Cointree Review: Here’s What Could Better

Last Updated on December 24, 2023 by Kevin Groves

Cointree is a crypto exchange for Australians. Since 2013, the platform has been providing reliable crypto products and services to the Australian public including a streamlined process for obtaining digital currencies with cash on a simple-to-use interface. Over 280 digital assets are supported and you can also perform coin-to-coin trades, a feature that is relatively unique for a brokerage platform. However, not all crypto providers are the same. This review explores the features that made Cointree successful, its strengths and weaknesses, and its advantages to help you with your decision-making process.

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Quick Overview

Here is a quick summary of the exchange information.

Exchange name	Cointree
Supported countries	Australia
Fiat currencies supported	AUD
Deposit methods	Bank transfer, PayID, cash deposit
Supported cryptocurrencies	BTC, ETH, XRP and 280+ more
Trading fee	Spot: 0.5% – 0.9%; Coin-to-coin: 0.05% – 0.25%
Deposit fee	None
Withdrawal fee	AUD: None; Crypto: Network fee that depends on cryptocurrency
Mobile app	Yes (iOS and Android)

What is Cointree All About?

Established in 2013, Cointree is a  reliable cryptocurrency brokerage platform based in Melbourne. The platform has formed strategic partnerships with key players in the Australian crypto industry including Blockchain Centre, Blockchain Australia , and Everything Crypto Australia.

Cointree is a beginner-orientated crypto trading platform where over 280 digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) can be bought with Australian Dollars (AUD). The AUSTRAC registered company is continually developing its features and releasing new ones to stay in touch with the Aussie crypto market.

Pros & Cons

Here’s What We Liked on Cointree

It has a great selection of cryptocurrencies

Although not as exhaustive as other Australian brokerage platforms that we’ve reviewed such as Swyftx and CoinSpot, Cointree’s list of supported digital assets is still right up there. Currently, you can use AUD cash to purchase over 280 digital currencies including Bitcoin and a host of altcoins to buy. However, some popular coins such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) are not supported.

Comes with an easy to use interface

It was evident the Cointree platform and interface have been designed with beginners in mind. Although the design is fairly typical of other Aussie brokerage platforms, it is still visually appealing and intuitive, which will you even if you have no experience using a crypto exchange.

Navigation through Cointree’s features, including those that allow you to manage your portfolio, are clearly identifiable. Depositing money into your account wallet using one of the supported methods, as well as buying and selling Bitcoin into AUD are all streamlined processes that result in a short learning curve. Overall, our experience using the interface was enjoyable and relaxing, and there weren’t any features or processes that felt too overwhelming.

You can pay Australian bills with crypto

Cointree, like fellow crypto platforms Digital Surge and Zipmex, offers you the ability to pay any Australian bill as long as there is a BPAY biller code for the digital assets you want to pay with. The process is straightforward. All you need to do is enter the Biller code, bill reference number and amount in AUD, and select the crypto to pay with. Payments using crypto will typically take up to 2 business days to process.

Coin-to-coin trades are straightforward

One of the advantages of Cointree is that you can swap one crypto for another crypto. There are no associated fees, however, a standard blockchain fee will apply. Other local Australian platforms such as Swyftx and Digital Surge don’t offer this service and it’s a convenient way of balancing out your altcoin portfolio.

Access to top-performing portfolios

Cointree presents a variety of high-performing crypto bundles for you to purchase. This will be especially useful if you want to add altcoins to your portfolio but aren’t entirely sure which ones to buy. Essentially, you have access to different combinations of cryptocurrencies that have seen price increases over the last 7 days. At the time of writing, there were 100 portfolios to browse and buy, making it one of the largest selections we have seen in the Australian market.

The vast multitude of portfolio options resulted in our browsing experience being a bit cumbersome, however, Cointree does provide several filtering features to make it easier. For example, if you don’t want to spend money on a portfolio that has a specific coin in it, then you exclude it to only show those without it.

Once you find the portfolio that suits you, simply enter in the amount of AUD to spend, confirm the purchase, and the digital assets will be near-instantly transferred into your wallet.

Overall, we liked Cointree’s take on crypto bundle purchasing. It reduces the trading fees incurred and is highly suited for beginners.

Support for SMSF accounts if required

If you’re looking to create a Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), then you can with Cointree. Cointree has partnered with New Brighton Capital, an Australian-based super fund specialist, to provide these services.

You can either use an existing Super Fund provided it is not used for personal trading purposes, or create a new one using the simple onboarding process. To set up a new SMSF crypto account, you will need:

• Government-issued documents (i.e. drivers licence and passport) for all Directors and Individual Trustees.
• A copy of the certified Trust Deed.
• Trust ABN
• Trust Account Name
• Trust Beneficiary Details

For more information, read our full guide on crypto SMSF Australia which explains how to invest in crypto with an SMSF account and other considerations to take into account.

Crypto tax reporting tools are useful

Cointree has partnered with popular crypto tax reporting calculator, Koinly, to provide you the ability to quickly produce tax reports. Koinly can generate information about your crypto trading activities since it is integrated into all the major blockchains. The ability to produce crypto tax reports is a fairly common service offered by Australian crypto platforms so this is Cointree staying in touch with the market.

