When it comes to buying Bitcoin, we have plenty of options.
But when we want to get ahold of other cryptocurrencies (altcoins) like XRP, Monero, ETH/ETC, LTC, or any other, we have limited options.
The altcoin market is booming, but due to a slow development process, we often face the challenge of buying those cryptocurrencies.
The best way to get ahold of most of the altcoins (Alternate cryptocurrencies) is by using a cryptocurrency exchange website.
Note: Since the cryptocurrency field is not so old and we have to be careful when it comes to using any such online website, we here at CoinSutra do the field testing and share about working sites. If we spot a scam site, we will let you know before you waste your money.
When it comes to exchanging cryptocurrencies, you might have heard of Changelly in various forums (including the Reddit thread on Bitcoin). I have used CoinSwitch in the past to exchange BTC into ETH and few other currencies, but a few days back I got to know about Changelly.
The first few questions I had about Changelly:
- Is Changelly legit or is it a scam?
- Can I trust Changelly with my money?
- What happens if something goes wrong. Will I get support?
I started researching & got some rave reviews about Changelly.
Some users even suggested that it’s a better alternative than ShapeShift.
After a few hours of research, I thought of giving Changelly a shot.
This review of Changelly is based on my personal experience & will give you all the important information you need before you start using Changelly.
Contents
Review of Changelly: Can you trust this cryptocurrency exchange site?
To start with, Changelly is a trustable site which you can use to exchange between various cryptocurrencies.
The interface is super clean & there are some pretty cool features that made me convinced that this is the #1 site for exchanging cryptos.
Before everything else, Changelly does let you buy bitcoins or other cryptos using a credit/debit card; however, I won’t recommend you do this as the price is massively high. Instead, you should refer to our earlier guide on the best websites for buying bitcoins using a credit/debit card.
Now that you & I are on the same page, let me walk you through Changelly.
Features of Changelly:
- Exchange Bitcoin into any other supported cryptocurrency.
- Exchange fees are only 0.5%.
- Supports USD Tether (USDT).
- Buy Bitcoin on Changelly using a credit/debit card.
- Create a user’s account so that you can track your past exchanges.
Personally, I love the account history feature because the exchange doesn’t often happen in real time.
You can simply log in to your account anytime and see the status of your current & past exchanged cryptocurrency.
In April 2017, Changelly reached the 1,000,000 users milestone. This shows how popular this cryptocurrency exchange website is becoming in such a short span of time.
How to use Changelly?
- Head over to the Changelly homepage.
- Select the currency you wish to exchange.
Let’s say you want to exchange BTC for XRP:
- Enter the exchange amount
- Click on Exchange!
On the next page, you’ll see the exchange rate.
Note: If it asks you to make an account, you definitely should do that.
- Click on Next.
On the next page, you need to enter the wallet address on which you wish to receive your transferred cryptocurrency.
In this case, we’re entering an XRP wallet address (that you can get using Ledger Nano X or Binance).
- Click on Next.
Before Changelly gives you a deposit address, it will show you all the details. Don’t be in hurry & review all the information one more time.
- Click on Confirm & Make Payment.
Here you will see the wallet address on which you need to deposit the cryptocurrency (in our case it’s 0.1 BTC).
Once you have deposited the funds, it could take a few minutes to an hour to complete the exchange.
Note: I have used the site 4 times, and each time the exchange happened within 10 minutes.
Once the exchange is over, you will also receive an email letting you know the transfer happened.
You can check this receipt again at any time from your Changelly dashboard.
Conclusion: Is Changelly a legit website?
Changelly is not only a legitimate website, but it’s also a useful service that every cryptocurrency user should be bookmarking.
They keep adding support for all of the reliable cryptocurrencies and their support system (in case there’s a problem) is also very good.
In short, Changelly will save you a lot of time when you need to quickly get ahold of any popular cryptocurrency.
Do you know of any other cryptocurrency exchange websites apart from Changelly & CoinSwitch? Let us know in the comments section below!
Here are a few more tutorials that you should read next:
- How To Buy Amazon Products Using Bitcoins & At A Discounted Price
- Best Bitcoin Exchanges In The World To Buy/Sell Bitcoins
- Binance Exchange Review: Is It Safe And Reliable?
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Thanks for sharing Harsh, It’s great getting this from you. I have been making all the research on varies sites that can be trusted. I have narrowed down to between shapeshift and changelly. I think this would be the right one to start with. Thanks again.
Can I buy and save coins in a changelly wallent instead of transferring to other exchanges wallets. I am new and planning to buy some coins using credit card/ban account instead of exchanging.
@Kumar
They do not offer wallet at this moment.
Nice article. Don’t you think its more expensive using Changelly as opposed to buying on regular exchanges? Don’t they change like .5% fee or something high like that on Changelly? I am trying to figure out which has lower fees. Thanks
It was really a good read Harsh! 🙂
How do I transfer my BTC to changelly account from CEX.io wallet for changing to some other currency?
@Tanya
Use this step by step guide for inspiration https://coinsutra.com/changelly-review-shapeshift-alternative/
Nice Harsh
I was thnking it is a scam thanks harsh
@Amarpreet Singh,
No, it isn’t a scam.
We have used it number of times and after satisfactorily testing it we have listed it on CoinSutra
Great insights Harsh. Thanks.
hey every one this is mahesh. i am using changelly from last year belive me this is amazing platform for exchanging your cryptocurrency.
