10 Best Crypto Exchanges UK (December 2024)

In this guide, we have created a list of the 10 best crypto exchanges for UK investors in 2024. We’ve done all the research to make choosing the best crypto exchange for your trading requirements more straightforward for you. We analyse each crypto exchange and compare their features, fees, and supported cryptos.

So, let’s dive into our guide on the best crypto exchanges UK investors should consider for 2024 and try to help you determine the suitable crypto exchange for you.

Best Crypto Exchanges for UK Investors

Are you a UK investor interested in buying and selling cryptocurrencies? With the rise in digital asset popularity, choosing the right crypto exchange can be overwhelming. But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered!

Our team has researched and tested various crypto exchanges to develop a list of the top 10 crypto exchanges for UK investors in 2024. We’ll walk you through each exchange’s pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision.

Our selection process considered factors such as security, user interface, fees, customer support, and supported cryptos. We believe the best crypto exchanges for UK investors should offer a seamless trading experience while maintaining high security.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, our guide will help you find the perfect crypto exchange for your needs.

So let’s get started! Here is our list of the best crypto exchanges UK investors should consider in 2024;

• Binance – Best for Features
• Coinbase – Best for Beginners
• eToro – Best for Copytrading
• Uphold
• Crypto.com
• OKX
• Kraken
• Gemini
• Kucoin
• Uniswap

1. Binance

Binance currently dominates the global cryptocurrency exchange space, making up a significant portion of the daily crypto trading volume. We believe Binance is one of the best crypto exchanges for UK crypto investors, with a strong focus on altcoin trading. As a regular leader of Spot Cryptocurrency Exchanges regarding traffic, liquidity, and trading volumes on CoinMarketCap, Binance shows that people trust the platform and that competitive prices are available.

The crypto exchange offers hundreds of trading pairs between different digital currencies. Although Binance offers some FIAT to crypto pairs, most are between crypto-assets. You can buy crypto with FIAT using 3rd parties, bank transfers or a credit or debit card. Plus, they have some of the lowest trading fees of any cryptocurrency exchange. Starting at 0.1%, these reduce further depending on trading volumes, promotions, or using their BNB coin.

For more information, check out our Binance Exchange Review.

Binance Features:

Binance offers many features to its users, making it one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world. One of Binance’s most impressive features is its advanced trading platform. It offers users a variety of tools, charts, and order types to take advantage of. Binance also has a wide range of altcoins to trade, with many new coins being added monthly. 

Binance also offers users the ability to make margin trades and use leverage. This means users can trade on borrowed funds and potentially increase their profits.

However, Binance is not limited to trading. It offers financial services for crypto assets, including staking, liquidity pools and swaps, derivatives, education, and its self-custody crypto wallet, Trust Wallet.

Binance also provides users with plenty of security features, including two-factor authentication, cold storage of funds, and 24/7 customer support.

2. Coinbase

Next is Coinbase, which, in contrast to Binance, can be expensive in terms of fees. However, Coinbase is very user-friendly, and most people getting into crypto tend to start here, especially with sign-up offers such as their £5 free Bitcoin. The interface is easy to use and ideal for newbies because of its simple buying process.

However, users will soon become aware that Coinbase has some of the highest trading fees among all the crypto exchanges, ranging from 1.49 to 3.99% and from 0.5% with Advanced Trade, which supports a broader range of tokens and is more aimed at experienced traders.

Coinbase supports customers in over 30 countries, including the US, most of Europe, Singapore, Canada, and Australia, with some very high volume and liquidity. 

For more information, check out our Coinbase Review.

Coinbase Features:

Coinbase offers a wide range of features for users. It provides a simple and user-friendly interface for various trading pairs between cryptocurrencies and supports FIAT to crypto pairs. They also offer advanced order types and charting with Advanced Trade for more advanced traders.

The cryptocurrency exchange platform is not limited to trading. Coinbase Earn offers ways to put your crypto to work and earn rewards, or you can take quizzes and earn free crypto. Plus, there’s the Coinbase self-custody crypto wallet, the Coinbase Card, ways to borrow, create and collect NFTs and a subscription-based service.

Another thing that makes Coinbase one of the top UK crypto exchanges is its security. While multiple attempts have breached the exchange’s security, Coinbase has yet to suffer a massive hack, and they store 97% of bitcoins offline.

