Celsius vs Crypto.com

From trading crypto to earning interest on your coins, there's a lot you can do with Celsius and Crypto.com. But are they safe and legit?

Celsius and Crypto.com both realize that crypto is for more than just buying and selling.

They offer a range of crypto features on top of their exchanges:

• Crypto-backed loans
  
• Interest accounts (that far outperform traditional banking)
  
• 'Pay' features to spend crypto at merchants online or in person

But which of these platforms is right for your crypto needs? Read our in-depth review to decide.

	Celsius NetworkBlockFiCoinbaseRobinhoodGemini
	Celsius Network	Crypto.com
	SPECIAL OFFER Sign Up Bonus: $40 BTC - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER USD $10 Sign Up Bonus - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Cryptocurrencies Supported	Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, Gemini Dollar, Paxos Standard, LINK, BAT, COMP, UMA, SNX, AAVE, Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Mana, Uniswap, Polygon, Livepeer, Kyber Network, Binance USD, Ethereum Classic, EOS, TrueCAD, TrueHKD, TrueAUD, TrueGBP, TrueUSD, USDT, 0x, DAI, PAX Gold, OMG Network, Stellar, Ripple, Dash	BTC, CRO, ETH, XRP, LTC, EOS, XLM, USDC, ATOM, LINK, XTZ, BCH, VET, ICX, ADA, ENJ, ALGO, KNC, NEO, DAI, PAXG, BAT, COMP, OMG, MANA, QTUM, CELR, MKR, UNI, YFI, BAND, EGLD, WBTC, AAVE, DOT, REN, ONT, LRC, CRV, ZIL, GRT, BNT, KSM, SKL, NEAR, SNX, BAL, STX, DOGE, UMA, FLOW, SAND, ZRX, FIL, THETA, ANKR, MATIC, CHZ, OCEAN, WAVES, RLY, STORJ, HOT, 1INCH
Countries Supported	Over 100	Worldwide in 100+ markets, depending on the legality of Bitcoin
Fiat Currencies Supported	USD, AUD, GPB, EUR, CAD, CHF, DKK, NZD, NOK, SEK, RUB, BRL, CZK, RON, HUF, HKD, BGN, TRY, INR, IDR, HRK, PHP, MYR, ZAR, JPY, PLN, VND, ISK, CLP, COP, ARS, PEN, KES, TWD	Over 20
Digital Wallet	Yes	Yes
Transaction Fee	No	Tiered Maker-Taker Fee Structure based on 30-Day Trade Volume from 0.04% to 0.4% with discounts from 10% to 100% for staking CRO
Copy Trading	No	No
Limit Orders	No	Yes
Margin Trading	No	Yes
Spread	1%	0.25% - 0.5%
Interest Accounts	Up to 17.78%	Up to 14%
Crypto Loans	Yes	Yes
Bitcoin (BTC) Interest Rates	3.51 - 6.20%	1.5% - 8.5%
Ethereum (ETH) Interest Rates	5.05 - 6.35%	2.5% - 7.5%
Bank Account Purchase Fee	No	No
Litecoin (LTC) Interest Rates	4.08 - 5.33%	0.5% - 5.0%
Debit Card Purchase Fee	No	2.99% in the U.S. and most countries, 3.99% in a select few
Tether (USDT) Interest Rates	13.19%	6.0% - 14.0%
USD Coin (USDC) Interest Rates	10 - 13.19%	6.0% - 14%
Mobile App	Yes	Yes
ACH Transfer Fee	0.1%	No
Wire Transfer Fee	0.5%	No
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	No
Address Allowlisting	Yes	Yes
Anonymity	No	No
Biometric Login	Yes	Yes
Cold Storage	Yes	Yes
Maximum Trading Amount	No	Maximum Trading Amount varies by coin: Bitcoin: 20, Ethereum: 480, Litecoin: 887
Two-Factor Authentication	Yes	Yes
Withdrawal Limit	$1 USD minimum; $600,000 USD limit per 24 hours	10 BTC equivalent per rolling 24 hour period; $100,00 per day and $500,000 per month
	Sign Up Bonus: $40 BTC Refer Friends, Earn $30 in BTC	USD $10 Sign Up Bonus Earn Interest on BTC - Up to 8.5% Earn Interest on ETH - Up to 8.5%
Celsius Network: Pricing information from published website as of 05/04/2021. Crypto.com: Pricing information from published website as of 05/07/2021.

What are Celsius and Crypto.com?

