In the ever-expanding world of cryptocurrencies, it is almost impossible to turn a page on a relevant site and not read about yet another cryptocurrency venture that aims to revolutionize its target segment.
With the way that this relatively new space is getting convoluted with projects that aim to bring disruptive solutions to the industry without any backing to their claims, it is tending to be more and more difficult to differentiate such word-webs from those who actually bring tangible solutions to the table and/or have been demonstrating their abilities to their end users for quite a while.
Coinomi is one such project that has been in operation for about 4 years now. Its focus on providing a unique mobile wallet and exchange service that provides top-notch security while also remaining free of any charges has given the platform an unrivaled status in its selective niche.
We thought that it would be best to put together a detailed guide on Coinomi, so that users who are looking for such a service could glean facts and decide whether Coinomi’s services are suitable for them.
So let’s go ahead and learn more about the wallet, its associated exchange features, the quality of its operations and the overall level of customer satisfaction which users could expect to be provided with while using the platform’s services.
History of Coinomi
Based out of the U.K., Coinomi was founded in June 2014 by George Kimionis, a Special Forces veteran who holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Manchester. In addition to Coinomi, Kimionis also founded Cryptean, which is touted to be a cryptocurrency investment platform to be operated separately from Coinomi.
Despite being brought to life by a then-unknown individual, Coinomi’s unique services slowly started to grasp the attention of the cryptocurrency community. Coinomi gained a reputation mostly due to the level of security that it offered to its user. The exchange provided a place for users to hold their digital assets safe in an age where the industry was still relatively small as compared to the sudden surge of users that it experienced in 2017.
Coinomi was initially launched only for iOS devices, starting with storage capabilities for popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. The app then started to expand its list of offerings gradually, introducing its Android app with the same capabilities as its initial iOS app.
Coinomi also kept adding more and more cryptocurrencies to its list to the point where it now deals in over 150 cryptocurrencies, ranging from the most popular of coins to some new ones.
By offering support for a mix of established and new cryptocurrencies alike, Coinomi has ensured that it has something to offer to everyone, regardless of status.
All users can feel welcome. The can be new users just familiarizing themselves by holding popular cryptocurrencies to their names, or seasoned traders who could leverage its services by storing and exchanging between newer cryptocurrencies without ever having to leave Coinomi’s interface.
At press time, Coinomi remains one of the most popular mobile wallets with a large user base, which seems to be growing with each passing day.
Coinomi Review: What Does Coinomi Do?
Coinomi is a mobile-based cryptocurrency wallet that offers its users some of the most advanced and highest levels of security features while also letting them have quick access to their digital assets.
Through its mobile apps, Coinomi offers users the chance to hold their cryptocurrencies in a clean and aesthetically pleasing user-interface.
Additionally, the interface is easily operable by even the most inexperienced of users, users that do not have much experience the realm of cryptocurrencies and are just starting to find their way through cryptocurrency-based apps can progress without fear.
Coinomi uses some of the most sought-after security techniques in the industry in order to safeguard the digital assets of its users and remains as one of those wallets that have never been hacked to this date.
While pulling off this feat has been made possible by various factors, perhaps the largest contributor to this would be the Coinomi team’s decision to secure the app and its related functions through a “Hierarchical Deterministic” (HD) algorithm.
The HD algorithm usually generates the “seed” – a protective phrase for each user – after 100,000 rounds of SHA256, thus making the protective phrase impenetrable to break through. The effectiveness of this algorithm can be judged by how it is used in TREZOR, one of the most revered hardware wallets in the world.
Apart from being an HD wallet, Coinomi also uses IP masking in a way that no other wallet does, which ensures that users’ IP address is never shared while pushing transactions over the blockchain.
This adds an extra layer of privacy to the already secure approach for the wallet, which only makes it all the more appealing for those users who swear by privacy and do not like to compromise it in any manner especially when it comes to their cryptocurrency transactions.
Furthermore, where most wallets keep a strict policy to set the network transaction fee by themselves (which goes directly to the network), Coinomi remains one of those wallets which gives its users the freedom to set a transaction fee of their own choice.
With this feature, it is up to the user to decide whether or not they want a low transaction fee and bear higher processing times on the blockchain. The feeling of making their own decision instead of having it dictated by the service provider provides them with a sense of autonomy and freedom.
Coinomi had initially been released as an open-source wallet; however, it changed that approach and closed certain parts of its code after being governed by a proprietary license.
That being said, Coinomi’s wallet and transaction services for sending and receiving cryptocurrencies remain completely free of charge.
Users can utilize those services without ever having to worry about paying any fee to keep their cryptocurrency safe in Coinomi’s highly accessible yet immensely secured mobile apps.
Again this is apart from the network fee which goes directly to each blockchain network, of course)
Apart from being an all-around powerhouse cryptocurrency wallet, Coinomi also allows its users to exchange cryptocurrencies directly through its own interface without having to transfer their digital assets back and forth between cryptocurrency exchanges just so they could trade them.
Coinomi Review: How Does Trading On Coinomi Work?
Coinomi keeps its tradition of giving users complete autonomy alive even in this medium and gives them the option of choosing between two cryptocurrency exchange services, so users could utilize their services right from its own interface.
The exchange services in question happen to be ShapeShift and Changelly, two popular platforms that are known for executing cryptocurrency trading almost-instantly without their users having to go through extensive verification procedures or wait times.
Through the Coinomi app, users can use the option of ShapeShift to convert their available balance in cryptocurrency to another supported cryptocurrency of their choice. Since ShapeShift allows its users to execute trades in two methods through its native platform, Coinomi does not restrict users from accessing the same level of ease through its own app as well.
