Coinbase Prime Review

Institution-level cryptocurrency traders can benefit significantly from this trading and custody platform that supports over 400 tokens across multiple trading venues to procure low trading expenses.

My Coinbase Prime review highlights the hands-on trading and storage options available to all institutions.

Is this platform’s flexibility and tailored support a good fit for your organization’s investment strategy?

The Verdict for Coinbase Prime

I’ve given them a rating of 9.2 out of 10.

Criteria	Rating (out of 10)
Security Standards	9
Pricing & Fees	9
Asset Segregation	9
Insurance Coverage	9.5
Services & Offerings	9.5
Regulatory Compliance	9.5
Onboarding & Integration	9
Overall Rating	9.2

In this review of Coinbase Prime I’ve followed BIC’s detailed criteria for evaluating the crypto custodian.

About Coinbase Prime

Coinbase Prime is a multi-feature cryptocurrency brokerage specifically for institutional investors offering trading, staking, custody, and financing services.

It launched in 2018 and is powered by Coinbase, the largest centralized exchange in the United States.

The platform derives its name from the all-in-one prime broker services used by crypto-focused companies and hedge funds, including MicroStrategy and One River Digital.

Institutions from various industries are able to secure competitive pricing and have ample liquidity.   

You can choose between two membership tiers:

• Full Access: Integrated trading and custody services. Staking and financing services are available too. 
• Custody Only: Insured hot and cold cryptocurrency storage.

A $320 million insurance policy backs both account types. This is a generous coverage limit. I also like the ability to trade through one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

Perks of the full access prime brokerage include:

• 450+ cryptocurrency trading pairs with in-depth analysis
• 430+ assets available for custody, staking, and governance
• 200+ digital assets tradable through a single advanced smart order router 
• 24/7 high-touch agency trading desk built for client-specific goals 
• Multi-exchange access (10+) using a single counterparty
• Tailored setup for full access and custody-only clients

Thanks to the high trading volumes, these advanced trading benefits are available to asset managers and institutions worldwide.

You will benefit the most from this service when trading at least $250,000 at a time. 

I like the cross-exchange functionality and numerous trading capacities that are uncommon from institutional custody providers.

The hands-on trading desk and proprietary algorithms also make it easier to execute large block orders at the lowest possible cost.

Security Standards

The Prime platform uses enterprise-grade encryption and risk controls.

For instance, all Prime users must authenticate their session with a YubiKey as part of the two-factor authentication (2FA) login process. 

Moreover, an in-house security team continually monitors for threats, and you can customize your institution’s security procedures during onboarding. 

Security safeguards include:

• Authorized user roles: Assign roles and permissions for specific features and portfolios to team members. Entity-wide and portfolio-only permissions following your organizational hierarchy are possible.
• Cold storage wallets: Digital assets remain in insured, segregated accounts with 1:1 cold storage in Coinbase Vault. These wallets use multi-party computation (MPC), where several signatures must approve critical transactions.
• Consensus settings: Choose whether a majority of approvers or all approvers must agree to entity and portfolio action proposals. 
• Partial key accessibility: Private keys are not stored in full, usable format or at a single location. For ultimate security, individuals can only present a partial key online and sign transactions at the very end.
• Transfer controls: Customize conditions for cryptocurrency and cash transactions, based on destination, wallet address, transfer size, and more.
• Video verification: A mandatory step for certain transactions, including account withdrawals. After receiving general approval, Prime uses these sessions to verify a client’s identity. 

Coinbase Custody Trust Company serves as the qualified custodian and undergoes routine SOC I Type 2 and SOC II Type 2 audits by Deloitte & Touche. 

I’m pleased with the customization ability and the emphasis on multi-factory security.

Pricing & Fees

Coinbase Prime does not publicly share its platform fees. Instead, you participate in a video consultation to decide which membership level and features are the best fit. 

Some of the known pricing details involve these services:

• Trading fees: When executing trades, choose between a single all-in fee or a flat commission plus pass-through exchange fees.
• Custody and vault: Anticipate receiving a monthly invoice at the beginning of the month reflecting your fee schedule for Coinbase Custody and Vault transactions. 
• Staking: Validator fees vary by protocol but typically range from 5% to 20%.

Seeing the fees before applying makes it easier to compare brokerages.

However, the discrete pricing model is common for enterprise-first custodians, in my experience. 

Asset Segregation

Coinbase maintains a 1:1 asset balance and keeps wallets between customers separate. It won’t use your assets as collateral, lend them, or transact without your permission.

Clients can also request account audits when external parties need asset verification. 

You create a Coinbase Vault cold storage wallet built for multi-user operations. This distributed cold storage practice is more functional than a traditional consumer hardware wallet.

Deposits automatically sweep into new wallet addresses as existing ones are used for transactions.

Regarding crypto-backed loans, the platform tracks and stores the required collateral and asset balances.

Insurance Coverage

All Coinbase Prime accounts are eligible for up to $320 million in insurance coverage. This crime insurance coverage limit is higher than the $250 million industry standard.

The standard policy can protect against theft and other criminal activity stemming from qualified incidents, such as cybersecurity breaches.

However, it may still be necessary to purchase supplemental policies to protect excess balances or to be eligible for more incident types. 