Celsius
Celsius is a London-based cryptocurrency lending platform founded by Alex Mashinsky, Nuke Goldstein, and S. Daniel Leon in 2017. Their main offerings are their interest-earning accounts and crypto-backed loans.

Celsius stands out for their CelPay feature, which lets traders to use their crypto as it was originally intended—to spend. Users get bonuses for using Celsius' proprietary crypto coin, CEL, issued in 2018.

They have a mobile app, available through the App Store or the Google Play Store, and a web-based app for desktop users. Currently, Celsius is available in 100 countries worldwide.

Crypto.com
Based in Hong Kong, Crypto.com was founded by Kris Marszalek and Bobby Bao in 2016, and was originally called Monaco. Their main feature is their exchange, but they also offer a wide range of crypto services, including a pay feature, an NFT marketplace, and more.

Like Celsius, Crypto.com offers bonuses from staking their proprietary token CRO. It will afford them better interest rates on staking and crypto-backed loans, among other things.

Crypto.com offers a mobile app, available through the App Store or the Google Play Store, and a web-based app for desktop users. The platform is currently available in 100 markets worldwide (more on this below).

Pros and Cons

Both Celsius and Crypto.com aim to bring the world of crypto far beyond just buying and selling.

The right fit for you depends on where you're located (Celsius is probably the winner for international traders) and which unique features speak to you personally (Crypto.com's NFT's marketplace or Celsius's CelPay platform). Review our main pros and cons below:

Celsius Pros & Cons

Choose Celsius if: You're prioritizing crypto-backed loans or are outside the U.S.

Crypto.com Pros & Cons

Choose Crypto.com if: You're prioritizing crypto trading; you don't mind holding + staking CRO for good rates

What Cryptocurrencies Do They Support?

Crypto.com
Crypto.com offers over 100 cryptocurrencies and counting, including popular coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), and more. View the full list in the drop-down below.^[1]

Celsius
Celsius offers a fair range of cryptocurrencies, currently numbering 40, and growing:

• Ethereum, Bitcoin, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Litecoin, Zcash, Ripple, Stellar, OMG Network, TrueUSD, Gemini Dollar, Paxos Standard, PAX Gold, USD Coin, Multi Collateral DAI, Celsius, 0x, Tether, TrueGBP, TrueAUD, TrueHKD, TrueCAD, EOS, Ethereum Classic, Basic Attention Token, Binance USD, Kyber Network, Chainlink, Livepeer, Polygon, Synthetix Network Token, Uma, Uniswap, MANA, Compound, Aave, Bancor, Polkadot, Z.com USD

Where are They Available?

Celsius
Celsius is available in over 100 countries worldwide.

They are currently not available in:

• Iran, North Korea, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Cuba, or any other country against which the United States, the United Kingdom, or the European Union imposes financial sanctions or embargoes.

Users can complete transactions with the following fiat currencies:

• USD, AUD, GPB, EUR, CAD, CHF, DKK, NZD, NOK, SEK, RUB, BRL, CZK, RON, HUF, HKD, BGN, TRY, INR, IDR, HRK, PHP, MYR, ZAR, JPY, PLN, VND, ISK, CLP, COP, ARS, PEN, KES, TWD.

Crypto.com
Crypto.com is available in over 100 markets, depending on the legality of cryptocurrency, which is discussed in this article.

They're available in all U.S. states except New York.

Crypto.com is available in the following U.S. Territories (but their cards are not):

• American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands.

Celsius vs Crypto.com Features

Celsius and Crypto.com offer some of the same features, but with varying scope and functionality. Review how their exchanges, rewards, loans and pay features compare below.

Cryptocurrency Exchange

Crypto.com
The Crypto.com exchange is their main offering, though by no means their only one. Users can buy, sell, and trade over 90 cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, listed above.

U.S. residents will be hard-pressed to find an exchange that supports a wider variety of coins, even among popular cryptocurrency platforms. In addition to spot trading, they also support limit orders, margin trading as high as 3x leverage, and derivatives with up to 50x leverage.

Celsius
Celsius supports a limited exchange that allows users to buy 15 coins via bank transfer or credit card. Purchases are made through Gem to ensure secure, private, and protected transactions.

Earn Rewards

Celsius
Celsius's Rewards feature offers interest on coins deposited on the platform for as long as they leave them there.

Users can earn base interest rates ranging from 2.02% to 13.99%, and as much as 17.78% for those who are staking a significant portion of CEL in their account.

