Buying FLOW With a Credit Card: 3 Platforms Compared
Flow credit markets are extremely active right now. With FLOW sitting at $0.037 and Flow token delisted from the top 3 South Korean exchanges, the need for an easy-to-use low-fee Flow onramp is rising. In this article we will cover how to buy flow with a credit card from 3 different platforms, how much fees they take, how long verification takes, and how to transfer Flow to your Flow wallet after purchase.
In related news, FLOW was recently delisted on exchanges throughout South Korea. The effect of this will probably push international buyers from countries with credit card crypto onramps to seek alternative lower-friction onramps to buy FLOW. Purchasing Flow with a credit card is not the most inexpensive way to purchase, but it is one of the quickest. Understanding the tradeoffs between all the different variables before you click "Buy" can save you actual dollars.
Three Platforms Where You Can Buy Flow With a Credit Card Right Now
Flow crypto can be bought from 3 exchanges using a credit card: Coinbase, Crypto.com, and MoonPay. Each of these platforms handle onramping funds and buying tokens very differently.
Buying FLOW with Coinbase begins on the trade screen. Choose FLOW from the asset selector and choose "Credit/Debit Card" as funding source. Enter the fiat value in USD and confirm. Coinbase instantly executes the purchase and the FLOW balance is added to your account's custodial wallet.
Same thing goes with Crypto.com: click "Buy," search for "Flow," choose credit card as your source of funds, then enter how much you'd like to purchase. Crypto.com will then present you with the fee and exchange rate to review before confirming your purchase. Keep in mind Crypto.com is a Flow-native wallet, so you won't have to bridge out of their native exchange following your purchase. One quirk to note: Crypto.com will occasionally auto-populate with your Crypto.com Visa card as the payment source rather than your credit card. Be sure to review what shows as your payment method before purchasing.
MoonPay considers itself a third-party onramp service. MoonPay offers wallets the ability to embed their widget into their platform. Both Dapper Wallet and Blocto use MoonPay as their purchasing backend. MoonPay also offers what could be called "incognito mode," which allows a user of an already installed Flow wallet to purchase FLOW directly into that wallet without ever having to make an exchange account. Simply click on FLOW, enter how much you'd like to buy, enter your card info, and wait for them to arrive. The easiest path from credit card to self-custody.
What Fees Does Each Platform Actually Charge You
Exchange fees per platform can vary enough where price shopping makes sense. Coinbase uses a flat fee on top of a spread. The flat fee for purchases with a credit card is typically around 3.99% of the trade value.
Crypto.com charges a flat 2.99% fee on credit/debit card purchases of FLOW and other supported tokens. Spread (quoted price minus market mid-price) contributes an additional 0.5% to 1.0% to smaller buys and sells for a total effective fee of 3.5% to 4.0%. Larger buys and sells (over $1,000) usually have narrower spreads. Purchasing $200 worth of FLOW incurs total fees of approximately $6-$8.
MoonPay charges a 4.5% fee on credit card transactions with a minimum fee of $3.99. MoonPay is by far the most expensive option on a per-dollar basis for purchases of $100 and less. If you buy $50 worth of cryptocurrency the minimum fee is $3.99, which equals nearly 8% of your total purchase. Their value add is that they deliver cryptocurrency directly to your wallet.
For someone buying into their Flow wallet, Crypto.com's base fee of 2.99% is the lowest of the 3 platforms.
Verification Tiers and How Long Each One Takes
Each one of these marketplaces verifies identity prior to allowing credit card transactions. Verification levels determine processing speed and purchase ceiling.
Coinbase's basic verification (government ID + selfie) typically takes less than 10 minutes to process. This allows one to purchase up to $7,500 per week immediately with a credit card. Enhanced verifications (which add a proof of address step) are manually reviewed and can take 1-2 business days. If you are new to Coinbase and want to buy FLOW right away, keep it basic.