3. eToro

eToro is a popular UK-regulated trading platform where investors can trade stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs. Founded in 2007 by three entrepreneurs, the platform is now trusted by millions of customers worldwide. EToro aimed to make trading accessible to anyone, anywhere, and reduce dependency on traditional financial institutions. eToro is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

There are hundreds of different financial assets to trade on eToro, which can be traded using various investment strategies. Sometimes, you will own the underlying assets, such as long (BUY), non-leveraged positions on stocks and cryptos. They will also employ CFDs, enabling various options, such as short (SELL) positions, leveraged trades, fractional ownership, etc.

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down, putting your capital at risk.

For more information, check out our eToro Review.

eToro Features:

If you’re an experienced investor or a beginner, eToro will have you covered. Beginners can start investing in stocks with fractional shares, allowing users to own just a fraction of a single stock.

Investors can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and other popular cryptocurrencies if they are interested in crypto trading.

CopyTrader was brought to the platform in 2010 and is great for those getting started investing or who don’t have the time to watch the markets constantly. CopyTrader lets you view what real traders do in real time and copy their trades automatically.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Your capital is at risk. Other fees apply. For more information, visit etoro.com/trading/fees.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

Past performance is not an indication of future results.

4. Uphold

Uphold is a multi-currency investment provider founded by serial entrepreneur Halsey Minor in 2013. The company is headquartered in London and is one of the best UK crypto exchanges. It operates in six countries: the UK, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

Uphold’s U.K. subsidiary, “Uphold Europe Limited”, has received FCA approval as a Registered Crypto Asset service provider. This means they comply with the U.K. Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing regulations.

With Uphold, businesses and individuals can invest and exchange various assets, including cryptocurrencies, national currencies, precious metals and US equities.

Uphold offers commission-free trading on various products, with crypto trading pairs available via its app and web platforms. Additionally, account holders can benefit from digital wallets, in which currencies can be easily stored and exchanged. Uphold is a popular choice for those looking to trade online with confidence and security as a well-regulated and robustly safeguarded investment provider.

For more information, check out our Uphold Review.

Uphold Features:

One of the primary USPs of Uphold is their ‘anything to anything’ asset conversion offering. Depending on your location, you can trade assets directly with a bank account, cryptocurrency network, precious metals, US equities or debit/credit card.

Uphold also has a debit card, enabling smooth transactions using a range of cryptos, metals, and currencies. Plus, you can earn 1% back in USD for every USD-sourced transaction and 2% back in the cryptocurrency used for every crypto purchase.

Uphold also offers a mobile app for on-the-go trading.

5. Crypto.com

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Singapore. They were previously known as Monaco before being rebranded to Crypto.com in July 2018, paying between $5 million to $10 million for the domain.

Since its launch in 2016, they have become one of the fastest-growing companies in the crypto space, with over 10 million users worldwide. They continue to innovate and add more features to their platforms, such as their popular Visa debit card and, more recently, NFTs. They are making it a one-stop shop for crypto enthusiasts.

For more information, check out our Crypto.com Review.

Crypto.com Features:

Crypto.com offers users an array of features and products, including the Crypto.com App, where users can buy crypto, including Bitcoin and 100+ cryptocurrencies, with a credit/debit card or via bank transfers.

One of the most popular features is their Crypto.com Visa Debit Card, where users can receive cashback on purchases between 1% and 8%, plus free Spotify, Prime and Netflix subscriptions.

The Crypto.com exchange is their platform for users to trade crypto to crypto with more advanced order types, low fees and deep liquidity. They also have an additional range of products within the exchange, including The Syndicate, Supercharger and Lending.

There are also ways for users to stake and earn from their crypto, DeFi services and an NFT marketplace.

6. OKX

OKX was created in 2017 by Star Xu, and the Seychelles-based exchange boasts an impressive portfolio of investors, including VenturesLab, Ceyuan Ventures and Longling Capital. Their services are available in more than 200 countries, except for the USA. OKX has its utility token, ‘OKB’, launched in early 2018. OKB can be used to settle trading fees and as a payment method for particular services on the platform.

Since their rebranding from OKex to OKX, the platform has expanded its range of services, offering a range of trading options, demo/virtual trading accounts and easy onboarding for new users getting into the trading crypto.

