In this Bitvavo review, we’ll take you through the most important and recent topics about Bitvavo as a crypto provider in detail to help you decide if this provider is safe, reliable and right for you. Honest explanation, we call it. This review has been prepared subjectively partly due to gaining experience at the provider and information gained through desk research. Because we have been active in the crypto market since 2014, we have been able to see and review everything in detail.
To give this Bitvavo review more depth, we also compared the provider with other equivalent crypto providers like Binance, Coinmerce and Bitladon. Our research and review led us to answer the following questions, among others:
We have summarized the main points of this Bitvavo review below. This makes it easier if you don’t have the time to read the entire review and just want to know the main topics. If you are looking for descriptions on how to log in, withdraw money or contact Bitvavo, we have dedicated info pages for that. All pages can be found on our Bitvavo page.
| Broker or Exchange: | Exchange |
|---|---|
| Supported EU countries: | 27 |
| Active users: | >1 million |
| Amount of crypto: | 230+ |
| Coins and tokens: | Bitcoin and altcoins |
| Tradingpairs: | Euro |
| Tradingvolume 30 days: | € 10 billion |
| Crypto swappen: | No |
| Staking: | Yes |
| Verification required: | Yes |
| Minimal order: | 10 euro |
| Buy with iDEAL: | Yes |
| Trade through web: | Yes |
| Trade through app: | Yes |
| Taker fees: | 0.25% |
| Maker fees: | 0.15% |
Bitvavo B.V. was founded in May 2017 by Jelle de Boer and Tim Baardse and launched its trading activities for the European market from Amsterdam in 2018. Later, Mark Nuvelstijn joined as a co-founder of the company. The company’s mission is to bridge the gap between fiat money and crypto coins and tokens with a ‘one stop shop’ trading platform with accessible and transparent prices, low margins and with, at the time, a fairly extensive variety of crypto compared to the competition. In this Bitvavo review, we can’t keep you from noticing that the company has three core values to indicate what the company stands for. The three core values are:
To ensure that your euro-accounts are safe in case of bankruptcy of Bitvavo B.V., the founders set up the Bitvavo Payments Foundation, where user funds are held separately. For their bank transfers they use the bank Bunq. As of writing, Bitvavo employs 90 to 100 people and the number is growing due to its great success. Bitvavo is not only operational in The Netherlands, but all over Europe! To be exact, in 27 countries. To serve the larger countries in Europe, the exchange from Amsterdam also supports English, French, German, Spanish and Italian languages. Address, contact options and social channels can be found below under Info and Social Media. How best to contact the provider can be read in our dedicated contact page.
Many Bitvavo reviews describe the Amsterdam-based company as a broker, but is this correct? On our crypto exchange page, we explain the difference between a broker and an exchange. Bitvavo’s trading platform began as a broker, acting as an intermediary between traders and the exchanges where the trading took place. In March 2019, Bitvavo expanded their services from a broker to an exchange, becoming the cheapest provider on CoinCompare with the crypto they offer. At the time of writing, they support over 230 different crypto that you can buy with euro trading pairs. Trading pairs to swap crypto for crypto is not supported. Read all about the trading pairs on our Bitvavo markets page. The simple and user-friendly dashboard with which you can buy and sell crypto has remained unchanged due to the transition to an exchange. Besides the simple dashboard, the exchange has added an advanced dashboard for advanced traders and daytraders. You can read more about this on this page.
In order to keep up with or get ahead of the competition, Bitvavo launched its iOS and Android app in early July 2020. The app looks good, is simple, fast, user friendly and what we appreciate is that the app supports dark mode. Also the user access with pin code login is very efficient compared to some competitors that still work with an email login. Read more about the app on our dedicated page.
When we had published this Bitvavo review in 2018, there was still no regulation for the crypto market. But, due to changes in legislation in 2020, all Dutch crypto providers became subject to mandatory supervision from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). Before the regulation was implemented, most providers already largely met the requirements set by the DNB, including Bitvavo. They made sure that with the launch in 2018, the guidelines of the Law for the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism (Wwft) for within the Netherlands and the Anti Money Laundering (AML) for Europe were applied. Some of the conditions from this legislation are identification and verification of merchant to be registered, monitoring and tracking of transactions and verification of proof of origin of assets. In addition, Bitvavo is also part of the United Bitcoin Companies Netherlands (VBBN in Dutch) which imposes rules of conduct on all its affiliated providers. The supervision and the association makes Bitvavo basically a reliable and safe provider.
