SUMMARY
BitcoinIRA.com is recognized as the first-ever full-service Bitcoin IRA solution that allows customers to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic as part of a diversified retirement portfolio. The low $3,000 minimum deposit requirement makes it accessible to beginners. Check out our full review.
DETAILED RATING
INFO
- Minimum Investment $3,000
- Coins offered Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, Zcash,
- Storage Type Multi-signature offline cold storage
- Custodian Used Yes
- Insurance offered Yes. Up to $100 million.
- Location Sherman Oaks, California, United States of America
- Year Founded 2016
- BBB Ratings B+
- Facebook Ratings 4.5 out of 5 stars
- Google Ratings 4.6 out of 5 stars
- Trustlink Ratings N/A
POSITIVES
- $3,000 minimum investment.
- Insurance coverage up to $100 million.
- Cold offline storage.
- Full phone support.
- 8 different coins available for investment.
NEGATIVES
- 15% set up fee.
- $20 monthly maintenance fee.
- Custodian is dealing with insurance issues.
BitcoinIRA.com pitches its investment opportunities as a chance to insulate investors from fluctuations in the stock market. While bitcoin is considered to be digital gold, there is very little evidence that it will actually climb up in value when the stock market goes down. That said, BitcoinIRA.com mentions that investors will never pay taxes on capital gains and that they will benefit from the fact Bitcoin doesn’t have an inflation rate. Those things are theoretically true.
The company claims to offer the best security in the bitcoin IRA business. Most IRA companies we are reviewing say the same thing.
BitcoinIRA.com’s custody provider is BitGo. BitGo is one of the longest standing custodians in Bitcoin, but that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t had its problems. They have dealt with a hack in the past. Still at the present moment, the company is making improvements. Bitcoins connected to IRA accounts are now stored on three separate private keys in multi-signature cold storage. That means even if one key gets hacked, there are still two others holding on to the customer’s remaining balance. That’s good to know. Especially considering the fact BitcoinIRA.com protects individual transactions up to $1 million with insurance. That’s one of the highest levels of insurance protection on individual transactions in the industry.
Diving deeper into the benefits of using BitcoinIRA.com as your IRA provider will certainly shed some light on how the company has become one of the top guns in the business, but some of the downsides may give you pause.
More about BitcoinIRA.com
BitcoinIRA.com’s website calls itself the first and leading full service Bitcoin IRA in the industry. The company does of some credibility thanks to appearances on major media outlets like CNBC and the Wall Street Journal. It also benefits from having a first mover advantage in the Bitcoin retirement segment of investing.
The company does offer a mobile app and the ability to view live prices and the investor’s portfolio mix in real time. They also promise a robust online knowledge base filled with videos and tutorials to make learning easy.
Struggles with BitGo
Like Regal Assets, BitcoinIRA.com promises up to $100 million in insurance coverage via BitGo, although that insurance coverage has recently come under scrutiny because of ambiguous language found in BitGo’s policies. Coindesk reports that at least one prominent insurance underwriter believes the company totally exaggerates the amount or degree of insurance coverage they can actually offer to customers.
Having issues with a custodian is a big deal when it comes to getting customers to trust your brand as a top option for retirement investing. Despite those struggles, BitcoinIRA.com still has a good reputation with customers online.
This coupled with the fact that BitGo was labelled responsible for a $72 million loss while acting as a custodian for Bitfinex.com, a Hong Kong based crypto exchange, in 2016, and it’s easy to see why competitors are gaining market share.
BitcoinIRA.com Vs Others (Regal Assets, CoinIRA, BitIRA, etc)
Criteria | BitcoinIRA.com | Other Bitcoin IRA Companies |
---|---|---|
Minimum Investment | $3,000 | All other IRAs start at $10,000 |
Coins Offered | Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, Zcash, | Only Regal Assets offers more. |
Customer Ratings | Facebook and Google ratings are at 4.5 and 4.6 out of 5 respectively. | Regal Assets and Noble Bitcoin have better reviews. |
Insurance Offered | Up to $100 million. | $100 million is the maximum offered by several providers. |
The Pros of Choosing BitcoinIRA.com
The company ranks of 4.5 out of five on Facebook and a 4.60 out of 5 on Google reviews. That’s pretty good among competitors in the industry, though not exactly good enough for top spot. The best part about choosing BitcoinIRA.com is that the minimum investment is only $3,000. This means that for somebody still relatively new to Bitcoin that really wants some cryptocurrency exposure in their IRA, it’s relatively cheap to get in the game.
BitcoinIRA.com also allows investors to choose from eight different cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Ethereum
- Ethereum Classic
- Ripple
- Litecoin
- Stellar Lumens
- Zcash
Only Regal Assets offers as many cryptocurrencies to choose from. The two companies certainly lead the crypto IRA category in that regard.
BitcoinIRA.com also promises that their sales associates are always available on the phone at no extra charge. This is also a bonus because some trading platforms and investment firms do charge customers for executing deals on the telephone.
BitcoinIRA.com: Cons
There is a yin to every yang and there are downsides to working with BitcoinIRA.com. We’ve already established that BitGo is not the greatest custodian for one.
The other downside is that BitcoinIRA.com charges a whopping 15% as a setup fee for all new customers. Even existing customers who choose to leave the company and come back later have to pay an additional 5% setup fee, and stirs a monthly maintenance fee of $20 just to keep an investor’s account active.
Add that the fact that it’s custodian providers dealing with a number of issues, and BitcoinIRA.com doesn’t necessarily make the grade as the number one choice for Bitcoin retirement investing.
Overall however, it’s still a top option and does have credibility of being mentioned as a leading provider on a number of outlets.
Still the final decision is up to the investor. Investing in Bitcoin is risky no matter what IRA company is hosting the account. Let this review be one step in your research, and as you continue to seek more information, don’t forget that Regal Assets is CryptoRadar’s most recommended Bitcoin IRA service.