Another exchange. Whoopie, right? I’m not going to pretend that Coinmama has anything that Gemini doesn’t have (except maybe a few more cryptocurrencies you can buy with fiat). It’s not really all that different from Kraken (except for the fact that you don’t have to upload proof of your address to verify your identity when you create a Coinmama account). Unlike MintPal, Coinmama isn’t going to disappear with your crypto because a shady figure chose another shady figure to manage the exchange. Coinmama is a fairly normal fiat-to-crypto exchange, right?

Right.

The Positives:

• Fairly easy to verify your identity. It only took me two tries, which is a record for me since I recently upgraded from a phone with a crappy camera to one that I can use to take actual decent selfies. I could see even hardcore cryptocurrency users avoiding exchanges, either because they have a crappy camera (and therefore can’t get a decent picture of their photo ID) or don’t have a photo ID at all (in which case, there’s nothing to get a picture of). But since we’re cryptocurrency users, we can blame lousy KYC regulations rather than exchanges for the difficulty that some people might have verifying their identities. The point here is that Coinmama doesn’t make verification impossible if you have both a decent mobile phone camera and a photo ID and was even okay with me making a Dorian Nakamoto face and holding my ID above my head when taking my selfie.
• Fairly easy to buy crypto. Okay, this one requires you to actually have a wallet of the cryptocurrency you’re buying because Coinmama will not store your crypto for you. However, I do not see that being a problem for somebody who’s actually serious about hodling cryptocurrency or has ever had difficulty withdrawing cryptocurrency from an exchange. It’s easy to choose the amount of your cryptocurrency of choice, enter your wallet address, and pay with a credit or debit card.
• Has an affiliate program. Did I mention that my links to Coinmama are affiliate links that earn me a cut of purchases made through my links? I guess I’m sort of required to by law, but don’t think that I’m going to write a review for free. Seriously, though, if you have a blog, join Coinmama’s affiliate account and you can earn some Bitcoin anytime somebody clicks through and buys some cryptocurrency.

The Nitpicks:

• Coinmama tacks on an additional fee for using a credit or debit card. This sort of stinks because the only real payment option is a credit or debit card. This exchange doesn’t accept Paypal, Moneygram, Google Pay, bank wires, or anything else.
• Needs more coins! I only say this because I favor having a diversified portfolio and I also like DASH. What if somebody doesn’t know about ShapeShift yet and wants an easy way to buy Decred with fiat?

So, do I recommend Coinmama? Since the pros outweigh the cons, I’d say go ahead if you can take a decent selfie with your photo ID. If you can’t or want to buy crypto with something other than plastic, LocalBitcoins is still all right. But if you want an exchange that is good about sending your crypto directly to you, then totally check out this exchange.