Crypto.com has a similar multi-tier system. Verification for their Starter tier (with government ID + selfie) typically only takes between 5-15 minutes for most customers. Base credit card purchase limits are $5,000/day. First-time purchases with a credit card can sometimes be picked up by the platform's real-time fraud filters for additional manual review. Recommended solution in those cases: don't resend the transaction. Allow the review to process.
MoonPay verifies users inline during their first purchase. They request your email, phone number, government-issued ID, and selfie. Verification can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. First purchase limits are slightly lower than the exchange-based options, topping out at $2,000 for a first-time buyer. Once you have 1 month of account history you can buy higher quantities. If you plan on buying greater than $2,000 worth on day 1, consider an exchange account.
Moving FLOW From Exchange to a Self-Custody Wallet
Buying FLOW on an exchange is step 1. Step 2 is sending it to a Flow wallet and this is where most users make their first mistake. Flow addresses begin with "0x" and then have 16 hexadecimal characters after. They're smaller than Ethereum addresses for instance. If you send FLOW to an Ethereum address the tokens will be lost.
Sending FLOW on Coinbase works exactly like most other cryptos: click "Send/Receive," choose FLOW, paste destination Flow wallet address, make sure that under the wallet address it says "Flow network" (not Ethereum or EVM compatible chain), enter amount, submit. Coinbase will take a small network fee, typically less than $0.01 since fees on the Flow blockchain are extremely low.
On Crypto.com, navigate to "Transfer," then "Withdraw." Select FLOW, then select the Flow network. Paste your wallet address, verify via email and 2FA. Make sure you are on the Flow network before confirming. Withdrawal processing time is between 5 and 30 minutes due to internal security measures.
Dapper Wallet and Blocto are currently the two most widely used Flow wallets for self-custody. Lilico is another solid wallet that has built-in native staking support. Wallets that support the Flow blockchain will generate their own Flow native address during the wallet creation process. A frequent error that occurs during this step is trying to send FLOW to a multi-chain wallet that has not been set up to support the Flow protocol. MetaMask is a popular example of a multi-chain wallet that does not have native Flow blockchain support. Ensure the wallet being used lists Flow blockchain as a supported blockchain before sending.
Credit Card vs. Bank Transfer: When Premium Is Worth Paying
Buying anything with a credit card on any of these platforms will set you back another 2% to 4% over a bank transfer fee of 0% to 1.5%. That difference can equal real dollars when purchasing larger amounts. For example, a $1,000 purchase of FLOW on Coinbase will run you $40 in fees if you use a credit card. $15 if you use ACH. The difference adds up if you make multiple purchases. Most platforms also have lower daily and weekly purchase limits for bank transfers.
Paying a premium to purchase FLOW with a credit card can make sense in specific circumstances. The first is speed. Transfers from a bank can take 3-5 business days to clear, during which time you cannot withdraw your purchased FLOW. But purchases with a credit card are instantaneously cleared. If you need to access those tokens ASAP to send to a Flow wallet to stake or use in dapps, and the price of flow token is moving quickly, then the time savings may be worth paying the fee premium.
Example: FLOW recently dropped from $0.074 all the way down to $0.037 in under a week (cause attributed to flow blockchain news of South Korean exchange delisting events). Price volatility within that 3-5 day ACH settlement period can easily surpass 3% either upside or downside. During those conditions, instant settlement is worth something quantifiable.
The second reason people use credit card premium is for small recurring purchases. When spending less than $100, the actual dollar difference between paying with a credit card vs a bank transfer is usually only $1-$3. The effort to set up a bank transfer for someone who is dollar-cost averaging into FLOW for $50 per week might not be worth the small savings.
Credit card purchases of FLOW are ironically happening at a time when the asset is seeing contraction in terms of exchange access in certain countries. South Korean exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone have all announced that they are going forward with delisting FLOW following a March 13 ruling that denied a court injunction that had been temporarily stopping exchanges from delisting. This decreased availability on exchanges makes it even more critical for buyers to know which exchanges support buying FLOW with a credit card directly, how much those purchases cost, and how to store those tokens safely in self-custody. If crypto doesn't end up in a wallet that a user controls, then buying it at the absolute cheapest rate technically means nothing
