7 Ways You Can Buy USDC In Singapore

Last updated on January 19th, 2022

Apart from USDT and UST, USDC is another stablecoin that can be found on the market. One of the more attractive things about this stablecoin is that you’re able to earn quite a high interest rate!

If you are looking to buy USDC in Singapore, there are actually quite a few ways to do so.

How to buy USDC in Singapore

Here are 7 ways you can buy USDC in Singapore

1. Zipmex
2. Independent Reserve
3. Crypto.com (USD Bank Transfer)
4. Crypto.com (Buying USDC from another cryptocurrency)
5. Luno (Instant Buy and Exchange)
6. Buy USDT on XanPool and send over to a platform that supports TRC20
7. Buy BTC on Gemini Active Trader and send it to OKEx

This is a summary of all the methods,

Method	Type of Transaction	Fees
Zipmex	Trading	0.2%
Independent Reserve	Trading	Up to 0.5%
Crypto.com (USD Bank Transfer)	Bank Transfer	None (But may have large spread)
Crypto.com (App)	Instant Buy	None (But may have large spread)
Luno	Instant Buy and Trading	0.75% (Instant Buy) and up to 0.1% (Exchange)
XanPool to Exchange with TRC20 (USDT)	Trading	1.5% (XanPool) + Up to 0.2% (Other Exchange)
Gemini to OKEx (BTC)	Trading	Up to 0.35% (Gemini Active Trader) + Up to 0.1% (OKEx)

and here is each one explained in-depth.

Zipmex

Zipmex is an exchange that was founded in Thailand.

It offers you the option to buy crypto directly from SGD, and charges rather low fees too!

Here’s what you need to do to buy USDC on Zipmex:

1. Go to wallets and select SGD as the funds to deposit
2. Fill in the details of your deposit into Zipmex
3. Go to ‘Markets’ and select the USDC/SGD trading pair
4. Enter the details of your trade

#1 Go to wallets and select SGD as the funds to deposit

You’ll need to deposit SGD into Zipmex first.

To do so, you’ll need to go to ‘Wallets‘,

and then select ‘Deposit‘.

You’ll need to select SGD as the currency you wish to deposit.

#2 Fill in the details of your deposit into Zipmex

You are required to enter some details so that Zipmex can process your deposit.

This includes:

1. Deposit amount
2. Account number
3. The bank you’re depositing from

#3 Go to ‘Markets’ and select the USDC/SGD trading pair

After depositing SGD into Zipmex, you can start to use the trading platform.

You’ll need to go to ‘Markets’,

which will bring you to the trading platform.

At the left-hand corner, you can select the USDC/SGD trading pair.

#4 Enter the details of your trade

The last thing you’ll need to do is to enter the details of your trade.

You are able to make 2 different types of orders:

1. Market order
2. Limit order

You’ll also need to enter the following details:

1. The price that you’d like to buy 1 USDC at
2. The amount of USDC you want to buy

When your trade is processed, USDC will be credited into your account.

Verdict

Here are the fees that you’ll incur with Zipmex:

Fee	Amount
Trading Fee	0.2%
USDC Withdrawal Fee	25 USDC
SGD Withdrawal Fee	5 SGD

Although the trading fee is rather low at 0.2%, you will incur a rather high withdrawal fee (25 USDC) if you intend to send your stablecoin to another platform to earn interest.

Independent Reserve

Independent Reserve is an exchange that was founded in Australia. Furthermore, they have received approval from the MAS to operate a cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore.

Here’s how you can buy USDC on their platform:

1. Deposit SGD into your account
2. Go to Buy/Sell and select the USDC/SGD trading pair
3. Go to Trade to make a Limit Order
4. Select the amount you want to buy in either SGD or USDC

#1 Deposit SGD into your account

You’ll need to deposit SGD into your account if you want to make a trade. This can be done by going to the ‘Accounts‘ tab, and selecting SGD as the currency you wish to deposit.

If you have a bank account that is linked to Xfers, the details will already be shown in Independent Reserve.

You will be shown the details of the bank account to transfer your SGD to.

You will be charged a 0.55% fee for each deposit you make.

#2 Go to Buy/Sell and select the USDC/SGD trading pair

After depositing SGD into Independent Reserve, you will need to select the USDC/SGD trading pair. This can be done by going to ‘Buy/Sell’, and then selecting ‘Buy USDC‘.

