Coinbase Referral Program

Ready to buy your first crypto?

Last updated on 17 Dec, 2024 6 min read Crypto, Investment

Join the world’s most trusted place to buy and sell cryptocurrency

Get $20 BTC when you sign up with Coinbase via the referral link, verify your identity and make a purchase. Purchases on Coinbase Advanced, Coinbase Pro or Prime Broker are not eligible. Terms and conditions apply.

Singapore users can sign up with Singpass and fund their accounts conveniently with FAST
Singapore users can sign up with Singpass and fund their accounts conveniently with FAST
Table of Contents

About Coinbase

Coinbase is the largest crypto-currency exchange in North America and was publicly listed on 14 April 2021.

Founded in June of 2012, Coinbase is a digital currency wallet and platform where merchants and consumers can transact with new digital currencies.

Watch a video on Coinbase’s “Mission, Vision & Strategy”:

Regulatory Compliance

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

In October 2023, Coinbase Singapore received a Major Payment Institution license from MAS to provide regulated Digital Payment Token (DPT) services.

View the legal user agreement for Singapore users.

Travel Rule

Effective September 5 2023, Coinbase will require additional counterparty information when a customer in Singapore receives a deposit from outside Coinbase or withdraws to a non-Coinbase destination address. Learn more.

Risk disclosure

Coinbase warns users could lose their crypto holdings if the company goes bankrupt

Disclosed in the quarterly report ended 31 March 2022, as required by rules enacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Because custodially held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings and such customers could be treated as our general unsecured creditors,” the company said."

It’s a different scenario from traditional investments. Many bank accounts, including checking and savings, are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for up to $250,000 per account if the bank goes under, while the Securities Investor Protection Corp. helps if a broker or dealer goes bankrupt.

Social media presence

Useful features for Singapore users

From March 2023, customers in Singapore can:

  • FAST transfer funds to and from their Coinbase accounts using any bank in Singapore for free
  • sign up to the platform conveniently using Singpass

Accredited Investor Opt-in Required for Staking Services

In September 2024, Coinbase announced that incoming regulatory changes require staking products and services to be restricted for retail users from October 2024.

Going forward, Coinbase Singapore can only offer staking products and services to users who opt in as accredited investors. For avoidance of doubt, these incoming changes will not impact USDC Rewards where this service has been made available to users.

Here are the criteria to qualify as an accredited investor for individuals:

  • Income Criteria: Minimum income of S$300,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) in the last 12 months; or
  • Net Personal Assets: Net personal assets exceeding S$2 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency), with the net value of the primary place of residence contributing up to S$1 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency); or
  • Net Financial Assets: Net financial assets exceeding S$1 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency).

Supported cryptocurrencies

Coinbase supports a wide number of cryptocurrencies. You can check them out here.

Personal experience sharing

Ease of registration

Registration was efficient. After I registered with my email and phone number for two-factor authentication (2FA), I added my credit card information to my Coinbase profile.

However, before I was allowed to perform any purchase transactions, I had to upload a photo ID to be verified.

The verification took only a couple of minutes and I was good to go.

I was charged a cash advance fee when investing through credit card

I did my first couple of purchases (S$150 and S$300) at Coinbase via credit card. However, when I received my credit card monthly statement, I was taken aback that a separate charge of S$15 was imposed for each of these two transactions.

Coinbase cash advance fee
cash advance fee when purchasing through credit card

I searched on Google and found:

“Coinbase, the most popular cryptocurrency exchange and the one most associated with recent speculation by retail investors, sent an email to some customers early Feb. 1, alerting them that credit card networks are beginning to treat cryptocurrency purchases as cash advances, leading to fees and higher interest rates on these transactions.”

…

“Recently, the MCC code for digital currency purchases was changed by a number of the major credit card networks,” Coinbase’s email said. “The new code will allow banks and card issuers to charge additional ‘cash advance’ fees. These fees are not charged or collected by Coinbase.”

Source: investopedia.com [29 Jun 2019]

I am not sure if this cash advance charge is applied by all Singapore bank card issuers. For reference, the credit card I used was issued by ICBC.

The solution to avoid the cash advance fee? Use a debit card instead.

Receiving FREE alt coins from completing mini-courses

Coinbase has a feature named ‘Learning Rewards’ where users can learn about alt coins, answer some simple quiz questions, and receive airdrops.

These are some of the airdrops I received:

  • September 2024
    • VeChain (VET): US$12. It was a convoluted process to receive this VET airdrop. Describing briefly below:
      • I first answered some simple quiz questions to receive $2 worth of VET.
      • Coinbase then required me to create an external VeWorld wallet and send any amount of VET from Coinbase to it in order to receive a further $10 worth of VET.
      • The tricky part is Coinbase required me to verify I had control of the VeWorld wallet before allowing me to send VET to it. The verification step was to send VET from the VeWorld wallet to Coinbase first. But the newly created VeWorld wallet had zero balance in it.
      • I ended up having to use my Crypto.com account to buy VET and VTHO (gas token for VeChain), send them to my VeWorld wallet, so that I can send some VET from the VeWorld wallet into Coinbase.
      • Finally after Coinbase was satisfied that I was the owner and in control of the VeWorld wallet, I was allowed to send some VET from Coinbase to the VeWorld wallet.
    • ZetaChain (ZETA): US$3
  • August 2022
    • HOPR (HOPR): US$3
    • Aleph.im (ALEPH): US$3
  • Jan 2022
    • Fetch (FET): US$3
  • Nov 2021
    • Loopring (LRC): US$1.50
  • Sep 2021
    • Ankr (ANKR): USD$3
  • Jun 2021
    • Polygon (MATIC): USD$3
  • May 2021
    • SKL (SKALE Token): USD$3
  • Apr 2021
    • FORTH (Ampleforth Governance Token): USD$3
  • Mar 2021
    • UMA (Universal Market Access): USD$6
    • NMR (Numeraire): USD$3
  • Feb 2021
    • NU (NuCypher): USD$3
    • COMP (Compound): USD$9
    • XLM (Stellar Lumens): USD$10
  • Jan 2021
    • GRT (The Graph): USD$3
    • CGLD (Celo): USD$6

Learn more on crypto investing in Singapore

For more crypto-related insights and promotions from a Singapore perspective, visit SgCryptoInvestor.com.
Cryptocurrency is a high-risk investment. The value of cryptocurrency can fluctuate significantly and you may lose the capital you invest. Before investing, educate yourself about cryptocurrencies and to familiarise yourself with the risks involved.
Coinbase FAST SFA Singpass
Auntiehuat
Auntiehuat
Web Administrator

While we do our best to maintain up to date information on the available referral promotions, their terms and conditions do change frequently. We do not warrant, endorse, guarantee, or assume any responsibility for any loss caused by content on this website. Content may contain affiliate links, and at no cost to you, we may earn a commission when you click on them.

Related