I’m not clear on the fees. If I am buying $500 Canadian dollars of Ripple… I start by buying $500 worth of Bitcoin which should get me .0016 of a Bitcoin, correct? Or is my math out?Then I trade .0016 of my Bitcoin into Ripple on Changelly and it gets me aprox 41 XRP. The fee shows EXCHANGE RATE 1 BTC = 26,089.22515001 XRP……FEE INCLUDED (0.5%) 0.2087138 XRP. What is the fee in Canadian dollars?
the fee will be 0.5% of your final exchange rate and will be charged in BTC.
Yes you are correct you need to exchange it in that way only!
Hi Harsh,
I was doing a txn today with them using my Debit card for buying BTC by paying 220$ using my Indian Debit card.
Do you see any problem in this?
Because i can’t see the txn in history of my login there.
They sent a mail for verification asking my details of address/id proof etc.. i gave everything. Still there is no history in changelly.com about my txn.
I am worried if my money is lost now,
Any help please?
Thanks,
Balaji
You need to talk to their support. It works usually fine and takes some time for verification.
Hi Coin sutra team,
I want to know about two exchanges first is coindelta & second one is koinex.are these exchanges will be reliable for long time holdings.
No exchange is recommended for long-term holding.
We suggested both for buying cryptos for which they are good.
Use Ledger Nano S for Long term HOLD
Hi Kenny!
I have a question to ask you, you have already received your payment to your Monero address. I know that Coinimp doesn’t accept Cryptonator as a wallet provider because it uses Integrated addresses (106 chars instead of 95), but accepts mymonero.com wallets.
I’d like to know if Coinimp really pays miners or it’s a scam site. Thank you for any information you can provide on this issue
Hi CoinSutra Team!
Have you used the U.S. site Poloniex .com for exchanges? Their interface looks good. I’m having to wait 2-3 days for support about verification issues. They want to use the cam built in to my laptop. I want to upload scanned docs, instead. Poloniex .com was recommended by WealthDaily.
@Geoff
We have used Poloniex and its indeed great. However, there are two exchanges which are more popular than Poloniex now
Binance (Offers mobile app)
Bittrex (Way better interface than Poloniex)
Bittrex doesn’t accept new applications at the moment!!
Yeah, mostly the infrastructures are under a tremendous surge of new users. You can try Binance if you want.
After the conversion of my btc into other crypto can’t I keep it on changelly?if no where should I keep the exchanged currency.
No Changelly doesn’t provide wallets. You need to keep your crypto in a wallet. For which crypto you want a wallet?
can we transfer bitcoin directly from changelly to binance ?
yeah, you can give your Binance address directly but not recommended to go about that way..
Hello All, I am hoping to get some help here. I had some ETH on Kraken and wanted to switch it to Bitcoin and used Changelly to make the swap. I submitted the exchange well over 48 hours ago. The ETH has been removed from my Kraken account, on Changelly it shows that the payment was received, the amount was exchanged but it has been “sending to your wallet” for over 48 hours.
I have tried contacting them multiple times and submitted multiple inquires and have not received a single response. I am not sure what to do from here and what I can do to correct this, if thats even possible. I know that if you lose your wallet info, etc. that your coins are gone, but I have all of the information from all sides so that is not the case. Is there a way to cancel this transaction and get my ETH back? What options do I have or would anyone suggest I try to get this corrected ASAP. I really appreciate the feedback and assistance! Thank you!
how is it now?
can you buy bitcoins from changelly, then despoit those bitcoins into another cryptocurrency exchange like coinbase?
or do i buy bitcoins from changelly, deposit them into Ledger Nano S wallet, then from this Ledger Nano S wallet, deposit the bitcoin into coinbase?
@Vlad
You can buy Bitcoins from Changelly and deposit directly to CoinBase or Ledger or any wallet of your choice. When you go to buy Bitcoins from Changelly, you need to add a Bitcoin wallet address that you can get from CoinBase or you can get from Ledger. Depending on which wallet you are using.
Please which trusted site do you recommend that I buy other cryptocurrencies and also store then on that the same site? All this of buying from one site and transferring to another wallet address is risky to me. Please I need your honest answer
Buying and keeping on any website is the most riskiest…So buy and hold it on your wallet if you want to hold for long term.
It’s not actually just the 0,5% fee off the currency but +5% of the fiat as handling fee and another +5% as credit card payment fee with a minimum of 10USD. So Changelly, as handy as it might be, is also one of the most expensive ways to make small purchases. You should have mentioned this in your post.
Thanks for sharing this. I am going to give Changelly a shot this weekend!
Changelly also supports USD and EUR via Visa and Mastercard powered by SImplex. Works well but has a extra 5% fee on top of the changelly 5% fee.
This is a good overview. I’ve used both ShapeShift and Changelly for many trades, since they are fairly easy to use, but I’ve had my share of frustrations/failed transactions with both.
Have you ever tried using Faast? (https://faa.st/) It’s a new site thats pretty similar to Changelly but it lets you swap multiple coins at once. It has this cool click and drag UI that’s pretty easy to use. Bigger coin selection and more reliable than Changelly IMO.
Anyway, bookmarked this site. Keep up the good work!
-Joe
Nice article! I was looking for a good instant exchange. And I found your article with the Changelly overview just in time.