You will be brought to a page that allows you to make a Market Order.

#3 Go to Trade to make a Limit Order

If you wish to make a Limit Order, you’ll need to select the ‘Trade‘ tab, which gives you more options.

You can choose to make a Market Order from this tab as well.

#4 Select the amount you want to buy in either SGD or USDC

The last thing you’ll need to do is to select the amount of SGD or USDC that you wish to buy. If you are placing a Limit Order, you will need to enter your limit price as well.

You will be able to view the amount of SGD that you’ll be using, as well as the fees that you incur.

Independent Reserve charges a 0.5% fee for each trade that you make.

Once the trade has been completed, USDC will be credited to your account.

Verdict

Here is a summary of the fees that Independent Reserve charges you:

Fee	Amount
Deposit Fee (SGD)	0.55%
Trading Fee	0.5%
Withdrawal Fee (SGD)	0.55%
Withdrawal Fee (USDC)	12 USDC

Compared to some crypto exchanges in Singapore, the fees on Independent Reserve are slightly lower.

Crypto.com (USD Bank Transfer)

Crypto.com allows you to deposit USD via SWIFT into your Crypto.com App or Exchange. You will be able to receive USDC at a 1:1 exchange rate!

To do so, you’ll need to go to the ‘USDC Bank Transfer‘ on the Crypto.com App,

and then enter the bank details of the account that you’re depositing from. Crypto.com will approve this bank account if the account holder’s name is the same as your Crypto.com account.

You can consider using DBS Remit to transfer your USD to Crypto.com, as they do not charge any fees.

Don’t forget to add in the unique code that is given to you by Crypto.com!

One thing to note is that Crypto.com does not accept any deposits from third-party payment processors, such as Wise.

The minimum deposit you can make is 500 USD, and it will take up to 3 days before your deposit is processed.

Afterwards, you will receive USDC in your Crypto.com App.

Verdict

If you have any USD (minimum $500) that you wish to use to buy cryptocurrencies, this is a method that you can use to receive USDC.

However, if you’re thinking of exchanging SGD to USD via the banks, you may lose some money due to the spread that is charged by the banks.

One way to circumvent this is to transfer SGD to platforms with lower spreads, such as:

1. Tiger Brokers
2. moomoo (powered by FUTU SG)
3. Interactive Brokers

After converting your SGD to USDT, you can withdraw it back to your Multi-Currency account on DBS, before sending it to Crypto.com via DBS Remit.

This method may help you to save some fees!

Crypto.com (StraitsX)

Alternatively, you can buy USDC via SGD. You can deposit SGD to your StraitsX account and buy USDC from there.

Here’s what you need to do:

#1 Connect your StraitsX wallet to Crypto.com

To start using StraitsX on Crypto.com, you’ll need to connect your StraitsX wallet.

This can be done by going to the Settings menu at the top left hand corner,

and then tapping on ‘StraitsX Account‘.

From there, you can link your StraitsX account to Crypto.com.

#2 Go to Crypto Wallet

You’ll need to access your crypto wallet on the Crypto.com app.

This can be done by tapping on the central icon and going to ‘Crypto Wallet‘.

If you don’t have any USDC in your Crypto.com wallet, you’ll need to scroll down to find the currency.

You can use the search function to find USDC, as there are quite a lot of currencies available on the app!

#3 Tap on ‘Buy USDC’

You will be on the USDC price page. You’ll need to tap on ‘Buy USDC‘ to make the trade.

#4 Select ‘Fiat Wallet’

You’ll need to select ‘Fiat Wallet’ at the Buy menu, which is at the top right corner.

#5 Select the amount of USDC you wish to buy

After that, you’ll need to select the amount of USDC that you wish to buy.

Once you confirm the trade, USDC will be credited into your wallet.

Verdict

The Crypto.com App does not charge you any fees when you are making trades on their platform. However, you still may lose some of your value when you’re making these 2 trades!

This is due to the poor spreads that are found on the Crypto.com App.

Furthermore, Crypto.com will charge you 25 USDC when you are transferring this coin via the ERC20 network. This withdrawal fee is quite high as well.

Luno

Luno offers you an easy way to purchase USDC from SGD.

You are able to transfer your funds via Xfers to your SGD cash wallet in Luno to make the trade.