For more information, check out our OKX Review.

OKX Features:

In terms of trading crypto, OKX offers a wide range of services for their traders, including margin trading, options trading, perpetual swaps, spot trading, and ways they can purchase crypto with a credit or debit card.

The OKX Wallet is your entry into Web3, DeFi and the Metaverse. A self-custody crypto wallet where users can store crypto and NFTs, swap crypto with an inbuilt DEX, mint and trade NFTs and connect to Dapps

There are also options for staking, earning interest and borrowing with crypto loans.

7. Kraken

Kraken Exchange is one of the oldest crypto exchanges, having operated since 2013. The platform is another great option for newbies, with a simple and basic interface to get started with, whilst also a good option for more advanced traders. It offers users more than 150 cryptocurrencies to trade, buy, and sell.

With Kraken, users can trade with six fiat currencies, including British Pounds, USD, Japanese Yen, Canadian, Euros, and Australian dollars. Kraken trading fees range from 0% to 0.26%, which is pretty low for a crypto exchange. It’s also considered a very secure space to trade digital currencies, with most of its cryptocurrency stored offline.

For more information, check out our Kraken Review.

Kraken Features:

With Kraken Exchange, there are many trading features, including spot markets, futures trading with up to 50x leverage and margin trading to open more significant positions. Plus, they offer various order types like limit, market, stop, trailing stop, and fill or kill.

Regarding staking options, users can stake Polkadot, Cosmos and Tezos with Kraken. In some countries, you can even stake FIAT currencies such as Euros and US dollars.

8. Gemini

Gemini Exchange is a good option for users looking to buy or sell crypto with fiat money, bank deposits and withdrawals.

It is a regulated cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, and custodian that makes buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various other digital assets simple and secure. The cryptocurrency exchange was launched in 2015 in the US by the Winklevoss twins Cameron & Tyler, who rose to fame in 2004 after they sued Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook. The company has now expanded its operations to Europe and Asia. 

Gemini Features

Gemini exchange offers an array of features for their users with a streamlined trading view and simple ways to trade assets, manage your holdings and set recurring buys.

For the more advanced trader, Gemini has ActiveTrader, their inbuilt advanced trading platform with more advanced order types, charts and lower trading fees.

Plus, they have their own Gemini wallet, a secure way to store your crypto assets.

For more information, check out our Gemini Review.

9. KuCoin

KuCoin Exchange is one of the newer crypto trading platforms on our list and was created in 2017. Where you buy and sell cryptocurrencies in over 200 countries. They have high liquidity and a wide selection of supported digital currencies and services.

Much like Binance, this crypto exchange is another excellent option for low trading fees and is based on a user’s trading volume and holdings of the platform’s native token, KCS.

KuCoin boasts one of the world’s most sophisticated security technology and maintenance teams and is constantly upgrading its security systems to ensure the safety of user assets and accounts. However, KuCoin was hacked in September 2020, with hackers obtaining the private keys to the exchange’s hot wallets.

For more information, check out our Kucoin Review.

Kucoin Features:

KuCoin has many features that cater to the newbie just getting into the crypto market or the seasoned trader. New users can buy crypto directly from their site with FIAT currency via Visa, MasterCard, FIAT balances, peer-to-peer or using 3rd party providers.

Experienced traders can trade with margin, trading bots and derivatives with leverage. They also feature ways users can earn stable profits on their assets, borrow, buy, sell and swap NFTs, and even have their self-custody crypto wallet.

10. Uniswap

Uniswap is an automated token exchange based on the Ethereum blockchain launched in 2018. Unlike centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, Uniswap has no order book for executing trades. Instead, it allows users to trade without a middleman or third party, with a high degree of decentralization and censorship resistance. Plus, unlike a centralised exchange, you control your funds.

One thing to mention is that you can’t buy or sell Bitcoin BTC with UniSwap. However, Wrapped Bitcoin, also known as wBTC, is available on the crypto platform.

This platform may not suit the newbie first getting into crypto as you’ll need an understanding of DEFI and already have Ethereum in your wallet to get started. However, there are endless options for ERC20 tokens available on Uniswap. Their trading fees are at 0.3%, but Ethereum gas fees are also to be paid, depending on how congested the Ethereum network is. Uniswap allows users to become liquidity providers and earn 0.3% of the fees.

