finance and want to earn some flexible income?