The Celsius Token , CEL, is a token operating on the Ethereum platform. The more it makes up of your Celsius holdings, the more interest you earn.

This is how it affects your Rewards earnings:

Only platinum-level users will get the highest rates. For example, if your Celsius portfolio is 98% Bitcoin, you'll only get the base interest rate. Users will also receive bonuses for earning in CEL, as opposed to in the currency they deposited.

Unfortunately, CEL and its benefits are only available to accredited investors in the U.S.

Crypto.com
The Earn feature on Crypto.com offers interest from 0.5% and going as high as 8.5% for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum and up to 14% for stablecoins such as USDC.

Rates depend on 3 factors:

1. Cryptocurrency (with higher rates for stablecoins)
   
2. Term (Flexible, 1-month, or 3-month)
   
3. Staking CRO for 6 months ($400 or less, $4,000, or $40,000 or more)

Take Bitcoin as an example:

• 1.5% is the minimum rate (with flexible term and minimum or no CRO stake)
  
• 3% (with 1-month term, minimum CRO stake)
  
• 4.5% (with 3-month term, minimum CRO stake)
  
• 6.5% (with 3-month term, stake of $4,000 CRO or more)
  
• 8.5% is the highest rate for Bitcoin (with 3-month term and $40,000 CRO stake)
  
• 2% (with flexible term, maximum stake)

6% is the most you can earn on a flexible term with no CRO stake on stablecoins.

4.5% is the rate for three-month terms without staking CRO for Bitcoin and Ethereum. 10% is the rate for three-month terms without staking CRO for most stablecoins.

Rewards are paid weekly in USDC.

Borrow / Crypto-backed Loans

Celsius
Celsius accepts a wide range of coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash as collateral for crypto-backed loans. There are no credit checks or origination fees, and loans can be fulfilled in cash or coin.

Interest rates range from 0.75% (for platinum level users who also pay in CEL) to as high as 8.95%.

Loan terms are 6, 12, 24, and 36 months.

Your interest rate (APR) depends on your LTV ratio (loan to value), the percent of the value of your holdings you would like to borrow. A higher LTV will be more expensive, but requires less collateral:

• 25% LTV: 1.0% APR
  
• 33% LTV: 6.95% APR
  
• 50% LTV: 8.95% APR

Higher tiers on Celsius's loyalty level earn discounts on loan interest:

Crypto.com
Crypto.com does offer limited crypto-backed loans. However, at time of writing, they are not available in the following places, including the U.S.:

• American Samoa, Antigua & Barbuda, Curaçao, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Macedonia, Malta, Martinique, Monaco, New Caledonia, People's Republic of China, Reunion, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Seychelles, Singapore, Sint Maarten, St Pierre & Miquelon, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Where available, Interest Rates depend on LTV (loan-to-value ratio) and CRO stake:

Loans are available in the following cryptocurrencies:

• Loan: USDC, USDT, BTC, ETH
  
• Collateral: CRO, LTC, BTC, ETH, VET, LINK, DOT

Loan minimums are currently equivalent to $100 USD.

Retail users can borrow up to a maximum of $0.5 million USD equivalent.

Loan Terms are 12 months.

Pay with Cryptocurrency

Celsius
With CelPay, Celsius hopes to enable users to spend their coins, rather than just trade them.

Through the Celsius app, users can send and receive, pay and get paid in crypto, with no fees. Send money via a secure link or text, or among other "Celsians."

CEL transactions earn 2% cash back when using CelPay.

The system will prioritize users with the highest CEL balance if the availability of dollar loans becomes limited.

Crypto.com
Crypto.com's Pay feature through their mobile app lets users pay merchants in over 30 cryptocurrencies. They can also buy gift cards and mobile minutes, and send crypto to others.

• 1.25% - 10% bonuses on gift cards
  
• 2.5% - 5% bonuses on mobile airtime purchases
  
• 10% rewards with a $10,000 CRO stake when sending money

Other Features

Aside from their common features, Crypto.com has a range of offering that Celsius does not:

Custodial and non-custodial crypto wallets:
Users can store their coins with the custodial wallet and save on network fees since trades are handled within the Crypto.com ecosystem.

With the non-custodial wallet, users keep full control of private keys, but pay network fees to incentivize transaction processing on the Blockchain.

NFTs:
Users can trade NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on the Crypto.com marketplace. Buy and sell limited edition digital art and collectibles hosted on the Blockchain.

