Changelly Review: The Most Comprehensive Guide to the #1 Instant Exchange

by | Mar 13, 2020 | Exchange | 4 comments

In my post today, I am going to discuss Changelly; the instant crypto exchange service.

Changelly, a non-custodial crypto exchange, emerged in 2015.

Unlike its closest rival Shapeshift, it does not require any verification levels.

By the end of this post, you will have gained a comprehensive understanding of the exchange as I have broken down every detail.

Post Overview

Changelly marked the evolution of crypto exchange, transforming the crypto to crypto trading pair from the herculean task it was in the past.

I have carefully knitted these sub-headings to help you navigate through this post. Here is what I will cover:

  1. Changelly Overview
  2. Changelly Features
  3. Product and Services
  4. How to Open an Account
  5. Currency Supported and Payment Method
  6. Transaction Fee,
  7. Country Support
  8. Customer Support
  9. Changelly VS Other Exchanges
  10. FAQ
  11. Pros and Cons
  12. Conclusion

Now, let’s get into business!

Hope you are ready?


1. Changelly Overview 

 

Changelly

Minergate, a crypto mining pool, gave birth to Changelly, a non-custodial exchange, in 2015.

Non-custodial simply means that it does not hold users’ funds rather it connects the user to an exchange offering the best rate in the market.

An integrated automated trading bot connects Changelly to exchanges like Binance, Bittrex, HitBTC, and others.

Changelly has its headquarters in Hong Kong with over 2 million visitors currently using the platform worldwide.

Let’s take a look at the features.


2.  Features of Changelly

Changelly has the following features;

  1. Anonymity: KYC is not required, you can enter your email just to receive transaction notification.
  2. Security: The exchange does not hold users’ coins and info thus there is nothing to hack. It has never been hacked.
  3. Seamless Swap: This is the #1 feature of this Changelly. It makes the exchange of trading pair instant and effortless.
  4. Low fee rate: It has one of the lowest fees in the market.

Note: You do not require KYC to swap crypto on Changelly. However, Changelly employes the services of 3rd parties to process the purchase and sales of crypto with fiat.  These 3rd parties like simplex may require verification.


3. Products and Services.

The products and services offered include,

  1. Swap crypto
  2. Buy crypto
  3. Sell crypto
  4. Crash course

Swap Crypto:

This is where you can trade one crypto for another crypto instantly. Let’s say that you already have ETH but you want to exchange it for BTC. You can do it seamlessly using the swap feature.

How to swap cryptos

changelly

Here are the steps;

  • Go to the website, Sign in with your email address
  • Choose the crypto pair you would like to exchange and enter your wallet address, taking note of the rate and service fee.
  • Confirm your transaction
  • From your wallet, send the amount to the address provided by the platform and in about 30mins your transaction will deliver.

Buy Crypto:

Here you can buy over 100 cryptos with fiat money.

To buy crypto with fiat

  • Click on “Buy crypto”
  • Select your payment fiat currency and enter the amount you want to buy. (once you do this the crypto equivalent will be displayed)
  • Click Next Step
  • Follow the rest of the instructions to complete your payment.

Once you complete the payment, your coin will be sent to the address you provided.

Note: When buying crypto with fiat on Changelly, you will be redirected to the payment processor website where KYC will be required. 

Sell Crypto:

Payment for Crypto sales for fiat on Changelly is made via SEPA; thus this service is only available to customers from Europe and Isreal. If you are in Nigeria or USA and want to sell your  crypto, you might have to use Luno, Quidax or Binance 

Also, the only crypto you can sell on Changelly is Bitcoin.

Changelly partners with Bits of Gold for this service.

Crash Course:

The exchange offers free online courses and video guide tutorial for users’ benefit.

However, as at the time of this post, this option was under maintenance and will be implemented very soon


4. How to Open an Account/How Changelly Works

how changelly works

All you need to operate an account with Changelly is your email address, just go the website and sign in using your email address and your account is ready for you.

It is so easy and simple, I encourage you to try it out.


5. Currencies Supported and Payment Methods

Changelly supports over 100 cryptos which leave its users the opportunity to exchange a variety of crypto with little effort. Some of the tokens it supports are;

  • BTCETH, XRP, ABYSS, ADA, ANT, ARDR, ARN, ATOM, BAT, BCD, BCH, BDG, BETR, BKX, BNB, BNT, BRD, BSV, BTG, BTT, BUSD, CVC, DAL, DASH, DCR, DENT, DGB, DGTX, DOGE, EDG, ENJ, EOS, EOSDT, ETC, EURS, FUN, GAS, GNO, GNT, GRS, GUP, GUSD, and a whole lot of them that I cannot list down here.

