Coinmetro – And why some exchanges still deserve your trust.
A beginner’s guide to Coinmetro’s past, present and future
Crypto is dead.
Get your money off of centralized exchanges.
Those are just some of the headlines you could read in the last few weeks about the current state of centralized exchanges and their public perception.
In this article, I will present to you my thoughts and experiences as a long-term user of Coinmetro – and why I choose to trust them despite the recent events surrounding centralized exchanges.
Now, in the light of the whole FTX debacle and this dark crypto winter everyone is especially cautious and suspicious of someone’s recommendation of a centralized exchange. And rightfully so, considering everything that went down in the last few weeks and months.
Because of this, you might question my motives behind writing this article.
And yes, I may be biased to some extent, since I have exposure to Coinmetro through equity and XCM as an ICO investor from 2018.
However, my own feeling is that I have a different, far more personal motivation behind doing this:
I think it is high time that the good guys in this market get the attention they deserve.
And if this article puts you or anyone else reading this over the edge to take a look at Coinmetro to see what distinguishes them from other exchanges, it has already served its purpose.
In this market full of scammers, rug pulls, frauds and questionable business practices that only aim to exploit us as the small guys, it’s about time that a safe alternative steps up to the plate.
A place that is not afraid to follow regulations in an otherwise unregulated, wild west-like market.
A place that is decidedly transparent and open in its communication to clients.
A place that is worth your trust.
Sounds too good to be true? Take a look at the reasons why I choose to trust Coinmetro and you may come to the conclusion that this is just the right place for you.
1st Reason: Kevin, the team and Coinmetro’s ethos
The first reason why I chose to invest and trust in Coinmetro are the people behind it.
Kevin Murcko founded Coinmetro in 2017 and his core message has remained the same since then:
Crypto will become a regulated market
When Kevin said this in 2018, most people just laughed it off and ridiculed him for even entertaining such an outlandish idea.
Now, 4 years later the tides have turned.
Just by looking at regulatory undertakings such as MiCA in Europe it becomes quite clear that Kevin was right about this all along.
But opposed to others that chose to run from regulation and do anything in their power to evade it (looking at you, CZ), Kevin chose a different path forward.
“Transparency is not about a single action.
It is about every choice you make as a business, about actually being transparent from the start and sticking to your ideals. Maximizing profit doesn’t need to be at the expense of your clients.”
- Kevin Murcko
Right from the get-go, Coinmetro was run as a regulated business to protect the company and its clients. Part of that was pursuing licensing in the EU, which is why Coinmetro is headquartered in Estonia as the only EU-country that offered a comprehensive licence for crypto businesses at the time.
But Kevin also had the foresight to set up and run the exchange in a way that ensured that there would be no clashes with upcoming future regulations. Instead of demonizing the regulator, Kevin is not only cooperating with the regulator, but is also looking to offer an industry-perspective when new regulations are crafted and applied (more details on this in his BTC Amsterdam panel).
Exchanges that opted to avoid all of this for the sake of exponential growth are now facing a sword of Damocles dangling over their heads: Their “regulatory arbitrage” from the past is slowly but surely coming back to haunt them and has earned them some unwanted attention from the regulators. It remains to be seen how these exchanges will try to explain all their skeletons in the closet once they are investigated.
And make no mistake, if you have any funds in one of these places, they will be frozen for the duration of those investigations.
Thankfully, as a Coinmetro client I will never have to worry about such a scenario happening to me.
Because I found an exchange that is working with me instead of against me.
I do not have to worry about my funds being used as company assets to trade with them.
I also do not have to be afraid of the exchange trading against me when I open a position.
All thanks to ethos of Coinmetro to protect their customers instead of exploiting them.
But if all of the above is still not enough to convince you of Coinmetro’s trustworthiness, listen to the man himself explaining what sets Coinmetro apart from other exchanges:
“That’s the premise of Coinmetro. The whole idea is about advancing access for all. Giving everyone access to the same opportunities.”
“We are not [transparent] because it suits us to do it. We are doing it because we believe it’s the right thing to do.”
The simple fact that I could jump into the Coinmetro Telegram group and could ask the CEO himself for a statement only serves as further evidence for the firm commitment to transparency and accessibility that he operates his exchange with.
If you would like to ask Kevin your own question, you have the chance to do so during one of his AMAs. He never skips any questions and especially likes the tough and challenging ones.
As a long-term client, I have learned to appreciate this modus operandi even more over the years.
