5 Best Crypto Exchanges In The UK

Here’s something you may not realize: the cryptocurrency exchange you choose matters. Your choice will impact how profitable your trades are, how easily you can buy and sell coins, and whether you can use it in the UK at all.

Fortunately, I've been investing in crypto for more than 9 years, and I frequently update my list of the top platforms below. So if you’re looking for a safe and secure crypto exchange that’s easy to use, supports the British pound, and is compatible with the biggest financial institutions in the UK, you’ve come to the right place.

Here are my top picks for the best crypto exchanges the UK has to offer.

What Are The Best Crypto Exchanges In The UK?

1. CoinSmart – Best Overall + $50 Bonus

Very Secure

Total Fees: ~3% Security: 95% cold storage Signup bonus: $50 Great bonus but high fees.

★★★★ Rated 4.4/5

CoinSmart supports 16 cryptocurrencies, verifies accounts instantly, prides itself on its helpful customer service reps, and has a beautiful, well-rated app.

As a Canadian exchange, CoinSmart is regulated by several Canadian financial authorities, which keeps your money safe and secure. CoinSmart is also a publicly-traded company on Toronto’s NEO stock exchange, which means they’re subject to third-party financial and security audits at least once per year.

I've personally used CoinSmart for over a year, and I’ve had nothing but excellent experiences with them. I've tried out many of the other cryptocurrency exchanges on this list, so I'm confident that CoinSmart is a solid, reputable platform for most crypto investors.

From now until April 21, 2024, CoinSmart is offering a $50 signup bonus to Yore Oyster readers who fund their accounts with $200 or more. If you’re looking for a highly-respected exchange that offers the lowest fees, excellent customer service, and a slick mobile app, open a CoinSmart account today.

Features

• Extremely low trading fees (just 0.20% per trade)
• 24/7 customer support available via phone, live chat or email
• Instant account verification
• Supports 16 cryptocurrencies
• Immediate deposits and withdrawals
• User-friendly for both beginners and advanced traders
• 95% cold storage policy keeps your crypto extra secure

Cost

• Account Opening: Free
• Trading Fees: 0.20%

Signup Bonus

$50 bonus when you sign up using the link below and the CoinSmart promo code YOREOYSTER

Best For

Investors looking to trade stablecoins or altcoins with some of the industry’s lowest fees.

2. Plus500

Plus500 is a leveraged trading platform headquartered in Israel. It's one of the largest investing platforms in terms of volume, with millions of active traders worldwide. Plus500 supports 20+ crypto assets, including a mix of the largest cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum and promising altcoins like Polygon, Solana, and Cardano.

Plus500 Markets aggregates crypto prices from tens of data sources to offer very competitive prices. They also offer up to 2x leverage on all crypto investments. Investors can also set up price alerts and two types of stop orders: Stop Loss and Trailing Stop, to mitigate the risk of losing assets.

Plus500 doesn't charge trading fees – in fact, the only fees they charge are Overnight Funding, which applies when holding a position after a certain time, and Currency Conversion fees, if you trade in a different currency denomination than that of your account.

Plus500 users can also access most financial instruments, including shares, stocks and ETFs, CFDs, and even FX. Their mobile app is available on Android (4.3/5 ration) and iOS (also 4.3/5 rating), and they have excellent reviews on Trustpilot, averaging a rating of 4.2/5.

Features

• Supports 20+ cryptocurrency pairs
• Access to global markets for shares, ETFs, stocks, CFDs, FX, and crypto
• Demo account
• Supports 2x leverage for crypto assets

Cost

• Trading Fees: Free 
• Overnight Funding: Depends on the asset (from 0.02% – 0.05% for BTC)
• Spread: Depends on the asset (0.3% for BTC)

3. Gate.io

Founded in 2013, Gate.io is among the top 10 crypto exchanges in the world by volume, and it is the largest in terms of offerings: currently, it supports over 1,200 different cryptos. Among the biggest, there’s Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, and Ethereum.

Gate.io has a very interesting rewards system: the GateToken (GT). Similar to Binance’s BNB Coin, GateToken can be purchased from any exchange, and if you’re holding GateTokens when you’re purchasing or selling crypto, you get a significant discount on the fees. If you hold 500 GT in your wallet, you get the maximum discount.

As a new Gate.io user, you can receive a 30%-50% rebate on all your fees. If you have a significant audience, you can signup for their ambassador program and refer friends to earn additional rewards. Keep in mind this bonus stacks with your GateTokens discount, and it’s important to note that Gate.io doesn’t allow for fiat deposits.

