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September 14, 2022

Ember Fund vs. Coinbase Wallet: 2022 Comparison

Title: Ember Fund vs. Coinbase Wallet: 2022 Comparison

URL: /ember-fund-vs-coinbase

Meta Description: Crypto portfolios and single coin-based exchanges offer investors different strategies to get exposure to DeFi and build digital wealth. Here are the pros and cons of both

Focus KW: ember fund vs coinbase

Ember Fund vs. Coinbase Wallet: 2022 Comparison

Key Takeaways 

  • While both Ember Fund’s and Coinbase’s platforms are straightforward, Ember Fund is rated as a smarter way to invest given their pre-constructed portfolios and index. 

  • Ember Fund offers self-custody, which gives the investor more control over their assets — your keys, your crypto. Transactions on Ember Fund can never be halted as they can be on Coinbase or Robinhood. 

  • Coinbase has a slight edge in the number of offered features but falls short of Ember Fund in overall value for money

As recently as five years ago, buying and selling cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin was a small, largely unknown realm of alternative investing.

Today, the leading cryptocurrency exchanges are worth hundreds of billions of dollars — their tens of millions of users around the world buying, selling, and trading thousands of different crypto coins, NFTs, and other digital assets 24 hours a day through handheld mobile apps on iPhone and Android alike without the need for traditional stockbrokers, banks, or middlemen (hence, “DeFi” or decentralized finance).

For investors that means there are now dozens of different ways to get exposure to cryptocurrency investment, DeFi, and Web3 investing — all of which carry differing risks and advantages when it comes to exposure, usability, liquidity, security, support, and fees.

Here are the key distinctions between investing in a diversified crypto fund versus single coin investing through an individual exchange.

Ember Fund vs. Coinbase: Overview

In the simplest terms, DeFi investing through a diversified cryptocurrency portfolio like Ember Fund (emberfund.io) versus single coin investing through a digital exchange like Coinbase (coinbase.com) is no different than investing in a mutual fund that pools assets versus opening a Schwab account to buy and sell individual stocks on your own.

Crypto funds increase diversification, reduce risk, and broaden exposure by investing across a range of digital assets including multiple coins, indexes, exchanges, NFTs, and Metaverse gaming, sports, and entertainment projects.

Diversified crypto funds also are managed by seasoned investment experts and many automatically rebalance each month. This allows them to respond quickly to the often rapid fluctuations in crypto asset markets, seizing fast-moving upswings while reducing bear market downsides.

Single coin investing through an individual exchange like Coinbase, by comparison, offers the flexibility to select your own coins, make your own trading decisions, and buy and sell 24/7 through your own smartphone app. This makes exchange trading an easy way for new crypto investors to get into the game without being accredited or requiring a minimum investment floor.

Single coin exchanges also allow users to invest across a wide range of individual crypto currencies of their choosing including the most popular like Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as offering investing opportunities in lesser known and less expensive coins. This can reduce the cost of entry while also increasing the potential to get in onthe “next big thing”.

What Is Ember Fund?

Ember Fund is the first crypto asset management and investment platform that offers investors the ability to buy into one or moreprofessionally managed crypto portfolios with just a few taps on their phone — think a traditional hedge fund layered on top of a cutting-edge, handheld cryptocurrency wallet.

In order to start investing with Ember Fund, all you have to do is download the Ember Fund app, enter your email, and transfer bitcoin, USDC, or ethereum into your Ember Fund wallet or transfer funds from your bank account or credit card via Apple Pay. 

Powered by a proprietary mobile fintech app, Ember Fund’s portfolios are allocated across a wide range of digital assets weighted by market cap. These include:

  • Multi-coin portfolios

  • Quantitative indexes

  • Decentralized exchanges (DEX)

  • Yield products

  • Lending protocols

  • Metaverse projects

  • NFTs

Ember Fund’s diversified investing strategy gives both new and experienced investors a way to gain broad exposure to the DeFi, Web3 financial revolution without requiring deep industry experience or needing to be an accredited investor with assets over $1 million.

A distinguishing value-add is Ember’s Self Custody feature that ensures maximum control over the assets you invest in. Your keys, your crypto. Ember Fund does not have the ability to halt trading like Coinbase does. 

What Is Coinbase? 

Coinbase is one of the most popular centralized crypto exchanges online where users can buy and sell individual coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, as well as more than 120 other lesser-known coins. Coinbase was also one of the first mobile crypto exchanges, so its interface is simple, intuitive, and easy to use since it’s been thoroughly tested by tens of millions of users.

To open a Coinbase account all you need is a government-issued ID (the minimum age for an account is 18), a smartphone with internet access, a phone number for SMS verification, and a form of payment to begin investing such as a bank account, debit card, or Apple Pay.

With a minimum investment of $10, Coinbase is one of the easiest ways for investors who are new to cryptocurrency to get started.

