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Cryptocurrency Exchanges for US Residents (US Based Exchanges)　

May 30, 2019 Cryptocurrency

In this post, I would like to introduce cryptocurrency exchanges that are available for U.S. based customers. Coinbase, Kraken, Bitflyer, Gemini, Binance US are briefly explained; all of them accept depositing and withdrawing in US dollars. Explanation about the investment apps Robinhood, the online payment system PayPal as well as brokerage firm Fidelity are also added.

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1. Things You Need to Know Before Opening an Account with Cryptocurrency exchanges

First of all, a cryptocurrency exchange is an exchange where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies (virtual currencies).

Each exchange has its own rules regarding residents of which countries (or state) can open an account and make transactions.  For example, in the case of exchanges in the US, they need to obtain license from each state where they desire to conduct business, and if the license cannot be obtained, residents of a such states cannot even open an account.  Similarly, in the case of overseas exchanges, U.S. residents may not be able to open an account if the overseas exchanges so determined.

Which cryptocurrencies we can deposit/withdraw differ depending on which exchanges we wish to use.  Also, we can send/receive fiat currencies such as US dollar or Japanese yen to some cryptocurrency exchanges, while we cannot do so to some exchanges.  Below, I examined U.S. based cryptocurrency exchanges which allow users to deposit/withdraw U.S. dollars to their accounts.

Concurrency exchanges listed below are just examples and there are countless cryptocurrency exchanges. If you are interested, please check CoinMarketCap which lists more than 200 cryptocurrency exchanges in the order of market volume.

２．U.S. Based Cryptocurrency Exchanges Which Accept Deposit and Withdraw of US Dollar

2.1　Coinbase

Website: https://www.coinbase.com/

If you are thinking about starting cryptocurrency trading and ask for an advice regarding where to start, I think 10 out of 10 people would recommend to open an account with Coinbase.

You can send cryptocurrencies to Coinbase.  Coinbase also allow you to deposit US dollars from your bank account (ACH, Wire Transfer, debit card), and to exchange US dollar to cryptocurrencies. (Source: Coinbase: Payment Methods for US Customers)

For withdrawal, you can not only send US dollar to your bank account but also to your PayPal account (Source: Coinbase: PayPal FAQ)

When I opened an account with Coinbase (at the end of 2017), Coinbase only handled four cryptocurrencies, which were BTC (Bitcoin), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), ETH (Etherieum), and LTC (Litecoin).  As of the October 22, 2023, in addition to the above 4 currencies, you can trade around 140 currencies.  (Source: Digital Asset Disclosures). However, depending on the state you live in, there may be currencies that are not handled, so depending on the state you live in, the number may be lower. 

There are two types of trading methods on Coinbase: “Simple Trade” and “Advanced Trade”. In the case of “Simple Trade”, you can only make market orders (limit orders at the current rate), but when buying or selling, you can specify the dollar amount (how many dollars of the currency you want to buy) or the number of currencies (how many coins of the currency you want to buy). This is an easy-to-use trading method for beginners.

In the case of “Advance Trade”, in addition to market orders, you can also make limit orders (orders by specifying the buy and sell price/limit orders) and stop orders (stop orders). So, even though the price is high now, if the price reaches this level, If you want to buy something (it’s cheap now, but you want to sell it when the price reaches this level), you can use this. This is similar to stock investment, so it may be easy for those with stock investment experience to understand. By the way, it was previously provided as a separate account called Coinbase Pro, but in December 2022 it was migrated to “Advance Trade” within the Coinbase account.

Please note that residents of the State of Hawaii cannot open an account. (Source: Coinbase: Coinbase suspended states)

2.2　Kraken

It is relatively old, having been founded in July 2011. So, I hear about Kraken quite often. It also seems to have a good reputation.

2.3　Gemni

2.4　Bitflyer USA

  • Website: https://bitflyer.com/en-us/
    • Bitflyer has separate exchange for Japanese residents, and Bitflyer USA is designed for US residents.
  • Cryptocurrencies available for trade: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC) Bitcoin Cash (BTC) are avilabe for trade. (Reference: Fees）
  • Funding:  Customers can deposit/withdraw US dollars to/from bank accounts.  (See Bitflyer: Q&A Deposit/Withdrawal)
  • (Seemingly) Residents of all 50 states and D.C. can traded at Bitflyer USA, but I’m not really sure. Although it is currently available for the residents of the State of Hawaii, it appears that it may be closing on December 31, 2024. (Reference: Bitflyer: States Where We Operate)

[Reference] Binance US

Note: Previously, customers were able to make deposits and withdrawals in US dollars, but it seems that deposits in US dollars was suspended since June 2023, and withdrawals in US dollars has been also stopped since October 2023. (Reference: Reuters: Crypto giant Binance’s US affiliate halts direct dollar withdrawals, Yahoo Finance: Binance.US suspends USD withdrawals)

Until Binance announced that they will suspend transactions with citizens and residents of the U.S. in September 2019, I have used Binance. Although Binance was founded relatively new in 2017, it is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and has been well received by users, so I think Binance US is also easy to use.