Besides the Bitvavo review, explaining what we think, it’s useful to know what the requirements are to get started at the exchange. In order to qualify for a Bitvavo account and use the trading platform, you must be at least 18 years old and reside in the European Economic Area (EEA).
To access the trading platform you must first complete an email verification by creating an account using your first name, last name, email address and password. Starter is the most restricted level where trading is not possible.
In order to trade crypto currencies like Bitcoin, Shiba Inu, Cardano and 300+ others at Bitvavo, the personal data and identification process follows after creating an account. Bitvavo is required to verify your identity to prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. You can use your passport, driver’s license or identity card for this purpose. This process is fairly simple and self-explanatory, after which Bitvavo will usually approve your registration on the same day and you can start trading. For the identification verification to be successful, the exchange needs the following information:
Once Bitvavo has approved your account, you still need to verify your bank account at the exchange before you can start buying crypto. Through this process, your own bank account will be linked to your Bitvavo account. It is not possible to link a bank account that is in someone else’s name. Linking your bank account is done by depositing money into your wallet. Check out our dedicated wallet page to find out how to deposit money. Note that credit cards and PayPal transactions do not allow you to perform bank account verification. For most payment methods the transaction is processed the same day and your bank account will be linked the same day. The only exception is SEPA bank transfers, where it can sometimes take 1-2 days before you can start trading.
Once your bank account is successfully linked, you immediately have the option to deposit an amount in euros or crypto to your Bitvavo account. While there is a limit to the amount of Euros which can be deposited, this does not apply when depositing crypto. In fact, these have no maximum. The amount you want to deposit depends on the deposit options the exchange offers. If you transfer money via Bancontact, EPS, Giropay, Sofort, Credit Card and PayPal you are able to transfer up to 10,000 euros per transaction. If you use iDEAL, you can deposit up to 50,000 euros. Need more? At Bitvavo you can deposit up to 1 million euros via SEPA bank transactions!
The exchange has a standard withdrawal limit of 25,000 euros per 24 hours, which may consist of both euro and crypto. E.g. 15,000 euros, 5,000 euros in bitcoin and 5,000 euros in Solana. If you wish to withdraw a higher amount than 25,000 euros you will need to upgrade your account to a personalized account.
Do you want to start trading like a whale with higher withdraw limits? Then upgrade your account to a personalized account wherein you have the possibility to deposit, trade and withdraw fiat money (€) and crypto without limits. To qualify for a personalized account you need to provide documents that support the origin of your assets. This may be a salary slip, annual statement, tax return or other documents that are requested. Bitvavo will then set and offer an individual limit.
As previously reported in this Bitvavo review, there is a big difference between a broker and an exchange. A broker acts as an intermediary and handles the order books of large exchanges like e.g. KuCoin and Binance, where an exchange manages its own order books. A broker pays a fee to the exchange for making their order books available. This is the biggest reason why brokers are somewhat more expensive than exchanges.
Bitvavo used to have an average trading cost of 2.50% when it was still operating as a broker and we had written this Bitvavo review. After transitioning from broker to exchange in 2019, Bitvavo lowered its trading fees to 0.25%, depending on the type of order. At the time, this immediately made Bitvavo the cheapest provider on CoinCompare and also the cheapest exchange in the Netherlands.
The trading fees at Bitvavo are shown as follows. Suppose you want to buy bitcoin for € 1,000, you will be charged € 2.50 (€ 1,000 x 0.25%) in trading fees. So you buy bitcoin for € 997.50 and pay € 2.50 to Bitvavo for the service. The same applies if you sell bitcoin. The trading costs are visibly included in the transaction and are not added afterwards. So, there are no surprises during your transaction. The displayed prices of Bitvavo on CoinCompare are shown with trading costs of 0.25%.
Bitvavo operates as an exchanges and therefore manages its own order books with two types of trading fees, the maker and taker fee.
Maker fee: the maker fee is applied when your requested trade creates an order. Take the scenario as follows; you want to buy bitcoin for € 1,000, but there is no match in the order book to fill your order. Your request causes an order to be created in the order book (maker) until a user wants to sell for € 1,000 worth of bitcoin and fills your order (taker). It may take a while before a match is found which depends on the price. It is also possible that for example 4 orders of € 250 will be used to fill your order.
Taker fee: the percentage for the taker is applied when your requested transaction fills an order. Consider the scenario as follows; a Bitvavo user makes (maker) a sell order for € 1,000 in bitcoin and you decide to buy for € 1,000 in bitcoin. By your order you (taker) take the maker’s order and immediately close the order in the order book. With this the transaction is immediately executed and completed. Your order is 9 times out of 10 a taker order.
