3 Ways You Can Buy TerraUSD (UST) In Singapore

Last updated on January 19th, 2022

You may have heard of the Anchor Protocol which offers you a ~20% yield on your stablecoin. However, Anchor only accepts UST as the stablecoin to earn interest on, and not the common stablecoins like USDC or USDT.

If you are looking to buy UST in Singapore, the options are limited and you will need to make use of multiple platforms.

How to buy TerraUSD (UST) in Singapore

Here are 3 ways you can buy UST in Singapore:

1. Gemini (Exchange)
2. Gate.io
3. KuCoin

This is a summary of all the methods,

Platform	Trading Fee	UST Withdrawal Fee
Gemini (Exchange)	From 1.49%	Free for first 10 withdrawals
Gate.io	Up to 0.2%	5 UST
KuCoin	Up to 0.1%	4 UST

and here is each one explained in-depth.

Gemini (Exchange)

Gemini is a platform that allows you to buy UST directly from SGD. However, the fees can be quite high!

First, you’ll need to deposit your funds via Xfers.

After that, you can use the Gemini Exchange to buy UST immediately.

Verdict

Here are the fees that you’ll incur when trading on Gemini’s Exchange:

Trade Amount (SGD)	Trading Fee (SGD)
≤ $15.00	$1.50
> $15.00 but ≤ $35.00	$2.00
> $35.00 but ≤ $70.00	$2.75
> $70.00 but ≤ $250.00	$4.00
> $250.00	1.49% of your Web Order value

It is definitely not worth trading any amount that is below $250 SGD.

Moreover, you can only buy UST from USD on Gemini’s Active Trader platform.

This is similar to buying ENJ, AAVE, DOGE or MATIC on the platform too.

Since Gemini does not allow you to convert SGD to USD, the only way would be to send USD over to Gemini via wire transfer.

Although Gemini has a great user interface, it may not be the most cost-effective option to buy UST from Singapore!

Gemini allows you to earn interest in UST, but it is much lower compared to the yields on the Anchor Protocol.

Another disadvantage is that the UST that you own on Gemini is the ERC20 version, which cannot be sent to Terra Station directly. Here’s what you’ll need to do to send UST from Gemini to Terra Station.

You will need to transfer USDT to the remaining exchanges

UST is not as widely used compared to USDT. As such, there are only a few exchanges that list UST.

Meanwhile, USDT is a rather ‘universal’ stablecoin since most exchanges have USDT trading pairs.

The remaining exchanges below have a USDT/UST trading pair, which means that you can trade USDT for UST.

Even though 1 USDT and 1 UST should be equal to 1 $USD, it may not be the case due to the spread on the exchanges.

As such, you may get less than 1 UST for every USDT you trade!

The most cost efficient way to transfer USDT is via the TRC20 network

If you 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.

You can view my guide on how to buy USDT to find out more.

Gate.io

Gate.io is a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2013. It has a huge number of cryptocurrency trading pairs (similar to OKEx or Huobi).

Here’s how you can buy UST on this exchange:

1. Deposit USDT into Gate.io (preferably via TRC20)
2. Select the UST/USDT trading pair
3. Select the type of order you wish to make
4. Select the quantity of UST you wish to buy

#1 Deposit USDT into Gate.io (preferably via TRC20)

Gate.io does not allow you to use SGD to buy cryptocurrencies on their platform. As such, you will need to deposit USDT from another exchange to Gate.io.

This is because Gate.io only offers a USDT trading pair with UST.

To do so, you will need to go to your ‘Wallet‘ tab,

and select ‘Deposit‘.

You will need to select USDT as the cryptocurrency you wish to deposit, which will bring you to this page.

If you want to reduce the amount of withdrawal fees that you incur, you can send your USDT via the TRC20 network. The amount of fees that you pay is much less compared to the ERC20 network!

You can view my guide on how to buy USDT on XanPool and withdraw it to Gate.io.

Alternatively, you can choose to send ETH over to Gate.io from Gemini. This is because Gemini offers up to 10 free withdrawals per month!

Here are some things you’ll need to take note of:

1. You are sending via the correct network (there is ERC20, TRC20 etc.)
2. The deposit address is accurately copied letter by letter

If you make any mistake during this process, your crypto will be lost forever!