3. Other methods to Trade Cryptocurrencies which Allow Customers to Deposit/Withdraw US dollars

3.1 Robinhood

It is not a cryptocurrency exchange, but using the investment app “Robinhood” might be the easiest way to trade cryptocurrencies . This app is popular for stock traders (mainly millenniums) because it allows customers to trade stocks for free. Trading cryptocurrencies is also free.

Also, it seems that it is now possible to send and receive cryptocurrency using a cryptocurrency wallet in certain states.

  • Site: https://robinhood.com/
  • Cryptocurrencies available for trade:  Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Litecoin (LTC) are available for trading (Source: Robinhood : Available Cryptocurrencies)
  • Deposits and withdrawals: You can deposit and withdraw in US dollars. You need to link your Robinhood account to a bank account (Source: Robinhood: Bank Transfers & Linking)
  • Sending and receiving of cryptocurrencies is not currently allowed. (Source: Robinhood: Cryptocurrency Transfers and Deposits)
  • Robinhood does not offer services of Crypto trading to residents of the following States: Nevada, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Hawaii. (Source: Robinhood: Available States)

3.2 PayPal

This is also not a cryptocurrency exchange, but you can now trade cryptocurrencies with PayPal. To be honest, I don’t recommend it, but I’ll add it to the list for comparison.

  • Website: https://www.paypal.com/us/home
  • Cryptocurrencies available for trade: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) are available for trade (See : Cryptocurrency on PayPal FAQ）
  • Funding and withdrawal: You can deposit and withdraw in US dollars. Must be linked to your bank account or debit card.
  • From August 2022, it will be possible to send and receive virtual currency. (Source: PayPal Users Can Now Transfer, Send, and Receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin)
  • Transaction limit: Maximum transaction limit per week is $100,000 (maximum transfer limit per week is $10,000). (Source: PAYPAL CRYPTOCURRENCY TERMS AND CONDITIONS)
  • Cryptocurrency trading is not available for residents in Hawaii.
  • Transaction Fees: (see PayPal: PayPal Consumer Fees)
  • Note: In November 2020, there was a user whose account was suspended for 180 days after repeatedly buying and selling more than 50 times in one week, so it seems better to avoid day trading. (Source: Reddit: PayPal permanently banned my account due to CryptoCurrency buy/sells being treated as “item SALES” ). Having said that, the situation may be different now as the trading limit was previously quite low at $10,000 per week and $50,000 per year.

3.3 [Reference] Fidelity Securities

I learned from an email from Fidelity Securities in May 2023 that it is now possible to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at Fidelity Securities. However, it seems that it is necessary to open a separate “Fidelity Crypto account”, and as one of the conditions for opening an account, being “a US citizen” is required.

4. Status by State

4.1 Residents of New York State

If you are a resident of New York State, you can only trade cryptocurrencies with a BitLicense-certified merchant.

Among the cryptocurrency exchanges introduced in Section 2 above, Coinbase, Bitflyer USA, and Gemni have obtained BitLicense. Additionally, Robinhood, PayPal, and Fidelity introduced in Section 3 have all obtained BitLicense. It is currently unconfirmed whether WeBull has acquired a BitLicense, but it was announced on March 29, 2022 that residents of New York state can also start trading virtual currencies. So it is likely that they were able to acquire a BitLicense.

4.2 Residents of Hawaii

As mentioned above, the options in New York State, where I live, are quite limited and I have been unhappy about it but Hawaii seems to be even stricter than New York State. Coinbase, Binance US, Robinhood, and PayPal all exclude residents of Hawaii.

Among the cryptocurrency exchanges introduced in Section 2 above, there are Kraken, BitFlyer, Gemnai, etc., and Webull, introduced in Section 3, even Hawaii residents can open an account. Although BitFlyer is currently available to residents of Hawaii, it appears that it may be closed as of December 31, 2024. (Reference: Bitflyer: States Where We Operate)

When I looked into the status of regulations in Hawaii, I found an article written in 2017 about Hawaii’s policies on the Coinbase blog page. According to this article, the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions has imposed a requirement on companies involved in the virtual currency business to hold cash reserves equal to the total value of virtual currencies held for their customers (“Coinbase and other digital currency”). The bottleneck is the regulation that businesses will be required to maintain cash reserves (or similar, liquid assets referred to as “permissible investments”) in an amount equal to the aggregate face value of digital currency funds held on behalf of customers. It appears that Coinbase has decided to withdraw from Hawaii. (Reference: How Bad Policy Harms Coinbase Customers in Hawaii)

However, recently there seems to be an attempt to bring back virtual currency exchanges, so the number of exchanges that can be traded may increase in the future. (Reference: Coindesk: Hawaii Welcomes Crypto Exchanges Back With New Regulatory Sandbox, HTDC: Digital Currency Innovation Lab)

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暮眞★潤 (Jun Kurema)

アメリカ（ニューヨーク）に住み始めて19年目です。株式投資、インターネット活動を通して自宅で安定収入を得ることを目指しています。 ▶ 詳しいプロフィールはこちらから。
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I am a Japanese, residing in the US. I am trying to find a way to earn stable income at home through investments in stocks or other products as well as some sort of internet business. ▶ More detailed profile can be viewed from here.
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