Maker fees start at 0.15% and taker fees at 0.25% of your transaction value. Based on your trading volume (€) over the last 30 days it is possible to qualify for volume tier discounts. The trading fees can be reduced significantly to 0.03% for the maker and to 0.04% for taker. You need to trade a lot of money to take advantage of the volume discount.
| volume (30d) | taker | maker |
| € 0+ | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| € 100,000+ | 0.20% | 0.10% |
| € 250,000+ | 0.16% | 0.08% |
| € 500,000+ | 0.12% | 0.06% |
| € 1,000,000+ | 0.10% | 0.05% |
| € 2,500,000+ | 0.08% | 0.04% |
| € 5,000,000+ | 0.06% | 0.04% |
| € 10,000,000+ | 0.05% | 0.03% |
| € 25,000,000+ | 0.04% | 0.03% |
As previously stated in this Bitvavo review under ‘Verification requirements and Trade Limits‘, Bitvavo supports multiple payment methods to deposit money into your Bitvavo account. All payment methods have a maximum transaction amount and some payment methods come with additional fees when you want to deposit money. When using EPS and Giropay, 1.75% of the transaction value is added as a fee. The rest of the payment methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact and SEPA bank transfers are free. No fees are charged for withdrawing money. Read more about money and crypto deposit and withdrawal fees on the dedicated wallet page.
The difference between the buy and sell price is called spread. The Bitvavo spread is expressed in percentages to indicate how small or large the difference is between the buy and sell price. The size of the spread and the trading fees determine whether a provider is cheap or expensive. Bitvavo’s trading fees start at 0.25% which is in addition to the price value. What is the spread at Bitvavo? The spread at Bitvavo is on average 0.60%. That is low, which is positive. You won’t see this percentage in spread anywhere at Bitvavo, but you don’t need to. It’s nice to know if you can earn your purchase back quickly by selling after a price rise. In conclusion, the lower the spread at the provider, the faster you can earn back your investment when the price rises.
Your purchase is automatically deposited into the hosted wallet when you buy crypto on the trading platform. After that, you have the freedom to withdraw crypto to an external wallet. Leaving the crypto in the hosted wallet comes with risk if you plan to keep the crypto for the long term (HODL). If you plan to sell your purchases in the short term, it is more practical to use Bitvavo’s hosted wallet itself. You can find more about the exchange’s hosted wallet on our dedicated wallet page. If you have crypto that Bitvavo supports with another provider or on an external wallet, you also have the option to deposit those crypto to your Bitvavo account to trade or put in staking. You can read more about staking at Bitvavo on our page. You also have the option to simply withdraw your crypto or send it to another wallet. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that you need to verify the receiving address at Bitvavo. Keep this in mind if you think you can switch between wallets quickly. Minor flaw of Bitvavo’s hosted wallet is that it does not support cross-chain transactions.
As previously stated in our Bitvavo review, the exchange from Amsterdam has a type of dashboard for every trader where you can buy, sell and trade crypto coins and tokens. A simple and user-friendly dashboard for the beginner and an advanced dashboard for the advanced trader. The difference between the two is in the trading options you can make use of. We have made frequent use of both and this is what we think of them.
The beginner dashboard is the default dashboard set, but “beginner” may not be the right word. Even if you are familiar with the crypto world for years, like us, the standard “beginner” dashboard is the one we use most for buying and selling crypto. Through this standard dashboard, you can simply and quickly buy and sell your crypto through a few clicks. The standard dashboard has a buy and sell section, the graph and price of the selected crypto, your trading history and a button to go to the advanced dashboard. It would be nice if the dashboard had a dark mode, which looks more restful, like the one in the advanced section. Buying and selling crypto is easy, runs smoothly and the process of what to do is self-explanatory. The graph is dynamic and can be set in terms of hours, days, weeks, months and a year where you can search for the price. The trade history (Trades) looks nice and logical. When you click on a trade you get an extensive overview including costs and price.
Besides the simple dashboard, the exchange from Amsterdam also offers an advanced dashboard. In this Bitvavo review we are not going to completely explain and review the advanced dashboard, but we will give you the most important parts. The advanced dashboard (or interface) is for the more experienced trader looking for extensive trading possibilities. The dashboard displays the following modules that the simple dashboard does not:
As you can see there is a lot coming at you when you use the advanced dashboard. With this overview, you have a little more information at your disposal and it is nice to set a limit order for when you want to buy and sell. It’s one of the best ways to guarantee profits and limit losses when you’re busy doing something other than studying charts.