Producing your crypto tax reports for End of Financial Year (EOFY) reporting can be completed in under 20 minutes. To use the feature, you will need to first create a Koinly account. If you already have a Koinly account, the steps are as follows:

1. Log into your Cointree account, click on “Wallets” and navigate to the “Transactions” page.
2. Click on “Sign in to Koinly”, review the terms and accept.
3. Import your Cointree wallet by browsing the available wallets and selecting “Cointree”.
4. Import your Cointree trade details by clicking on “Import from file”. A summary of transactions made will be downloadable in CSV format.
5. Go into your Koinly account, and navigate to “Tax Reports”. Your Cointree summary will be presented.
6. Select “Complete Tax Reports” from the drop-down menu and download the report.

Affiliate program to refer your friends

Cointree offers some of the most lucrative referral rewards programs in Australia where bringing in new affiliates can earn you between 30% and 70% in commissions. Commissions depend on your current tier which increases with the more affiliates you bring in. With commissions typically around 30% in the Australian market, Cointree’s reward starts on par and only get better from there.

What We Found on Cointree’s Security

Based on our research, Cointree has not experienced any hacks or security breaches since its establishment in 2013. This may be attributed to its industry-standard security controls. These include the storage of assets in a combination of hot and cold wallets, 2FA verification for all withdrawals, encrypted SSLs, hashed and salted passwords, closed network environments, and separation of the codebase and database.

At the account level, you can activate 2FA to provide yourself with an additional layer of security against unauthorised access. Whilst the result of not being hacked to date is noteworthy, Cointree’s security measures are standard and the platform doesn’t have internationally recognised accreditations such as ISO 27001.

What Cointree’s Fees Are

Deposit & withdrawal fees

Cointree is consistent with other Australian crypto trading platforms in that it charges zero fees for you to deposit or withdraw AUD funds to a bank account. Whilst you can also transfer cryptocurrencies from an external wallet for free, crypto withdrawals will incur a standard network fee.

Trading fees

In terms of trading fees, Cointree is relatively expensive compared to other platforms such as Swyftx and Digital Surge where their fees are 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. Fees for buying and selling cryptocurrencies on Cointree start from 0.9% but can be reduced depending on your 30-day trading volume or the number of new affiliates you bring in. For example, if your 30-day trading volume is between $10k and $50k, then your trading fee will be 0.8%.

The lowest fee you can obtain is 0.5%, however, you either need to trade over $1 million over 30 days or enlist 50 new affiliates. These are quite the investment and are not appealing at all. If you’re looking to buy Bitcoin with the lowest fee, Bitaroo is an alternative option to consider. For more information, read our Bitaroo review to check out the fees.

However, coin-to-coin transactions on Cointree offer more value for money where fees start from 0.25%. Compared to other Aussie platforms, this is significantly cheaper and is an economical way to balance out your altcoin portfolio.

Getting Started with Cointree

In our experience, creating a new account with Cointree only took 3 minutes to complete, and was one of the faster sign-up processes we have come across. The same can’t be said for the mandatory ID verification process which took 2 business days.

Once you log in, you will easily the buttons to start depositing AUD into your account wallet. Currently, Cointree supports 3 payment methods including cash transfers from an Australian bank (OSKO), PayID, and cash deposits (Blueshyft) at over 1,300 participating retail locations around Australia. All payment options will near-instantly fund your wallet so you can start buying cryptocurrencies quickly.

The minimum that you deposit is $20 which is great for beginners starting. Credit and debit cards are not supported as payment methods.

How We Went Using Cointree

Cointree shines with its ability to provide beginners with a visually intuitive and easy-to-use platform. Funding your account with AUD and using it to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum have been simplified to remove any confusion or complication for new starters.

All you need to do is select the crypto to purchase, enter the amount of AUD to spend, and confirm the transaction. As an added bonus, Cointree is transparent and will clearly present the trading fees that you will incur for each buy and sell order. Assets that you buy will be near-instantly transferred into your wallet. Withdrawing cash from your wallet and into your nominated Australian bank account is also streamlined, a process that is sometimes neglected by other platforms.

Like many other crypto trading platforms, you have the option of applying some basic order types to your trades:

• Market: Purchases the asset at its current market price.
• Quoted Price: The transaction is executed when the market price reaches the quoted price.
• Recurring: Otherwise known as Dollar-Cost-Averaging (DCA), crypto can be automatically bought in increments over a period of time to mitigate against the effects of price volatility.

Customer Support Could Be Better

Cointree provides you with a comprehensive FAQ section that will answer the most basic and some in-depth questions. There are guides for depositing and withdrawing crypto, using crypto to pay bills, how to place trades, and many other features offered on the platform.

If the help centre doesn’t answer your question, the live chatbot can be used to either find articles of assistance or leave a message for the customer service team. Alternatively, you can submit a request through the help centre. Direct phone support is not currently available.

Our Final Verdict

If you’re new to investing in cryptocurrencies then Cointree is a valid first choice. The local crypto trading platform emphasizes simplicity which will cater to a wide spectrum of users. However, if you’re an advanced trader then Cointree is not for you due to the lack of innovative features.

The portfolio feature where you can purchase high-yield bundles of assets at a time is a standout, however, Cointree is not the best value-for-money platform with its high trading fees.

Frequently Asked Questions