Features

• Earn discounts by holding GateToken (GT)
• Supports 1,200+ cryptocurrencies
• Cold and hot wallet storage
• 2FA authentication and withdrawal password

Cost

• Maker’s Fees: From 0.2% to 0.155%
• Maker’s Fees (*Holding GT tokens): From 0.15% to 0.116%
• Taker’s Fees: From 0.2% to 0.165%
• Taker’s Fees (*Holding GT tokens): From 0.15% to 0.124%

Signup Bonus

30%-50% off trading fees

Best For

Investors who already have crypto and are looking for a spot trading platform.

4. KuCoin

KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange that began operations in Hong Kong in 2017 and bills itself as “The People’s Exchange.” Its objective was to offer a simple and secure platform for crypto investors, and it has been a success: in just four years it has attracted over 8 million users.

Besides buying and selling crypto, KuCoin supports four market order types as well as margins, futures, and P2P trading. KuCoin Trading Bots are one of its biggest features, allowing users to invest on autopilot using dollar-cost averaging.

New KuCoin users will receive a $10 sign-up bonus, and if you’re willing to freeze your crypto for a short period you can earn up to 10% in interest. KuCoin takes security seriously, with features like multi-factor authentication, encryption, and an additional trading password.

Features

• Users can also get trading fee discounts based on their KuCoin Token (KCS) balance.
• Margin Trading
• Crypto Staking, earn up to 10% interests
• KuCoin Trading Bots, invest on autopilot using dollar–cost averaging
• Supports 600+ cryptocurrencies
• Supports market, limit, stop-limit, and stop-market order types

Cost

• Trading Fees: From 0.0125% to 0.1%
• Makers Fees: From 0.0125% to 0.1%
• Takers Fees: From 0.0125% to 0.1%
• Deposit Fees: Free
• Withdrawal Fees: Depends on the coin (For BTC: 0.0005 BTC)

Signup Bonus

$10 signup bonus

Best For

Investors looking for a very secure platform, different market tools, and trading bots.

5. Bitstamp

Bitstamp is one of the world's largest and oldest crypto exchanges; it is geared towards experienced traders and has over 4 million active users worldwide. It offers competitively low fees ranging from 0.1% to 0.5% and many payment options; you can use credit or debit cards and SEPA transfers.

Bitstamp is partnered with large financial institutions like Swissquote, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Crédit Agricole. Bitstamp fully insures your assets and keeps them safe offline – in cold storage. Bitstamp provides both hot and cold storage.

New Bitstamp users receive a $20 bonus after funding their account, and you can immediately use it to buy any of the 53 cryptocurrencies available.

Features

• Extremely low trading fees (0.1%-0.5%)
• Buy crypto with fiat currency, credit cards or bank transfers
• 24/7 customer support available via phone, live chat or email
• Instant account verification
• Supports 53 of the largest cryptocurrencies
• Access to a crypto wallet
• Hot and cold wallet storage

Cost

• Account Opening: Free
• Credit Card Purchases: 5%
• Debit Card Withdrawal: Flat $10 (USD)
• SEPA Fees: €0 for deposits, €3 for withdrawals
• Trading Fees: From 0.5% to 0.1% (0.5% for trades below $10,000)
• International Wire Transfer: 0.05% for deposits, 0.1% for withdrawals

Signup Bonus

$20 signup bonus

Best For

Experienced investors looking for professional investing tools and data.

What To Look For In A Great British Crypto Exchange

I consider many different factors in my search for the best British crypto exchange. Here are just a few of the more prominent ones:

• Supported coins: The best British crypto exchanges support a wide variety of coins—at least 20 or 30—including all the major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Platforms that add new coins regularly tend to be more customer-focused overall, making this a strong indicator of a forward-thinking exchange.
• User interface: Choosing a platform with an easy-to-use trading interface is important, especially for beginners. If you're a seasoned crypto investor, you'll also want to look out for exchanges that offer more advanced features like advanced order types and transaction exports for tax purposes.
• Fees: All crypto exchanges charge fees (both in the form of trading commissions and bid-ask spreads), and they can vary by a wide margin. I've specifically chosen low-fee platforms here to help you maximize your profits.
• Regulation: It's much safer to trade with a well-regulated exchange than an unregulated one, especially when markets aren't moving in your favor. Depositors' insurance is another safeguard offered by some exchanges, which keeps your assets safe even if the platform itself faces liquidity issues.
• Deposit & withdrawal options: The exchange you choose should offer a variety of payment methods (bank transfers, debit/credit cards, PayPal, etc.) to ensure you can easily transfer funds in and out of your account. The more options you have, the better.
• Security: Look for an exchange that strictly enforces multiple layers of security, such as two-factor authentication and at least 95% cold storage. Additional security measures like daily offsite backups, third-party security audits, and email confirmations on transactions make your account even more secure.
• Customer support: The best crypto exchanges pride themselves on having well-trained, responsive support teams who can help users through any problems that come up. I pay particular attention to the channels each exchange offers support through, response times, the thoroughness and helpfulness of their responses, and user feedback on the customer support they've received.

