IMPORTANT: As of December 7th 2016 Circle no longer allows the option of buying or selling Bitcoins through their services.They are now referring all of their customers to Coinbase.Probably the biggest competition in the Bitcoin marketplace today lies within Bitcoin exchanges, the most dominant being Coinbase and Circle.Today I’ve decide to test out these 2 exchanges head to head and see how much value for money I can get using $500.But I didn’t test only the fees and exchange rate, I also tried to figure which website makes the process easier.The most noticeable difference between Coinbase and Circle are the transaction fees.Circle states: “You shouldn’t have to pay fees to use your own money.We don’t charge fees when you convert funds to or from bitcoin with a linked bank account, when you store your bitcoin, or for bitcoin transactions” Indeed when you buy Bitcoins with Circle you won’t pay a fee but it seems that circle $500 don’t come up as $500 worth of Bitcoins.

This is due to several reasons: Coinbase on the other hand charges a fixed 1% transaction fee no matter what payment method you use and a $ 0.15 fee for ACH deposits.These fees are pretty low compared to other alternatives out there that allow you to buy Bitcoins.Until today I’ve bought Bitcoins through almost 10 different exchanges.I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a website that’s so intuitive as Circle’s.The simple design and sleek animation make it appealing and easy to use for even non tech savvy users.But the real “magic moment” comes from the ability to purchase Bitcoin with a credit card within 2 minutes of setting up an account.Most websites require some sort of initial verification and until today the process of buying Bitcoins with a credit card was pretty complex.It takes about 2 minutes to complete the process with Circle and I’m willing to pay extra for that.Coinbase has also done a great job on their website but the process is a bit lengthy and can wear you out.

The main issue being the fact that you need to verify your back account and sometimes this can take a day or two.Since 99Bitcoins deals with a lot of people who buy their first Bitcoin I’ve noticed something strange going on lately.On several occasions I’ve gotten emails from people claiming they placed an order on Coinbase and it got canceled claiming that their account is in “high risk”.raspberry pi 2 bitcoin miningOddly enough all of these cancelation happened when the price of Bitcoin went up drastically.bitcoin sync sizeHere’s an example of such a case which caused a delay of purchase for the user.litecoin to brlOne user was so angry that he went out and made a website called Coinbase Fraud, this websites shows real live examples of Coinbase cancelling orders when it benefits them due to changes in the price of Bitcoin.bitcoin exchange moneypak

I can’t say I’ve experienced such issues with Coinbase myself but it seems to me that I’ve heard about these kinds of stories so many times that there’s probably some truth in it.Both Circle’s and Coinbase’s mobile app are pretty intuitive and easy to use.Having said that Circle does a much better job at creating an enjoyable experience (just like their website).bitcoin fast syncAt times when I needed support from Coinbase and Circle they both seemed to have responded in a timely manner and got my questions answered.bitcoin exchange moneypakIf you spend $500 with Coinbase at today’s exchange rate you’d get 1.3103BTC (all fees included).If you go with Circle you’d receive 1.2782BTC.This may seem that Circle is much more expensive than Coinbase, but it important to note that I’ve measured Coinbase’s ACH payment method with Circle’s credit card method (since I don’t have an American credit card which Coinbase accepts).

This mean that with Coinbase you’ll get the coin 2-4 days after you’ve made the purchase and with Circle you’ll get it instantly – so I guess you should figure out if 0.0321BTC is worth waiting 2 days (~roughly $11 at today’s exchange rate).After all is said and done, I prefer Circle to Coinbase.Their sleek design, ease of use and lightning fast transaction delivery creates a real “magic moment” for me.I also don’t mind paying more fees for this outstanding experience.If you’re all about saving as much as possible than Coinbase is probably the way to go, but if you want to avoid the hassle choose Circle.Wallet Website The Circle app is well designed and easy to use with a whole host of features enabling easy money transfer and syncing with your traditional bank accounts.Circle fully insures your bitcoin deposits through Lloyds of London underwriters.The circle wallet has the following features.Connect your bank account and credit cards to easily move money to and from your Circle account.When you convert money from a linked bank account to bitcoin, you don't pay any fees.Send bitcoin to contacts via email.Scan bitcoin QR codes to make instant payments.Request bitcoin from contacts via email.Generate your own QR codes to receive bitcoin from others.Get started with a new Circle account in minutes.Set a PIN code for easy access to the Circle app once you're signed in.Get timely help from a friendly support team.

Related guides Compare and Choose a Bitcoin Wallet?Compare and Choose a Bitcoin Debit Card?What is a Bitcoin Paper Wallet?What is a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet?What is a Bitcoin Web Wallet?What is a Bitcoin Brain Wallet?What is a Bitcoin Private Key?What is Elliptic Curve Cryptography?How to create a Bitcoin address from a Public Key?How to store Bitcoins?Latest Tweets Tweets by circlepayI finally got around to trying out Circle today.Particularly for a company that has raised $26 million.This is a space we’re interested in at CrunchFund, and are looking for who might be the breakout winners.Circle is supposed to be a dead simple Bitcoin wallet and money transfer service.But here’s my experience: 1.I created an account and tried to add my bank account and credit card to deposit money into the system (as Bitcoin).I had to give a lot of personal information.And I had to take a photo of my drivers license.And then I had to take a selfie.I don’t have a huge problem with that since these kinds of services are a huge fraud magnet.

But Circle said they needed time to review the information.and here’s the problem, they basically (kind of) shut down my account while they were doing that.This is a bad idea.Because they didn’t actually tell me they were suspending my account.A helpful feature showed me how to receive Bitcoin and so I copied the wallet address and sent myself a Bitcoin from another wallet.I thought, hey, I can still use the service while they figure out my banking situation.The Bitcoin transfer went through and was confirmed in the blockchain.But over at Circle I showed no pending transactions and no confirmed transactions…for hours.No messages that my account was suspended, or why fraud prevention would require them to accept a bitcoin transfer to the address they supplied me but not to tell me about it, even as pending.Then things got weird.When I logged into the mobile app (remember, after I had a confirmed Bitcoin transaction) I saw this: No sign of the Bitcoin received, either pending or confirmed.

But also no suggestion that the account is suspended.So I logged in from my laptop.And I see this: Circle actually kicked me out completely with the message “Additional Review Needed”.But what about that Bitcoin I transferred to the account?It’s clear from the message above that something is very wrong with my account, but that Bitcoin is gone?Where is that Bitcoin?Maybe they shouldn’t have supplied me with a wallet address before they knew if they wanted me as a customer?Meanwhile my friend Nik Cubrilovic tried to send me Bitcoin through Circle and had his own terrible experience, which you can see here.Here’s the tl;dr of that experience: On the upside Circle wouldn’t let him transfer money into the black hole that is my account.But it was certainly an awful user experience, and an unnecessary one.Just because my selfie wasn’t well lighted enough isn’t a good reason to stop a bitcoin-bitcoin transaction.The account verification stuff is to stop me from moving $ into their network fraudulently, which isn’t happening here.