2nd Reason: Funding secured
Now that that we have assessed Coinmetro’s safety from the regulatory side, let’s shift our attention to a second risk many exchanges and projects are currently facing:
Running out of funds due to deteriorating market conditions.
To help you understand why I am not worried in the slightest about Coinmetro’s funding and their ability to attract more investors in the future, allow me to take you with me on a journey to the past:
The year is 2018. Coinmetro just finished the ICO for their XCM exchange token and managed to raise $14 million. Things were looking very rosy indeed and everyone had extremely high hopes for the future.
Then came the crypto winter that preceded the current one. And with it came some troubling times for Coinmetro.
Due to the fact that banks were extremely reluctant to give accounts to crypto related businesses, Coinmetro initially had no way to exchange their crypto ICO funds for fiat currencies. Once they had their bank account, their collected ICO funds lost over 50% of their value because of the massive pullback crypto experienced at the time.
Needless to say, this was a devastating blow to Coinmetro. A blow that would have meant the end for most companies in their nascent days.
But here is where it gets interesting: Instead of faltering and giving in to this adversity, Coinmetro rose up to it.
Instead of simply giving up, they decided to accept the challenge that they had to build and operate the exchange on a shoestring budget.
This time was not about doing something flashy or eye-catching.
This time was simply about surviving month to month.
In hindsight, this time of hardship really was what shaped the internal ethos of Coinmetro. Learning how to successfully run a business on a minimal budget allowed the company to maximise its cost efficiency. And not only that, but this challenging time also created a special bond between Coinmetro and its community.
I can tell you first hand that it felt like we, as a community, were in the trenches together with our favourite exchange (more on that later).
This sets Coinmetro apart from competitors that were drowning in cash that they could spend in a shotgun-approach without having to worry about results.
Going through a crisis like that allowed Coinmetro to become battle hardened and enables it to stay unaffected from the current market turmoil in its day-to-day business.
It also taught everyone involved an important lesson about risk management that is really paying off in the difficult environment crypto exchanges are facing at the moment.
The additional security gained through this experience is something most competitors are hard pressed to match – simply because they never had to worry about it.
Successfully mastering existential challenges is also something that Coinmetro has in common with some of the most disruptive companies in modern times.
Just take a look at Tesla or Amazon and how they had to avoid bankruptcy time and time again.
This existential pressure pushed these companies to double down on their unique selling points and to fully deliver on them – and I think it did the same for Coinmetro.
Now that you know Coinmetro’s past when it comes to funding and financial responsibility, let’s take a look at the present:
On November 9th 2022 Coinmetro announced the successful closure of their latest €7 million funding round at a company valuation of €180 million.
Yes, you read that date right.
In the middle of one of the worst market downturns in recent memory, Coinmetro still managed to raise €7 million. And not only that, but they could even add new investors that support the company.
The new capital that Coinmetro acquired allows them to hire even more talent that helps them reach their goals – instead of having to lay off large parts of their workforce like their competitors.
Do you remember how I talked about the “month to month” era of Coinmetro?
Thankfully, those times are now long gone and the scope switched from months to years.
For me personally, this is instilling a lot of trust and confidence in the company and its longevity.
3rd Reason: The community
Just like I promised in the last chapter, I am also taking a closer look at the community behind Coinmetro.
You may be wondering why I would even include the community as an aspect of why I choose to trust an exchange.
After all, exchange clients simply use a service offered to them, but do not have any attachment beyond that to the platform they are on, right?
Wrong – at least in Coinmetro’s case: This community is truly special in my opinion.
And what make this community so special is a reflection of the respect and transparency Coinmetro is treating their clients with.
If you look at the Coinmetro Telegram group, you will quickly see what I mean: Not only are Kevin, Oliver (Head of Product) and other staff members very active in here by sharing a lot of insights and company news, but also all community members are allowed to freely speak their minds.
From the first day on, Coinmetro took a very different approach to engaging with the community compared to the echo chambers most other communities have turned into over time. By blocking out and banning any unpleasant criticism a lot of exchanges and projects have lost touch to what their communities actually want.
Coinmetro on the other hand always listens to the unfiltered criticism of their community. And as harsh as this may be at times, it has earned them a tremendous amount of respect.
As it turns out, having your concerns taken seriously as a client builds a lot of trust.
This becomes especially apparent by how many members you can find in the Coinmetro Telegram, for example, that have been there since the ICO days and are still an integral part of the community.