In Summary

Choosing the best cryptocurrency exchange in the UK isn’t easy, given all the options out there and the different features each of them offers. As an avid crypto investor myself, I diligently keep up with the movements of the top exchanges in the UK, and have made my selections below based on years of research and personal experience.

CoinSmart is the favourite among knowledgeable British crypto investors, both for its high level of security and for its ease of use. CoinSmart's fees are also extremely low, so if you’re looking for a secure, cost-effective way to buy and sell crypto in the UK, I can’t recommend CoinSmart highly enough.

Best Crypto Exchanges In The United Kingdom—FAQs

Which British crypto exchange has the lowest fees?

The British crypto exchange with the lowest fees is generally CoinSmart, depending on the specific crypto assets you're trading. In most cases, CoinSmart will be the cheapest option.

What’s the best crypto wallet in the United Kingdom?

The best crypto wallet is the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet. It is the best way to keep your private keys secure and, more importantly, offline. All Ledger wallets are certified by the French National Agency of Security and are among the safest and most cost-efficient wallets out there, and they support 1,200+ crypto assets, coins, and tokens.

What’s the best altcoin exchange in the UK?

The best altcoin exchange in the UK is CoinSmart. CoinSmart supports a wide variety of cryptocurrencies and regularly adds more of the altcoins British investors are looking for.

What's the safest crypto wallet in the UK?

The Ledger Nano S is the safest wallet available today. All Ledger wallets far exceed industry standards for security: they use tamper-resistant Certified Secure Element (SE) with Common Criteria (CC) EAL5+ chips on their nanodevices, which means your private key stays on the secure chip. It also has a proprietary operating system called Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System (BOLOS) that's successfully undergone audits from the French National Agency of Security, many other government agencies, as well as regular audits from independent security organizations. 

What’s the safest crypto exchange in the UK?

The safest cryptocurrency exchange in the UK is CoinSmart. They strictly enforce bank-level security protocols, run on servers in secure locations around the world, and undergo frequent financial and security audits to ensure all of their users’ assets are completely safe. They also have some of the lowest fees of any platform in the UK and are known for being a reputable, trustworthy exchange.

How can I sell Bitcoin in the UK?

There are several different ways to sell Bitcoin in United Kingdom, though the easiest is to sell it directly from the crypto wallet or exchange that you’re holding it on. Remember to be cautious whenever you transfer coins between wallets, since blockchain transactions are irreversible.

What crypto exchange is best for beginners in the UK?

The best crypto exchange for beginners in the UK is either CoinSmart or Bitget. Both are ideal for beginners because they verify accounts instantly, have an easy-to-use trading platform, and provide great customer support in case you need any help along the way.

Is cryptocurrency legal in the UK?

Yes, cryptocurrency is legal in the UK, and you can buy, sell and use crypto without breaking the law. However, cryptocurrency is not currently considered legal tender in the UK, which means the British government and British businesses are not legally obligated to accept it as payment for goods and services.

What’s the best crypto app in the UK?

The best crypto app in the UK is CoinSmart. Its mobile app is very easy to use, has a nice, modern interface, and has very good ratings and reviews on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. If you live in other countries instead, you’ll have to double-check to ensure you can get the CoinSmart app in your local app store.

What is the best crypto exchange for day trading in the UK?

The best crypto exchange for day trading in the UK is CoinSmart, since it has low trading fees, tight spreads, and its prices update multiple times per second, giving day traders an upper hand over the rest of the market.

Can the British government track cryptocurrency?

Yes. Just like in places such as UAE, Uganda, Tunisia and Taiwan, British tax authorities can track cryptocurrency trades and transactions—and not only when your digital assets interact with real-world institutions like banks. Some exchanges in the UK are required by law to provide the government with information about their users’ transactions, including purchase price, purchase date, sale value, and all associated KYC data. If your tax returns don’t match the data the government receives from these exchanges, you may receive a fine.