Poloniex Review

When it comes to crypto trading, several factors can boost your profitability. One of them is the quality of the trading tools at your disposal. This is why we have created a comprehensive review section focusing on the crypto exchange sector and the top platforms operating in it. In this guide, we will be narrowing our focus on the Seychelles-based Poloniex.

Considered one of the most popular exchanges globally, the exchange has had to evolve to keep up with the fast-paced crypto industry. Here, we will explore the workings of Poloniex and highlight its pros and cons.

Poloniex Overview

Poloniex is a crypto-to-crypto exchange established in 2014. It is one of the more difficult exchanges to use and was acquired by payment processor Circle in February 2018. The exchange offers a wide variety of crypto-to-crypto trading. There are currently over 170 cryptocurrencies available to be traded against Bitcoin, Tron, and stablecoins. Poloniex also allows users to trade against Monero and USD Tether. It is one of the few exchanges that offer such a feature.

Margin trading is also available for traders. The funds for margin traders are provided by other users who lend their funds for a small return. The lending aspect is one of the features which has made this exchange popular. Loans typically have a duration of two days but when annualized, they tend to generate double-digit returns. It supports multiple bot services, which automatically renew loan offers and search for attractive rates. Users can also enable two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to the account.

In addition to spot and margin trading, users can also trade futures. There are no fees charged by Poloniex for deposits or withdrawals. Nonetheless, withdrawals are subject to the typical blockchain mining fee. Overall, Poloniex is an important exchange in the cryptocurrency ecosystem but is not the ideal option for beginners. Understandably, cryptocurrency users with more experience will try out this exchange because of its lending feature and a wide variety of cryptocurrencies.

Recently, Poloniex has implemented significant changes in its policies and architecture to attract new customers and emerge as a major player in the international market. This dynamic shift in its operation has provided users with privacy-focused services and an aesthetically pleasing trading terminal. In the next section, we will explore the history and background of Poloniex and explain how these changes came to be.

The history and background of Poloniex

In January 2014, Tristan D’Agosta launched Poloniex in Delaware, USA. Shortly after the launch, the exchange suffered a major security breach and lost 12% of its Bitcoin holdings worth $50,000 at the time. Following the hack, the company opted to reimburse affected users with D’Agosta’s company profit, a move that showcased the competence and commitment of the management team.

After this shaky start, Poloniex began to attract users in their numbers as a result of its strategic approach to crypto listings. For instance, Poloniex was the first exchange to support Ethereum in 2016. Such milestones helped the exchange attract more traders and emerge as a high liquidity trading platform.

Then in 2018, there was a change in management as Circle purchased Poloniex with the intention of transforming the platform into the first fully regulated crypto exchange in the USA. In line with this goal, Poloniex delisted nearly 50% of its supported crypto assets, especially those that might be classified as securities under existing laws. This remodeling also forced Poloniex to adopt strict KYC requirements.

Down the line, Circle claimed that it had inherited a backlog of 140,000 outstanding customer tickets. According to a blog post published in 2019, the lackluster nature of the exchange’s customer support negatively impacted growth.

In 2019, Poloniex took another dent to its already feeble reputation following the events leading to the ClAM crash and the exchange’s decision to socialize the resulting losses. In the same year, Circle decided to reshuffle and make Poloniex a separate entity with the parent company called Polo Digital Assets LTD. Backed by a group of Asian investors including Justin Tron, founder of Tron, this new company moved its headquarters to Seychelles. This move marked a sharp turnaround for Poloniex and its regulatory stance.

By moving to a crypto-friendly jurisdiction, Poloniex no longer forced KYC requirements on users. Starting from 2020, it became optional to undergo the platform’s identity verification processes. The exchange also had to stop providing services to users located in the United States. In 2021, Poloniex optimized its interfaces across its website and mobile apps to improve user experience.

Supported countries

The exchange is available globally. However, as a result of regulatory restrictions among other reasons, the exchange does not offer its services to residents and citizens of Cuba, North Korea, the United States, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.

KYC requirements and VIP accounts on Poloniex

As discussed earlier, KYC is optional on Poloniex. The exchange uses a 2 account verification status. Poloniex classifies those that submit valid email addresses alone for account verification as Level 1 users. Level 2 users are those that have gone a step further to scale KYC requirements.

It is worth mentioning that Level 2 users have a daily withdrawal limit of up to $750,000 while Level 1 users are limited to $20,000 daily. Also, large-volume traders, financial institutions, and market makers can open Poloniex’s silver, gold, and market maker accounts. The platform’s VIP accounts have access to lower fees, premium customer support, higher withdrawal limits, and so on.

Poloniex fees

Poloniex deducts a 0.125% fee on both the maker and the taker side when your 30-day trading volume is less than $50,000. This drops to 0.095% when you have over $49 worth of TRON in your wallet. Depending on your monthly volume, the maker fee is between the range of 0% to 0.125% while the taker fee has a range of 0.06% to 0.125%. The exchange incentivizes its gold and silver account holders with a 0% maker fee.

This fee schedule is also applicable to margin traders. For its futures market, the exchange charges a fixed 0.01% as maker fees and 0.075% on the taker side. Lenders pay 15% of the interest generated as fees to Poloniex.

Deposit and Withdrawals

Poloniex does not support fiat withdrawals or deposits. However, thanks to its integration with SImplex, you can use your credit or debit cards to buy cryptocurrencies. This comes with a flat fee of $10 or 3.5% of your transaction amount. With Simplex, you can buy as much as $20,000 worth of coins daily and $50,000 monthly.