Pricing

Ember Fund

Since Ember Fund’s crypto investments and portfolio allocations are based on a fund structure rather than individual investor transactions, its fees are charged just like a hedge or mutual fund’s — namely, they are calculated as a % annual management fee and vary by portfolio and performance.

For example, Ember Fund’s management fee ranges from 0% to 3% depending on the portfolio. Ember’s DeFi portfolio charges a 3% annual management fee, accrued as 0.25% monthly. Its Bitcoin Defense Portfolio charges a similar 3% annual fee, while its Metaverse Index charges a 2.5% annual management fee. The Originals, Yield Farming and Staked Eth 2.0 portfolios are entirely fee-free.

All of Ember Fund’s fees are fully disclosed upfront, and since every transaction is done immutably on the blockchain, you can easily audit them via Etherscan or Blockexplorer if you ever discover a discrepancy. Being able to verify your transaction on-chain ensures Ember Fund has no control over your assets. 

Coinbase 

While seemingly simple at first glance, Coinbase’s fees can get complicated and add up quickly depending on how many trades you make, their dollar value, and even where you live.

For instance, for trades of $10 or less, Coinbase charges a spread mark-up of 0.5% in addition to a $.99 flat fee, or 10%. This means you could easily be paying 11%-13% per trade, which disincentivizes small transactions. For trades up to $200, by comparison, Coinbase still charges its 0.5% spread mark-up. But the flat fee is only $2.99, or 1.5%.

Coinbase’s fees are also tied to a trade’s funding source, so investors need to be careful of how they’re paying when they buy. Transactions purchased with a debit card, for example, incur an additional 3.99% charge on top of the spread mark-up fee and the flat transaction fee.

It’s also important to note that Coinbase charges the same fees whether you’re buying or selling.

Features Offered

Ember Fund

Ember Fund offers several state-of-the-art features.

Its digital crypto wallet technology provides unmatched security, making control of investors’ digital assets simple and secure including TouchID and FaceID and two-factor authentication. They also offer a backup and recovery feature.

Liquidity-wise, Ember’s wallet is also natively non-custodial, which means you have full control over your assets and cannot be stopped from withdrawing them at any time.

From an investing standpoint, one of Ember Fund’s best features is what’s called auto-rebalancing, every month, ensuring that your positions in each of Ember’s funds are regularly optimized to ensure maximum return on investment depending on what’s happening in the crypto markets.

Ember Fund’s most unique feature, however, may be its Learn-To-Earn Bitcoin rewards program which allows investors to earn free Bitcoin every 24 hours when they open the Ember app,read a daily snippet about crypto markets, or refer a friend.

Coinbase

One of the biggest features users like about Coinbase is its simplicity, making it easy to buy and sell single crypto assets. 

Once you’re logged in, simply hit the Buy/Sell button in the upper right-hand corner, enter the purchase amount, select your cryptocurrency, choose your payment method, and voila — you’re a crypto investor. 

Selling on Coinbase is just as easy. Just choose the dollar amount you want to sell, select your coin, and input how you want to be paid out.

On the security side, Coinbase offers several features to keep your account safe, including two-step authentication and hardware wallets so Coinbase isn’t actually storing your money which keeps you safer from hackers.

Why Is Ember Fund the Better Option?

Ember Fund offers diversified crypto index investing vs. single crypto coin investing, making it a superior entry point into crypto investing for both individual andinstitutional investors.

Diversified crypto funds reduce investor risk, minimize exposure to sudden market fluctuations, and make it easier for first-time crypto investors without previous experience to get into the game — all while putting investing decisions in the hands ofindustry experts.

Don’t know which coins or NFTs to select? Let Ember Fund do that for you. 

Concerned about putting all of your eggs in one crypto coin basket? Ember’s index funds include many assets in a portfolio to prevent that from happening. Instead of paying transaction fees on over 10 assets, just pay one when you invest in one of our index funds. 

Concerned that you may not be able to withdraw funds in the event of extreme market volatility as seen with Voyager and Celsius? Don’t worry, only you have control over your assets. Ember Fund cannot stop you from withdrawing your funds, ever. 

Confused about the costs and fees? Ember’s straightforward management fees eliminate the uncertainty that you’re overpaying to trade.

Ember Fund’s best-in-class security and support also ensure that you’re never left in the crypto wilderness making investment decisions by yourself or putting your crypto wealth-building plans at risk.

Bottom Line

Over the past few years, crypto investing has become one of the most exciting,talked about, and potentially lucrative alternative investment strategies.

But it’s more important than ever right now for crypto investors to be putting their money into the right assets, at the right time, through the right platforms. This means not just carefully choosing crypto investments. Investors also need to carefully consider pricing, features, integrations, support, security, and expertise when making crypto portfolio allocation decisions.

So, if you’re looking to learn more about cryptocurrency crypto investingexplore the Ember Fund blog here orDownload the Ember Fund App here and invest in a crypto portfolio of your choice with just $10.

Sources

What Is The Next Big Cryptocurrency

Best Crypto Exchanges

The Future Of Crypto Investing

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