Visa cards:
Crypto.com offers tiered cash-back rewards for those holding CRO with their Visa cards. The basic card (no CRO stake) gets 1% cash back on purchases. Rewards go up to 8% cash back for those staking over $400,000 in CRO.

There is a range of other potential perks, including bonus interest, discounts to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Expedia, Airbnb, airport lounge access, and private jet memberships for the highest stakers.

ATM withdrawal limits are from $200 - $1,000 / month.

Are There Any Fees?

As you'll see in the chart below, both Celsius and Crypto.com offer fairly low fees when it comes to trading crypto. While Celsius is technically commission-free, their 1% spread amounts to slightly more than the base rates available for Crypto.com traders.

Frequent traders will get even better rates on Crypto.com if they meet 30-day trade volume requirements, and can save more for staking CRO.

	Celsius NetworkBlockFiCoinbaseRobinhoodGemini
	Celsius Network	Crypto.com
	SPECIAL OFFER Sign Up Bonus: $40 BTC - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER USD $10 Sign Up Bonus - Learn More
	Benefits and Features
Transaction Fee	No	Tiered Maker-Taker Fee Structure based on 30-Day Trade Volume from 0.04% to 0.4% with discounts from 10% to 100% for staking CRO
Spread	1%	0.25% - 0.5%
Debit Card Purchase Fee	No	2.99% in the U.S. and most countries, 3.99% in a select few
ACH Transfer Fee	0.1%	No
Wire Transfer Fee	0.5%	No
Crypto Conversion Fee	No	No
Withdrawal Fee		Vary by coin: Bitcoin: 0.0004 BTC, Ethereum: 0.008 ETH, Litecoin: 0.001 LTC
Other Fees	Credit Card Fee: 3.5% or $10 minimum fee; or 2.99 for EEA and UK residents
	Sign Up Bonus: $40 BTC Refer Friends, Earn $30 in BTC	USD $10 Sign Up Bonus Earn Interest on BTC - Up to 8.5% Earn Interest on ETH - Up to 8.5%
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Celsius Network: Pricing information from published website as of 05/04/2021. Crypto.com: Pricing information from published website as of 05/07/2021.

Security

Celsius employs a number of security measures in order to protect users' accounts.

• 2FA - Helps to prevent unwanted access to your account.

• Pin & Facial Recognition - Users are required to set up a 6-digit pin, which they'll need to enter upon login. It can be bypassed with facial recognition.

• Collateral - Celsius they requires 150% collateral from uninsured borrowers of user coins.

• Insurance - Unlent coins are custodied by Fireblocks and PrimeTrust, who both provide insurance on digital assets.

• Multi-Party Computation - Helps provide security and asset protection.

• Cyber Intelligence and Incident Response experts - Provide risk assessment and governance, 24/7 asset monitoring, threat monitoring, and advanced data protection and crypto protocols.

• HODL Mode - Restrict withdrawals from user accounts by disabling outgoing transactions. There is a 24-hour period after deactivation of HODL Mode before outgoing transfers can be made.

• Audits - Audited by NLP (Nyman Libson Paul).

Crypto.com employs the following security measures:

• Insurance - Cash funds are held in bank accounts FDIC insured for up to $250,000.

• Cold Storage - 100% of user funds are held offline in cold storage. Only corporate funds are held in hot wallets.

• Multi-Factor Authentication - Includes password, biometric, email, phone, and authenticator.

• Address Allowlisting - Mandatory for withdrawals. Only withdraw to specific set addresses.

• Bug Bounty - Ensures that hackers are incentivized to report security flaws instead of exploiting them.

• Advanced Security and Privacy Protocols - ISO/IEC 27701:2019; CCSS Level 3; ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and PCIDSS v3.2.1 Level 1 compliance; Tier 4 NIST Cybersecurity and Privacy Frameworks.

Bottom Line

First, no one platform is right for everyone. In general, Crypto.com is the better choice for those interested mostly in trading, with a wider variety of coins and lower fees.

Celsius is known for its interest accounts, which Crypto.com offers too, and the rates are fairly high on both counts, making each a competitive platform.

Both offer rewards for staking their proprietary coins CEL and CRO. On one hand, CRO staking is time-consuming and expensive, and requires 6 months minimum to reap the benefits. On the other hand, CEL isn't available in the U.S., making many of the perks it might provide otherwise moot.

Overall, U.S. investors will probably do better with Crypto.com, but international users may find some of the best staking rates available on Celsius. (Or, if you're not sold on either platform, compare other top exchanges in our roundup.)

References