This also translates into an excellent client retention for Coinmetro, which is illustrated by the fact that the exchange only saw an outflow of 4-5% of clients’ assets during the FTX collapse – while exchanges like Binance saw outflows of 30% or more.
But don’t just take my word for it – listen to what the community has to say about Coinmetro:
I found Coinmetro in 2018 as an ICO project. At that time there were many different exchanges who were doing ICOs, but one that stood out of them all was Coinmetro with their CEO Kevin Murcko. I did my own due diligence and read about who Kevin was and what he had accomplished so far. And to my great surprise I found out that he was a successful Forex broker and had made FXPIG brokerage. I read reviews about FXPIG and most of them were positive. And so I decided to invest in CM ICO and bought my first XCM tokens for 12 cents.
It's the only company that I know that spends some much time on interaction with its community. Weekly AMAs, CEO is frequently answering questions online, support standards are over the roof. There wasn't a time when they couldn't help me with my problems.As a fiat on and off ramp it is on another level compared to other exchanges. Money goes to my CM account in minutes and withdrawals are even faster.
And CM is just beginning with its small steps. Soon it will be one of the biggest players in industry!
At this point, CM helped me live the life that I deserve and I don't doubt it will make it even better!
- Happy Alex
About a year ago I started trading on Coinmetro, invested a tiny bit of money just to see how this trading stuff works, reading a lot, hearing some of Kevin's messages, talking to other people about trading, thats how it started for me.
Now like I said a year further, knowing the issues the cryptoworld has and had, I’m just feeling accepted and respected by all the people of Coinmetro. The service from support is one of the best, with Kevin doing his things as CEO in the chat to his community. He is only earning more and more trust, not lying to his costumers, just fair and honest, keeping his company rolling. In my opinion that's the way how exchanges should be
- Eddy
What I love about Coinmetro is their focus on infrastructure. Every war ship needs a strong captain to win and Kevin Murcko fits the bill! His focus is on exceptional live 24hr customer service, building a strong visionary team, getting licences (in case they would be necessary), transparency, security and organic growth. He believes in not leveraging client funds and not trading against his clients! He knows that if he focuses on his clients instead of trying to make money at their expense, he will build trust in Coinmetro
- Paul
I got so lucky to find Coinmetro when I entered crypto world. It has all the pros you can ask for:
- the best customer support in the industry – live 24/7
- very easy to use – awesome for beginners and professionals
- trading fees are low to zero
- great opportunities for passive income – staking, rebates
- fully regulated
- great security
- never trade against their clients
- incredible team
- very open, honest, knowledgeable and visionary CEO Kevin Murcko who can be easily reached in Coinmetro’s telegram channel
- amazing and always very helpful community- Monika
Most exchanges offer a bad to non-existent customer service. Coinmetro has a TOP-NOTCH support 24/7/356, sometimes I even got a reply in 1 - 5 Minutes!
They don’t just list coins and tokens because they are popular or could bring new clients. They only list projects that make sense, coins and tokens with excellent token economics that have a superb developer team behind them with a great community and real world use cases.
- Alexander
Being part of such an amazing community really makes you feel like being part of a large family of (not always) like-minded people.
That is another aspect as to why I choose to trust Coinmetro.
4th Reason: Future Outlook
We have spoken about Coinmetro’s past and we have spoken about Coinmetro’s present in this article – time to take a look at Coinmetro’s future.
If you would like to know more about the plans for the immediate future, I recommend taking a look at the Q4 2022 Roadmap.
Here you can find exciting items such as upcoming support for CAD$ and DCA services.
The biggest addition so far in this quarter was the integration of Backify, which allows you to earn cashback in your favourite crypto directly on your Coinmetro account when shopping online.
But what might be even more interesting is the long term outlook for Coinmetro.
Coinmetro is striving to become much more than “just another crypto exchange”.
They are looking to become a one-stop shop for all their clients’ financial needs.
Whether it be:
Buying or selling crypto and digital assets
Generate passive income through various staking programmes
Want to send some money or crypto to your Coinmetro-friends? You will be able to transact directly with other clients on the platform via internal transfers!
What about buying some real-world goods with your crypto holdings? No problem with Coinmetro’s planned merchant services.
Tired of your old bank with horrible user experience and terrible support? Use your Coinmetro account as your new bank account with your personal virtual IBAN!
This – and many more exciting services we do not even know about yet – will be provided to all Coinmetro users.
Thinking about the future of Coinmetro and what it holds in store makes me genuinely excited.
And I definitely plan to take part in this amazing journey with all its twists and turns.
Because I trust Coinmetro.