Trying to figure out just where to begin when it comes to crypto investing can be pretty daunting. New investors can easily become overwhelmed by the sea of new and over-complicated information that often leaves them feeling more confused than before they started out.
That’s why we’re going to start at the very beginning: choosing a trustworthy exchange to buy, sell and hold your crypto assets. Today, we’re going to take an unbiased look at everything that you need to know about the Australian-owned and operated crypto exchange: Digital Surge.
Check out our full round-up of the best crypto wallets here
In This Review
What is Digital Surge?
Since its launch in 2017, Digital Surge has rapidly grown to become one of Australia’s most popular exchanges, offering its users the opportunity to buy and sell more than 300+ cryptocurrencies. This means that investors can purchase everything from Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) all the way down to the random memecoin a friend of yours told you to check out over drinks last week.
Digital Surge provides users with an intuitive, beginner-friendly platform and mobile app as well conducting all transactions exclusively in AUD, making it a stand out choice for Australian investors.
To get a better understanding of Digital Surge, let’s use a classic Pros & Cons list to weigh up the verdict.
Pros & Cons of Digital Surge
Pros
- The Lowest Fees: Digital Surge offers the lowest fees of any Australian crypto exchange, charging a blanket fee of 0.5% per trade. This fee is lowered for high trade volumes. Technically, fellow Australian exchange, CoinSpot does offer low fees for trading (0.1% for market trades), however their “instant purchase” option incurs a 1% fee.
- Pay Bills In Bitcoin: Digital Surge offers a unique service, where users can actually pay their bills in Bitcoin. As long as the bill is from an Australian vendor and comes with a BPAY code, users can pay any bill in Bitcoin.
- Beginner Friendly: If you’re new to cryptocurrency, then Digital Surge is the exchange for you. The Digital Surge app is one of the most beginner-friendly and simple to use crypto apps available anywhere. If you just want to buy and hold crypto assets, Digital Surge takes out all the complicated and unnecessary “trading” jargon, charts and info so that users can focus on the simple stuff.
- One of the Best Platforms for Australian Users: One of the biggest setbacks for Australian users when navigating other exchanges like Binance or Crypto.com is that prices are natively denominated in US Dollars. While this might be fine for more advanced users, most everyday Aussie crypto investors just want to be able to transact easily in AUD. Digital Surge makes this possible with AUD only transactions and viewing.
- Massive Selection of Tokens & Altcoins: Perhaps one of the most frustrating experiences is getting completely set up on a new app or platform and then realising that the random, super niche altcoin your mate mentioned to you isn’t actually available on this random app you’ve just installed. With a selection of over 300+ digital assets, Digital Surge has one of Australia’s most comprehensive coverages of all the altcoins you could ask for, second only to CoinSpot which offers over 350 cryptocurrencies on its exchange.
- 24/7 Customer Support via Live Chat: Great customer support may not be the first thing investors jump to when it comes to buying cryptocurrency, but it can be a deal breaker when digital assets get transferred to the wrong place and you get stuck with a “help-bot” that is anything but helpful. That’s why Digital Surge now offers a Live Chat support feature where users can interact with a real human person, which if you find yourself needing assistance with monetary issues can be a life-saver.
Cons
- AUD Only Transactions: While pure Australian Dollar deposits and transactions may be great for the fresh new Aussie investor, this feature can end up becoming a little limiting once investors develop more proficiency and become interested in trading. If you’re just looking to buy and sell crypto quickly and easily without any super fancy bells and whistles then this won’t be a problem for you.
Digital Surge Fees Explained
Fees are ultimately how crypto exchanges and platforms make their money, so it’s really important for investors to understand how much they’re paying every time they make a trade. Fee structuring can be pretty tricky, as platforms often like to disguise hidden costs in the form of strange fees.
Here are the main types of fees that users of Digital Surge will come across.
Digital Surge Deposit & Withdrawal Fees
The first fees that crypto investors will encounter is the deposit fee. This is because investors need to deposit funds before they can start trading.
- Digital Surge offers PayID, POLi and OSKO as methods of deposit, which is a slightly smaller range of deposit options than is standard in the crypto industry.
- Instant deposits using PayID, or Direct Deposit (via OSKO) are all free on Digital Surge. However, if users deposit using POLi, they will be charged between $2 – $3.30 per transaction.
- Digital Surge does not charge AUD withdrawal fees.
Digital Surge Transaction Fees
The great news with Digital Surge is that they have an extremely simple and transparent fee structure, charging a blanket 0.5% on all purchases. There are no hidden fees or complex technicalities that could surprise investors, making it a great option for buying and selling cryptocurrency regularly.
Is Digital Surge Safe to Use?
No matter your experience level, the security and safety of the platform used to buy and sell digital assets is usually a top concern for crypto investors. This is where Digital Surge ticks all the boxes by maintaining a series of multi-layered security protocols.
Digital Surge is registered with ASIC & AUSTRAC, meaning that it complies with all of the necessary Australian financial laws. It also stores clients’ digital assets in an “unhackable” offline cold storage, meaning that even if Digital Surge were to be hacked, investors’ funds would remain safe.
Furthermore, all Digital Surge login and transaction activity is further protected by 2FA (two-factor authentication) that requires investors to enter a code generated on their registered mobile device to sign in to the Digital Surge platform.
Digital Surge Alternatives
If Digital Surge isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, there are plenty of alternatives. The alternatives listed here are ranked in order of similarity and preference for using AUD.
- CoinSpot: Australia’s largest cryptocurrency platform with more than 350 digital assets available.
- Swyftx: Also an Australian platform with more than 260 digital assets available. Swyftx offers slightly lower trading fees and also allows users to ‘stake’ their crypto assets to generate passive income.
- Cointree: An Australian operated exchange and fully AUSTRAC-regulated. Offers similar features to Digital Surge but with a smaller selection of tokens and slightly higher fees.
- Binance: The largest crypto exchange in the world based on daily trading volume. Binance is oriented more strongly towards non-Australian users and is more suitable for advanced traders looking for niche pairs.
- Coinbase: Possibly the most well-known exchange in the world. Investors can trade a variety of different cryptocurrencies but fees are high and all values are denominated in USD.
- eToro: Offers commission-free crypto trades with the added bonus of social and copy trading.
Overall Digital Surge Conclusion
Digital Surge is a stand out choice for Australians crypto investors who are looking for an intuitive and easy to use platform. Digital Surge has one of the most simple and transparent fee structures on the market, charging a blanket 0.5% fee on each trade. Furthermore, it allows users to pay their bills in Bitcoin and offers premium personalised support.
When it comes to security Digital Surge stores customer funds in an offline cold storage and is registered with ASIC & AUSTRAC, which actively prevents financial crimes and any other unsavoury business from occurring on the platform.
Finally, Digital Surge’s selection of over 300+ different cryptocurrencies is one of the widest ranges in Australia. Investors will be able to purchase all of the major crypto assets, such as BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, as well as just about any altcoin that you could think of.
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