For more information, check out our Uniswap Review.

Uniswap Features:

Uniswap’s main feature is its decentralised nature, with no centralised order book and uses liquidity pools instead. The platform also offers a vast range of tokens that can’t be found on centralised exchanges. Although this can be dangerous regarding scam tokens, Uniswap has integrated “Token Lists” so users can use reputable lists from trustworthy sources.

Traders will also benefit from Uniswap’s “Auto Router” feature to find the best route for each trade and help reduce gas costs.

Users can also buy and sell NFTs and profit by supplying liquidity to a pool.

What is the Best Crypto Exchange in the UK?

Coinbase is considered one of the best crypto exchanges for UK investors due to its user-friendly interface, strong security measures, and support for a wide range of cryptocurrencies. The platform offers trading solutions for beginner, advanced, and institutional traders. Coinbase also provides a Visa debit card, called the Coinbase Card, that allows users to spend any cryptocurrency in their Coinbase portfolio or USDC anywhere Visa is accepted.

However, Coinbase’s fees are relatively high compared to some other exchanges. The fee structure is a combination of elements that depend on transaction value, among other factors. Despite the higher fees, many users still choose Coinbase for its other advantages.

Binance is another popular crypto exchange with low fees and a wide range of supported cryptocurrencies. However, it has faced regulatory issues with UK authorities, which could concern UK investors.

What Should You Look for from a UK Crypto Exchange?

When looking for a UK crypto exchange, there are several important factors that you should consider to ensure that you choose the best platform. Here are some key things to look for in a crypto exchange

1. Platform Security: Look for a cryptocurrency exchange with high-security measures, including two-factor authentication and cold storage of user funds.
2. Transaction Fees: Look for an exchange with competitive fees, including trading, deposit and withdrawal fees. Also, beware of any hidden cost; if something is too good to be true, it normally is.
3. Currency Support: Ensure the exchange has a wide range of currencies available for trading.
4. Trading Features: Consider the range of trading features, including margin, futures, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
5. User Interface: Choose an exchange with an intuitive and user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and understand, especially if you’re a beginner.
6. Liquidity: An exchange needs high trading volumes and liquidity to ensure you can buy and sell your assets quickly and easily.
7. Customer Support: Even for experienced traders, things can and do go wrong, and sometimes you must ask questions. Look for an exchange that offers reliable and responsive customer support with multiple channels for communication, such as email, live chat, or phone support.

Can you Leave Cryptocurrency on an Exchange?

You can leave cryptocurrency on a crypto exchange, but it’s generally not recommended for security reasons. When you leave your cryptocurrency on an exchange, you don’t own the private keys to your coins. You risk losing your funds if the exchange is hacked or out of business.

Leaving your cryptocurrency on an exchange may also make you vulnerable to phishing attacks, where scammers trick you into giving up your login credentials. It is generally safer to store your cryptocurrency in a personal wallet you control, such as a hardware wallet (Trezor One or a Ledger Nano S or Nano X) or a software wallet. This way, you have complete control over your private keys and can ensure the safety and security of your funds.

How is Crypto Taxed in the UK?

Cryptocurrency is taxed as Capital Gains Tax or Income Tax in the UK. For capital gains from crypto above the £12,300 tax-free allowance, you’ll pay 10% or 20% tax. If you make additional income from crypto over the personal allowance, you’ll pay between 20% and 45% in tax.

The exact amount you’ll pay depends on your transaction, the applicable tax, and the Income Tax band you fall into. So, the type of tax you’ll pay on your cryptocurrency depends on the specific transactions you make. If you’re making an income, you’ll pay Income Tax. You’ll pay Capital Gains Tax if you’re making a capital gain.

For more information about crypto tax, you can check out our guide on the Best Crypto Tax Software for 2024.

Conclusion: What is the Best Crypto Exchange for UK Investors?

Hopefully, with the information we have provided in this guide to the best crypto exchange UK, you can decide which one is the best fit for your trading requirements.

It is important to note that the cryptocurrency market is constantly evolving, and exchanges may change their policies, fees or supported assets. So, staying up-to-date with the latest information is always a good idea and not relying on one crypto exchange.

We hope this guide has been helpful in your search for the best crypto exchange in the UK, but if we have missed one of your favourites, let us know in the comments below.

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