Both dashboards, to buy and sell your crypto, have their own pros and cons. Regardless of the information in this Bitvavo review, choosing one or the other depends on your intentions for getting into crypto. If you intend to buy and not look back it (HODL), then the simple standard dashboard is what you can use. If you plan to be involved (almost) daily as a daytrader, then the advanced dashboard provides all the tools you need to trade your crypto. Below we have listed all the pros and cons of the advanced dashboard compared to the simpler dashboard:
An “age-old” question that also applies to any trading platform! Is Bitvavo reliable? After all, you don’t want to lose your investment because a trading platform takes away your access and you can no longer access your money and crypto. You might not think it, but the fact that we have written a Bitvavo review is already the first positive step towards answering the question whether Bitvavo is reliable. We have a lot of experience with the exchange and the fact that the exchange and its prices are listed on CoinCompare is a confirmation that Bitvavo is reliable. We do not add any providers that we think are unreliable. Also know the following to be able to draw your own conclusion:
The only downside in terms of reliability are the trading platform systems that processes the orders. It happened with regularity in 2021 that congestion arose with newly added crypto and the systems became overloaded. Customers of the trading platform could not process their orders or were shown incorrect prices. In the meantime system improvements have been implemented to avoid congestion problems in the future. Despite the congestion problems, we at CoinCompare can assure you that Bitvavo is reliable.
Perhaps the most important question of this Bitvavo review, is Bitvavo secure? By ‘secure’, one often thinks of securing the trading platform to keep hackers out. But, new investors or traders with no or little experience who do not yet know how crypto or a trading platform works, also need to be protected from themselves. Ensuring security therefore lies with both the trading platform and the platform’s customer. The exchange from Amsterdam has literally done everything to protect your data and assets and to keep you alert not to share sensitive data. Some of the security measures to check whether Bitvavo is safe are listed below:
By the above measures, it can be concluded that the security at Bitvavo and you is well organized and ensured. These measures and related information can be found on their ‘Support’ pages.
Our experience with Bitvavo is generally good and the website is clear and easy to use. Also, the trading platform is easy to navigate without getting lost. They offer a wide variety of crypto at the lowest prices. Transactions of buying and selling are fast and their costs are transparent and clear in advance. The security measures are taken care of down to the last detail, as made clear above and in the wallet page. The exchange does everything possible to ensure and guarantee the safety of customer data.
It should be clear from this Bitvavo review that Bitvavo operates with the right intentions and works transparently to clarify all issues in detail. In short, reliable and therefore getting the highest rating with 4.3 stars!
The website is clear and user-friendly. The trading platform is also easy to navigate.
Despite a good review, we would like to point out some areas of improvement in this Bitvavo review:
After all the research work and experience gained and writing all that for you in this Bitvavo review, we like to simply summarize the best pros and cons of Bitvavo:
Have you not yet created an account through this Bitvavo review? By creating an account using the button below, you won’t have to pay trading fees up to € 1,000 in the first week. Trading fees are already low at Bitvavo and yet this promotion is going to save you money. If you still have doubts and questions, feel free to contact us.
Bitvavo B.V. with its crypto trading platform is based in the Netherlands and operates and serves its customers from Amsterdam.
Bitvavo was successfully registered with De Nederlandse Bank (DNB) in 2020 and thus regulated in the Netherlands for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (Wwft) and the Anti Money Laundering (AML) for Europe.
Bitvavo’s trading platform is suitable for the beginner investor and the advanced trader with a simple and advanced dashboard. If you want to buy a crypto and plan not to look back at it, the standard dashboard is the perfect place. If you want to daytrade, then you can get to the advanced dashboard with the press of a button. Both options do require you to be 18+ and live within the European Economic Area (EEA).
The Amsterdam-based exchange operates with the right intentions to make trading crypto as reliable as possible for you. The trading platform underwent a major upgrade in mid-2021 to ensure that there are no more congestion issues.
On Dutch soil, Bitvavo has a number of competitors in terms of offering a trading platform for crypto. The competitors on the basis of offerings are Coinmerce and Bitladon. Abroad, you could compare Bitvavo in terms of offerings and options to well-known exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.
Bitvavo launched in 2018 and has not been hacked once to date. It is not known if any attempts have been made. Bitvavo therefore uses the very latest security systems and are and will remain up to date to keep hackers out and your funds safe.