For fiat currencies Changelly accepts only these;

  • USD
  • EUR
  • GBP

Note that if you have to pay with your local currency, it is more likely to be converted to the USD automatically.

Changelly supports the following Payment Methods:

  1. With fiat: This is payment in USD, EUR or GBP using the Visa Card. This service is powered by Simplex.
  2. With crypto: this is exchanging any other supported crypto for bitcoin.

6. Changelly Transaction Fees

The four types of fee that can be incurred in this platform include;

  1. Exchange Fee.
  2. Network Fee.
  3. Sell Crypto Fee.
  4. Buy crypto Fee.

Exchange Fee

These are fees incurred when swapping one crypto for another.

For every exchange made on this platform, there is a flat fee of 0.25%, regardless of the token exchanged.

This exchange fee is already calculated and included as the exchange rate you will get for the particular crypto you wish to exchange.

Network Fee (Miners fee)

This is the fee incurred on the blockchain network. It is paid to miners and not Changelly.

the network fee is set to each currency and it is displayed at the step 2 transaction creation process.

Network fees are not included as part of the exchange rate but are deducted at the end of the transaction processes.

network fee

Sell Crypto Fee

……………….5.95%

This is the fee charged for exchanging crypto for fiat currency.

Note: the 5.95% bank charge does not go to Changelly or Bits of Gold account.

Buy Crypto Fee

Changelly employs the service of a payment processor (Simplex) for the “Buy Crypto” option.

there are two charges a user should expect when using this option.  they  are as follow;

  • Changelly fee…………..5% (for every transaction)
  • Simplex fee……………..5%(depending on the volume of traffic)

Changelly Exchange Rate

An exchange rate could be explained as the price (cost) in which one currency could be exchanged for the other.

for example; $1 could be exchanged for N360. Thus 360 becomes the exchange rate.

Changelly is a platform fully automated to search for the best rate across multiple exchanges,

The two types of exchange rate here are;

  1. Floating rate: This rate changes in real-time depending on the market condition.
  2. Fixed-rate: This rate is fixed during the transaction process but is however updated every 30sec prior to the transaction initiation.

7. Countries Support

Changelly has support for all countries other than countries subject to United Nations Security Sanctions List and its equivalent. These countries include;

Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (including all USA territories like Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Island, and the US Virgin Island (St Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas), Bangladesh and Bolivia.

Let’s look at customer support. Does the exchange respond to users’ questions?


8. Customer Support

Changelly has very strong customer support that is active 24/7.

For any inquiry that concerns the exchange, you can go to;

  • The website@Changelly.com  and click on the message bar in the right bottom corner of the website,  for live chat.
  •  Reach the exchange via support@changelly.com
  •  Follow it on Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram.
  • For more info about Changelly products and services, you can do that via pro@changelly.com.

Now, how does Changelly fare compared to other exchanges?

Let’s take a look at it below.


10. Comparing Changelly with Other Exchanges

Changelly vs Shapeshift

Shapeshift was founded in August 2014 by Erik Voorhees and supported by a team of highly trained individuals. The company is headquartered in Switzerland.

Changelly and Shapeshift are instant exchange platforms that will allow you to swap crypto for a digital asset in a seamless and highly secured environment.

Nevertheless, these two have their variances;

While Changelly supports a wide range of crypto for users to make their options, Shapeshift offers only a limited number of tokens.

Again Shapeshift does not support trading with fiat and requires users to provide their personal details before they could make any transaction, this is not so with Changelly.

Also read: ShapeShift Review: How to Directly Swap any 2 Cryptos

Changelly vs Binance

Binance was founded in China by Changepeng Zhao in the year 2017. It is registered in Malta but headquartered in Tokyo.

These two exchanges require no verification, have no options for margin trading, support 100+ cryptocurrencies, and have never been hacked.

The variances between these two, however, are that;

While Binance has its official token BNB, supports about 25+ fiat tokens, has a chart indicator and a  transaction fee of 0.1% (when paying with crypto) and 0.5% ( when paying with BNB),

Changelly, on the other hand, has no official token, supports only 3 fiats, has no chart indicator, and adopts a transaction fee of 0.25%.

