Kuna Review

What is Kuna Exchange?

Kuna is a cryptocurrency exchange catering to the Ukrainian market by offering a number of crucial cryptocurrencies for direct purchase with the Ukrainian Hryvnia. Kuna is not a big player on the world stage. At the time of this writing, they’re the number 123rd most used crypto exchange by 24 hour volume, and their place in the global standings doesn’t get much higher than that. In fact, volume is so low on Kuna that an hour can go by without a single trade taking place.

This is not to say that Kuna is a bad exchange, only that they don’t do a lot of business and their potential client base is limited. We like the way Kuna looks and communicates. We like the way their platform is organized. We like the security Kuna (by all appearances) seems to have invested in for the protection of their customers.

But with so few trades occurring, we don’t know why anyone would choose Kuna over any of a dozen other choices. Everything Kuna can do, some other exchange can do, without the likelihood of the user having to wait hours or days for a simple market order to be matched. It’s possible that Kuna will grow, and they seem to have a strong enough foundation to do so. But without expanding the range of services they provide, particularly beyond a single Ukrainian currency, we don’t see Kuna increasing its sphere of influence much beyond where it stands today in mid-2018.

eToro is Probably the Best Alternative for European Buyers

The social trading and multi-asset brokerage company, eToro, offers a simplified crypto investment experience that also allows users to copy other traders based on their longevity and the performance of their portfolio. For those with little time or knowledge or both, eToro provides a clearer path to profits and freedom than Kuna.

In addition, eToro is regulated in multiple jurisdictions and is available in more than 60 countries. Above all, eToro is provides an unparalleled user experience that new entrants to complex crypto markets will no doubt find much easier to figure out.

Signing Up With Kuna Exchange

So let’s say you want to use Kuna Exchange anyway, perhaps because you’re Ukrainian and you’re just dying to buy a bunch of Everus (the world’s 506th most popular cryptocurrency according to CMC; we don’t know what it is, but it’s still somehow the most purchased coin on Kuna?!). You’re ready to go. What do you do?

Fortunately, Kuna news tells us that Kuna signup is really easy. Kuna.io even shows you the steps you need to take, as well as good estimates about how long each stage of the process will take to complete. Here’s a breakdown of the simple process.

First, registration requires only a little bit of personal information, including a working email address. Once you’ve submitted your email, Kuna exchange will send you a verification email with a link to click. This will take you back to the site; but this time you’ll be within the platform. From here you’ll need to attach your debit or credit card for account funding. Funding takes less than a minute. As soon as your funds arrive, you can start making orders.

That’s all there is to it. To Kuna’s credit, you don’t get much simpler than that.

What Coins Does Kuna Exchange Support?

One interesting wrinkle in the Kuna exchange story is the cryptocurrencies they’ve built into the platform. Of course, we’ve got the obvious movers and shakers like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, Ripple, Waves and Bitcoin Cash. But then we’ve got some relative unknowns, specifically Everus and Aeron (the two most traded coins on the platform by volume!), as well as Russian Miner Coin, Revain, TrueUSD, and Golos Gold.

We won’t dig too far into the unknown coins beyond Everus. Everus is a Malaysian cryptocurrency which seems to deal primarily with everyday cash payments. As there are many coins which work within this competitive niche, we’re not sure why Everus features so prominently within the Kuna platform, but perhaps Everus simply has a big marketing push in Ukraine. Whatever the case, it’s a case in point that Kuna is a niche crypto exchange, so unless you are a rabid fan of Everus, you’ll likely find a better service elsewhere.

Kuna.io Fees

If you’re still reading and interested in using Kuna.io for whatever reason, you’ll likely want to know about Kuna fees. Kuna fees are fairly easy to understand, but they do vary by currency, so you should pay attention to the information on this page if you want to understand what you’ll pay before you start using the service.

All maker and taker fees are 0.25%, exactly as much as the much larger Bittrex exchange charges. Deposits and withdrawals of the Ukrainian Hryvnia fiat currency are 1% apiece. Deposits and withdrawals of cryptocurrencies vary by coin, and are standardized for periods of time set by Kuna.

We’re not a big fan of set fee numbers for crypto withdrawals (0.008 Eth, for example). This is because the price of individual cryptocurrencies is usually so volatile. A set fee price that’s appropriate one day might be much too high on another day. Variable fees tethered to an set amount of fiat currency are much preferable, as the user always know what they’ll be paying, however much the price of Bitcoin jumps around.

Is Kuna Secure?

Kuna exchange seems to be secure. We can’t find many complaints about it anywhere, and there have even been some pretty bold statements about its methods regarding cold storage and hack proofing. Its security options for the daily user (password, 2FA) are industry standard. In general, small exchanges are more vulnerable to hacking than larger exchanges because they don’t have the same level of resources to fund high security. That said, Kuna has yet to have a major catastrophe associated with its platform.

Strong Points of the Kuna Exchange Platform

Despite all we’ve said about the Kuna exchange thus far, it’s really not a bad platform. It simply has limitations that will make it irrelevant to many. To its credit, the platform looks great and performs flawlessly on mobile, despite there being no dedicated Kuna app. We also like that credit deposits are completed so quickly, usually in less than half an hour. That gets new traders into the game quickly, able to use their new coins as they please without having to wait days or weeks for a bank wire transfer to be completed. Finally, what we know of Kuna support indicates good things about the customer service experience.

Final Thoughts on Kuna Exchange

Despite that handful of selling points, Kuna exchange is nonetheless not of much use to most traders. Even if you’re a user of Ukrainian fiat currency, the very low trading volume might mean you’ll have to wait hours or days to complete a trade in one of several trading pairs.

A great example is the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash (BTC/BCH) trading pair. One of the most used trading pairs on exchanges worldwide, this pair saw only $27 of value transacted on Kuna within the past 24 hours. Most other coin pairs supported on the platform have less than $10,000 in volume each day – enough to sustain a market, but not nearly enough to attract interest or secure the best prices.

Kuna is an attractive exchange that’s easy to use, but it’s major limitations make it an exchange we can’t recommend for any other purpose than buying crypto with UAH. There are simply too many other strong exchanges in operation today, many of which offer incredible features to people all across continental Europe. eToro is one of the best, and we’ve described them thoroughly earlier in this Kuna review. Try both yourself if you like, and let us know which one you find the more useful.