Xfers acts as a middleman between the crypto exchange and your bank account.

Here are the steps to buy USDC on Luno:

1. Tap on ‘Buy’ on the USDC wallet page
2. Transfer money from Xfers to Luno
3. Select how much USDC you wish to buy

#1 Tap on ‘Buy’ on the USDC wallet page

When you’re on the USDC wallet page, you’ll need to tap on the ‘Buy‘ option.

You can select to purchase USDC from other cryptocurrencies, or from SGD.

#2 Transfer money from Xfers to Luno

If you wish to buy USDC from SGD, you’ll need to transfer your SGD from your Xfers account first.

#3 Select how much USDC you wish to buy

After transferring SGD via Xfers, you will be able to choose the quantity of USDC to make a purchase. Since you’re buying with the Instant Buy function, you will receive USDC at the current market rate.

Verdict

Here are the fees that you’ll incur when trading with Luno:

Type of Fee	Amount
Deposit Fees	None
Trading Fees (Instant Buy)	0.75%
Withdrawal Fee USDC	Depends on network

Luno’s Instant Buy fees are lower than Coinhako‘s at 0.75%.

Luno also has an Exchange platform, where the fees are much cheaper at 0.10%.

However, the exchange only has BTC/SGD as their SGD trading pair.

If you want to buy USDC on Luno’s Exchange platform, here’s what you need to do:

1. Buy BTC from SGD (BTC/SGD trading pair)
2. Buy USDC from BTC (BTC/USDC trading pair)

This is slightly more troublesome compared to Instant Buy. However, the fees that you pay will definitely be cheaper!

USDC will be withdrawn on the ERC20 network on Luno

If you intend to withdraw USDC from Luno, you will be using the ERC20 network. Since this is on the Ethereum blockchain, the withdrawal fees can be quite high (depending on the congestion)

As such, it may not be the most cost-effective method to buy USDC on Luno if you want to withdraw to another platform.

Buy USDT on XanPool and send over to a platform that supports TRC20

Compared to USDT, there are fewer exchange platforms that allow you to buy USDC. However, it is possible for you to deposit USDT into an exchange and trade it for USDC.

Since both USDT and USDC are stablecoins, each USDC and USDT coin should be equal to 1 USD. However, due to the spread on different exchanges, you may receive less USDC due to the spread.

If you use are using the ERC20 network to transfer USDT, the withdrawal fees are rather high. It can amount to up to 40 USDT for a single withdrawal!

However, if you use the TRC20 network to send USDT, such transfers are much cheaper due to the lower congestion.

XanPool even allows you to withdraw USDT for free via the TRC20 network!

The main thing you’ll need to make sure of is that the exchange you’re sending to accepts the TRC20 version of USDT.

Here are 4 exchanges that accept the TRC20 version of USDT, and has a USDT/USDC trading pair:

Platform	Trading Fee	USDC Withdrawal Fee (ERC20)
AAX	Up to 0.1%	5.86 USDC
Huobi	Up to 0.2%	2 USDC
Gate.io	Up to 0.2%	2 USDC
OKEx	Up to 0.1%

Although Huobi and Gate.io have higher trading fees, they have much cheaper USDC withdrawal fees.

Buy BTC on Gemini Active Trader and send it to OKEX

If you do not want to use XanPool due to its higher fees, an alternative would be to buy BTC using Gemini’s Active Trader platform.

After buying BTC on Gemini, you can withdraw it to OKEx. Here are a few reasons for this method:

1. The trading fees on Gemini Active Trader are rather low (up to 0.35%)
2. Gemini has up to 10 free withdrawals per month
3. OKEx is the one of the few platforms that has the USDC/BTC trading pair

In this way, you are able to save some fees along the way!

After depositing your BTC into OKEx, you can use the USDC/BTC trading pair to buy USDC from BTC.

Conclusion

Compared to USDT, there are fewer options for you to buy USDC in Singapore. This is because USDT is the more widely used stablecoin!

If you are looking to buy USDC to send it to another platform such as Blockfi to earn higher interest, one thing you’ll need to take note of is the withdrawal fee on the platform.

Since USDC uses the ERC20 network, the withdrawal fees can be rather high!

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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!

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The fees may vary, but the $10 USD credit should be able to help to pay for your trading fees!

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