If users decide to trade through ShapeShift in the Coinomi app, they can select between two options in order to execute their transaction.
Through the “Quick” transaction option, users can quickly enter the cryptocurrency amount that they want to deposit and select a cryptocurrency of their choice in order to receive the exchanged funds accordingly. The ShapeShift exchange provides users with its wallet address, users deposit the amount and then receive the cryptocurrency of their choosing according to latest conversion calculations.
On the other hand, if users want to receive a specific amount of new cryptocurrency and want that decision to dictate the transaction as opposed to their mode of deposit, then they can use the “Precise” transaction option to tell ShapeShift exactly how much amount they want to receive for said transaction.
The exchange then informs users of the required deposit, and if the deposit is made within 10 minutes, the transaction goes through the same rate without the exchange rate being fluctuated.
Whereas, Changelly’s transaction process through the Coinomi app remains simple. Users can simply select the cryptocurrency they want to deposit and are told of how much amount they will receive in return.
Once users set a transaction fee with Coinomi’s feature of being able to select it, they can execute a transaction, deposit their specified funds into Changelly’s account and receive their desired cryptocurrency in return.
Since both platforms are integrated within Coinomi’s interface, even though Coinomi does not charge its users for using their offered services, both ShapeShift and Changelly have their own fee integrated into the transacted amount – as is the usual process on both platforms.
Coinomi does state on its page that it makes profits from the spread on the exchanges even if it does not charge its users directly.
Even with the fees being in play, the interface and the ability to quickly exchange between cryptocurrencies remains a viable feature that sets Coinomi apart from its competitors. This is especially true, when you consider all of its other options including but not limited to support for multiple cryptocurrencies; high-level security that has remained failsafe to date; and user autonomy in options that are not otherwise provided by other wallet services.
Coinomi Review: How To Deposit or Withdraw Funds?
Depositing cryptocurrencies into a Coinomi wallet is simple especially due to how the wallet shows different types of addresses for the ease of its users.
To support cheaper and faster transactions made possible by Segregated Witness (SegWit), Coinomi has set SegWit addresses as “Default” in its interface.
However, it also allows older address types through its “Compatibility” option for those senders whose wallets do not support sending to SegWit addresses.
Users can also use “Legacy” addresses through the eponymous, third and final option presented as deposit addresses.
Similarly, Coinomi users can send their cryptocurrency to any wallet address of their choice, since the app supports outgoing transactions to SegWit addresses as well.
Using SegWit is optional, but since everyone is slowly upgrading to it all throughout the cryptocurrency community, Coinomi recommends that its users do the same.
The transaction time and network fee depend on each network. As soon as the transaction is confirmed by the network, the amount gets deposited in the respective wallet address.
Coinomi Review: How Safe is Coinomi?
With its HD algorithm, IP masking, and its other impenetrable security features, Coinomi remains as one of the safest wallets currently available for any cryptocurrency.
Despite being in operations for 4 years, the wallet has never once gotten hacked, a fact which is highly advertised by the Coinomi team – and rightfully so.
Even if a hacker does get into Coinomi system, since the private keys are never accessible to the team itself and are only ever shown to the respective user, users’ funds will remain inaccessible to any malicious party unless they themselves have shared the information with someone.
The Coinomi team operates on the motto of “Security First” and keeps sharing various updates and upgrades in order to make the app and its respective features as safe as possible.
When there had been talks of 90% of cryptocurrency mobile apps not being safe enough to hold blockchain assets, Coinomi was quick to counter the claims by sharing a detailed post on its official blog, mentioning how the app was as secure as it ever was with users’ funds being “100% safe” with the platform.
Coinomi Review: How is The Customer Service On Coinomi?
Coinomi offers a support ticket platform through its app as well as its website, where users can reach out to the Coinomi support team in order to discuss their issues. Typically, the Coinomi team replies within a few hours directly to the user.
Apart from this, the Coinomi team also remains accessible through social media platforms, where it can be seen interacting with users from time to time.
As with any other service, there have been disgruntled customers over the platform’s social media channels, but the number of them remains minimal and it does not seem to be in as much abundance as to worry anyone about the legitimacy or credibility of Coinomi’s operations.
Furthermore, the Coinomi team always seems to respond to legitimate inquiries and remains quite active when it comes to user interaction.
Should Coinomi Be Selected as a Primary Wallet or Trading Platform?
Coinomi has all the makings of a great cryptocurrency wallet that is provided to users without costing them a pretty penny, which is a feat in itself.
With its stunning security features and high accessibility, Coinomi would definitely make the top 3 list of cryptocurrency wallets of choice for the everyday cryptocurrency user and is therefore highly recommended to anyone who would like to keep their digital assets safe.
In addition to security, the fact that the exchange facilitates access to users through their mobile devices, while also having the assurance that they are not going to lose their funds all of a sudden due to an unfortunate hacking incident is a great benefit as well.
When it comes to exchanging services, however, users are essentially selecting the services of exchanges such as ShapeShift and Changelly and not Coinomi itself.
While the exchange services by these two providers are by no means abysmal, it would be incorrect to say that they provide the best value in the industry for trading cryptocurrencies when it comes to their trading/transaction fee. Other traditional exchanges offer cheaper services even if they come with a requirement of extensive verification.
With that being said, their transaction fee could be justified when you consider the ease of use that these exchanges provide to their users with an almost instant execution of trading.
However, whether you decide to use the additional exchange services or stick with some other exchange, using Coinomi as a primary wallet might prove to be beneficial for you.
As always, do your own research and only choose a wallet and exchange that seems to fit the bill for you, since only you would know what you want in terms of services and would thus make the best decision for yourself.