Also read: Binance Trading Platform:- My Amazing Review

Changelly vs Coinbase

Coinbase came into the crypto exchange space in the year 2012. it was Created by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and is located in San Fransisco, California.

Although Changelly and Coinbase have no official tokens, require no verification, and have never been hacked,

Coinbase supports about 400+ crypto with no fiat and has a chart indicator. This is clearly different from what we have in Changelly.

Moreover, while Coinbase came to the crypto space in 2012, Changelly was launched in 2015.

Also read: Coinbase Review| How Safe Is This Exchange?

Changelly vs Coinswitch

Coinswitch was founded in June 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar Tiwari.

Changelly and Coinswitch are non-custodial instant exchanges that connect users to the exchange that has the best available rate to trade crypto pairs.

However, Coinswitch provides users with clusters of exchange rates from different exchanges and supports 350+ cryptos with 5 fiat tokens.

It also charges a fee of 0%-0.49% depending on the exchange you have chosen from the platform for your transaction.

This is entirely different from what we have in Changelly.


11. FAQs

Why should I trust Changelly?

Here are reasons why you should trust the exchange;
Users do not have to deposit their funds with the exchange.
Over 2 million users worldwide have entrusted their crypto transactions to Changelly, a renowned exchange.
Its exchange also partners with widely recognized exchange platforms considered reliable, safe, and trusted.
There has not been a record of anyone being defrauded in the course of using the platform.

Does Changelly have a minimum/maximum limit?

The platform basically doesn’t have a stipulated limit for a transaction.
Except for the case of a minimal amount where the inputted amount is very low and could not cover all the costs required by a blockchain if this happens, you will see the amount you have entered in orange colour.
The minimum limit for fiat currency is 50 USD, EUR, and GBP
Maximum limitations, however, are set based on the purchase provider’s end.

How do I cancel my transaction?

Transaction made on the blockchain is hardly retrievable and cannot bounce back as soon as it is sent from a designated wallet.
This is basically because of the decentralized nature of the blockchain.
I would advise you to be extra careful while exchanging your assets and make sure to double-check all payment details before sending it.

Why is my wallet address recognized as invalid?

This can only happen if;
The exchange does not support the wallet you have used
The wallet address does not match the chosen cryptocurrency
Typos( maybe you have made mistakes inputting a character)


12. Pros and Cons

Pros

Here are some of the benefits you will gain from this exchange;

  1. Low exchange fee.
  2. Best rate on the market.
  3. Supports a wide range of cryptos.
  4. Good customer support.

Cons

Here are some of the demerits of the exchange;

  1. Supports only three fiat currencies.
  2. The exchange’s true owners remain anonymous.
  3. Fees may become higher in the case of a transaction involving fiat money.

Learn How To Trade

If you want to learn how to trade cryptocurrencies profitably, sign up for free on Afibie.

You can join our Telegram channel, where we hold live sessions and give trade signals.


Conclusion

Changelly is a decent choice for those who would love a  simple and clean solution for trading their Altcoins with minimal fuss.

A lot of users have reviewed the exchange and have lauded it for its instant, safe and satisfactory delivery

This is where I will wrap up the post for today.

Now tell me, Do you think the platform is worth a trial?

Are there some puzzles about the exchange you would like to get clarified on?

Leave your comments below and I will clear all your doubts.

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4 Comments

  1. Old Changelly Customer

    Changelly.com became a KYC scam…

    Used Changelly since a while to DCA.
    Always swapped cryptos, never used FIAT or credit card.
    Today for a swap around 100$ of BTC, they wanted KYC. And as i’m refusing a KYC for a crypto swap, they just keep my BTC and don’t cancel the transaction…

    Crypto Customers, be warned.

    Reply
    • Chiamaka Atueyi

      Sorry about your experience, dear reader.
      Kindly reach out to Customer Support for help on this.
      Thank you.

      Reply
  2. Ifeomachukwumeluamaka

    Dear Paschaline, thanks for the information.

    Is it possible to unblock my account after blocking it, and what duration could it take to accept unblocking.

    Reply
    • Jude Umeano

      You have to contact support for that

      Reply

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ABOUT ME

Paschaline Anagor
I am a passionate crypto enthusiast with over three years of experience in the crypto world. Sharing insights on crypto trading, Web3, DeFi, NFTs, and the latest crypto news. Subscribe to the blog to explore the world of digital currencies!