So, I started using the Crypto.com App on on September of 2019. I was interested in simply owning some Bitcoin and holding it for the future. I had done some "moderate" amount of research and it seemed for a newbie that there were a lot of hurdles to simply purchasing Bitcoin at market rate.

I did find peer-to-peer offers and here and there, but there was always a steep markup involved, which I didn't want to pay for. I took a look at a few exchanges, but got lost with the whole custodian process and funding my account with FIAT (money) through an intermediary. This ultimately brought me to Crypto.com as I found out that I can simply buy Bitcoin with my credit card. This is can be done after their Know-Your-Client (KYC) process.

Beginner Friendly

As a beginner in the Crypto sphere, I knew I had to have a wallet to store my crypto, but I didn't know how to do it. I wasn't familiar with seeds, private keys or public keys, and luckily I didn't need any of that information to get started.

I was able to input my Credit Card and purchase the Bitcoin I wanted with a 3.5% fee. The Bitcoin amount I purchased showed up among a listing of other available cryptocurrencies.

Though I was pleased with that experience at the time, in hindsight, I should have been more diligent in protecting my crypto assets.

The app lets you transfer cryptocurrency to other users on the platform by their phone number. I actually could see on my phone book, who I can transfer the bitcoins to and it was FREE to make those transfers!

However, as I broke out of my newbie shell, and as the company developed, my experience changed.

MCO & CRO

The App and the platform as a whole incentivizes the user to obtain and hold CRO and MCO. These are tokens that are native to the Crypto.com platform. I had no issue with that at the beginning as it didn't impact my user experience. However, somewhere along the way Crypto.com decided that they will not support small currency amounts. So in BTC's case for example, you can only withdraw values up to 4 decimal places. Furthermore, you cannot purchase anything less than 0.003 BTC (with Fiat, other cryptos or credit cards) . At first glance, this might seem insignificant, but what ends up happening is that you have "left over" or fractional currencies as a result of withdrawals, payments, and transfers. You cannot trade the left over currencies EXCEPT to CRO. They refer to these small amounts as dust. Now you're forced to start collecting CRO's so that they amount to a high enough value that you can convert them to another cryptocurrency. Unless of course you decide to skip all this hassle and use your CROs to buy stuff from the App

Gift Cards and Cashbacks

Using your existing CROs, you can purchase a wide variety of Gift Cards and enjoy a moderate amount of cashback in CROs. You my friend are now in an infinite loop of CROs. Should you want to get more CROs as cashback, simply stake CROs and they'll give you a higher reward, which varies per gift card.

Staking, Staking and some more Staking

All of the App perks and any advertisements you may encounter, involve staking either CROs or MCOs. For those wondering - Staking - in Crypto.com means purchasing a set amount of tokens and freezing them for 180 days. After that you can do whatever you choose with those tokens. So, for the 180 day duration, you cannot sell, buy, move or do anything to the staked asset. All of the following features require staking (the staking duration differs depending on the listed feature):

• Getting a Prepaid Visa MCO card with cashbacks (in MCO/CRO of course!)

• Getting "good" cashback on purchases, in CRO.

• Participating in their Syndicate events, where you can buy crypto at a discount.

• Earning high interest on your cryptocurrencies.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my experience with the App has been fine, but I personally don't like to be forced to buy or hold tokens to get additional services. I also don't like their new system of controlling the minimum purchase amount.

If you believe that either MCO or CRO are good long term investments, then it's worthwhile to stake them on Crypto.com and earn some perks while doing so. Otherwise, going for a regular exchange would be a better overall option.

DISCLAIMER - This article is written to the best of my knowledge and reflects my personal experience. I'm in no way affiliated with Crypto.com. They probably won't like me after this review anyway!