#2 Select a suitable trading pair with UST

Once you have deposited your USDT into Gate.io, you will need to select either UST/USDT or UST/ETH as your trading pair. This can be done by going to the ‘Exchange‘ tab,

and then searching for the UST trading pairs.

There are quite a few trading pairs, but the ETH and USDT pairs will be the more well-traded ones.

#3 Select the type of order you wish to make

After you’ve selected your trading pair, you would need to select the order type that you wish to make:

1. Limit
2. Time Condition
3. Conditional Order

Limit orders allow you to determine the price you wish to buy or sell your crypto. It is interesting to note that Gate.io does not offer any market orders.

#4 Select the quantity of UST you wish to buy

After you’ve selected your order, you’ll need to select the amount of UST you wish to buy.

From the rate in the screenshot above, you can see that the exchange rate between USDT and UST is not 1:1. As such, you may receive less UST than the USDT you’ve traded!

Verdict

Gate.io charges you up to 0.2% in fees for buying UST. This is rather low compared to some crypto exchanges that can be used in Singapore.

If you intend to withdraw your UST, the fees can be rather high, especially if you’re using the ERC20 network:

Network	Withdrawal Fee
ERC20	66 UST
LUNA	5 UST

If you send UST via the LUNA network, the fees will only be 5 UST!

As such, you may want to double-check that you’re sending your UST via the LUNA network to your Terra Station wallet.

KuCoin

KuCoin is another exchange that you can use to buy UST. However, you will need to transfer a cryptocurrency from another platform first.

This is because KuCoin does not support any fiat currencies!

How to buy UST on KuCoin

Here’s what you need to do to buy UST on KuCoin:

1. Send USDT to the KuCoin Main Account
2. Transfer USDT to the Trading Account
3. Find the USDT/UST trading pair
4. Select the price and quantity to buy UST

#1 Send USDT to the KuCoin Main Account

You’ll need to deposit USDT into KuCoin by going to ‘Deposit‘.

You can use the dropdown menu to select USDT.

From there, you will be given a deposit address to send your crypto to.

If you’re intending to send USDT to via the TRC20 network, don’t forget to use the TRC20 deposit address instead of the ERC20 one!

#2 Transfer your crypto to the Trading Account

When you deposit your USDT into your KuCoin account, it will be transferred to your Main Account.

If you wish to trade your USDT to UST, you will need to transfer it to your Trading Account.

#3 Find the USDT/UST trading pair

After you’ve transferred your crypto to your Trading Account, you can go to KuCoin’s Spot Exchange.

This will bring you to KuCoin’s trading platform.

If you want to buy UST from USDT, you’ll need to search for ‘USDT‘ and select UST.

If you search for UST by itself, the USDT/UST trading pair doesn’t show up on the search result!

#4 Select the price and quantity to buy UST

After selecting the USDT/UST trading pair, you can proceed to make the order.

KuCoin allows you to make 4 different orders:

1. Limit
2. Market
3. Stop Limit
4. Stop Market

However, you’ll need to go to the ‘Sell USDT‘ tab. This is because you’re selling USDT to buy UST.

Although it’s supposed to be a 1:1 switch between USDT and UST, the exchange rate on the market is less than 1.

As such, you may lose some of your UST to this difference in the rate.

Verdict

KuCoin charges up to 0.1% if you trade on their platform.

If you intend to withdraw UST via the ERC20 network, there may be times where this function will be unavailable.

However, if you are intending to transfer your UST to Terra Station, you should be using the Terra network instead.

The withdrawal fee is 4 UST, which is slightly lower compared to Gate.io.

Conclusion

Compared to other stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, there are not many ways for you to buy UST in Singapore.

The most direct way would be to buy UST on Gemini. However, the fees are really expensive!

For both KuCoin and Gate.io, the trading fees are much cheaper compared to Gemini. However, you do need to buy USDT on another exchange and then transfer it to either exchange before you can buy UST.

If you have some LUNA on hand, you can send it to KuCoin too and trade it for UST.

It may be slightly more complicated, but you will be able to save on the fees!

Once you have obtained UST, you can consider transferring it to Terra Station if you’re interested in earning interest via the Anchor Protocol.

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