Cash balances qualify for FDIC insurance through the exchange’s banking partners.

Services & Offerings

Coinbase Prime is a highly functional trading and custody platform that can satisfy many investing strategies.

Advanced trading tools

Active traders can access robust analysis tools to pinpoint entry and exit points for over 430 digital assets and trading pairs. 

Keynote features include:

• One-click order entry
• Customize order types (limit, iceberg, market, time-weighted average price)
• In-depth charts
• Programmable APIs for trading and market monitoring
• Real-time order books
• Multi-exchange smart order routing

I like the advanced order routing capabilities to trade outside Coinbase Exchange when a partner platform offers a more competitive price.

This capability minimizes slippage while integrating prominent exchanges and market makers with your Prime account. 

The post-trade reporting also provides several insights regarding your acquisition cost and order execution efficiency.

Agency trading desk

A 24/7 high-touch trading desk is available to institutional clients through Coinbase Execution Services (CES).

This isn’t an internal proprietary desk, although the service can help you identify your goals, form a trading strategy, and provide ongoing market research. 

You maintain anonymity, and Coinbase is the sole counterparty as you trade across multiple venues. The trading algorithms help optimize your trading cost on large block orders.

Staking rewards

Cryptocurrency staking is a lucrative way to earn recurring income while holding long-term positions.

The variable rewards rate, minimum, and payout frequency differ token-to-token. 

Supported tokens include:

• Avalanche
• Axelar
• Cardano
• Cosmos
• Celo
• Ethereum
• lsETH
• Kusama
• NEAR
• Polkadot
• Polygon
• Solana
• Stacks
• Sui
• Tezos

Depending on the project, you can participate in traditional and liquid staking.

It’s also possible to operate a dedicated validator.

Onchain wallets

The Coinbase Prime Onchain Wallet lets you trade over 10 networks with governance and smart contract controls.

You can also trade on over 75 decentralized exchanges (DEX). You can instantly transfer cold storage reserves to your trading wallet balance for liquidity. 

Additionally, you can use the Verified Pools feature to connect self-custody wallets quickly. This option supports several liquidity pairs.

Team member permissioning and unified reporting between your Prime and wallet onchain activity preserve transparency and produce a clear audit trail.

Additional security measures include high-risk warnings, dapp blocklists, and the ability to allow-list addresses to avoid scams and malicious actors.

Regulatory Compliance

Since Coinbase publicly trades on the U.S. stock market, it publishes quarterly financial statements and annual third-party audits.

You may appreciate the additional transparency versus privately owned custodians. 

Coinbase Custody is a fiduciary under New York state banking law.

The platform clearly lists the licensing information and disclosures for each U.S. state and international jurisdiction in which it operates. 

Prime also performs the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) screening for its regulated liquidity partners.

This process helps you trade on multiple venues from a single balance.

Additionally, Coinbase Prime provides the required tax documentation and audit trails you need for legal and tax compliance.

Onboarding & Integration

Below is a glimpse of how the tailored onboarding process usually looks:

1. Submit application: Apply online or email [email protected] to start the process and verify your initial eligibility. You can speak with an association to compare products available within your home country.
2. Respond to email invite: You will receive an invitation to continue the application process by creating a profile and providing more details about your business structure.
3. Provide documentation: The KYC process checks your personal background and gathers information regarding your organizational ownership and legal entity type (corporation, LLC, trust).  
4. Onboard team members: Next, you assign roles and permissions to team members. This is the final profile setup step and Coinbase will finish approving your application once complete. 
5. Receive account manager: After receiving profile approval, you work with a dedicated account manager to personalize your account. This is your primary point of contact for ongoing support. A sales contact continues briefing you on the latest products.
6. Secure account: You and each team member receive a YubiKey to access the Prime account. Individuals with permission to trade or transfer funds can now do so.
   

Coinbase Prime suggests applying through Chrome desktop for the best user experience.

Additionally, it’s advised to apply for multiple investment vehicles and funds in the same session as the platform processes all applications simultaneously. 

Coinbase Prime Alternatives

These platforms also provide secure, enterprise-level trading and custody services.

BitGo

BitGo provides prime trading and custodial services for institutions and individual investors. Custodial and self-custody wallets are available from this cryptocurrency storage pioneer.

Its services are available globally and backed by up to $250 million in insurance.

Gemini Custody

Gemini Custody supports instant trading from cold storage with up to $125 million in insurance coverage.

Over 100 cryptocurrencies are available for advanced trading on the exchange. Businesses, institutional investors, and private wealth clients may enroll. 

Ripple Custody

Ripple Custody is ideal for banks, fintech platforms, and crypto businesses that want to store cryptocurrency and tokenize real-world assets (RWAs).

Executing transactions 24/7 with bank-level security and a customizable framework to serve clients’ needs is also possible.

Is Coinbase Prime a custodian platform you can trust?

Coinbase Prime is a trustworthy custodian by many financial institutions, alternative asset managers, and the best crypto IRAs.

Its full-service brokerage solutions, multi-exchange trading partnerships, and compliance reporting make it an all-in-one platform. 

The continual hands-on support from a white-glove account manager makes joining and maximizing your membership benefits hassle-free for numerous trading strategies.

FAQs