Buda Exchange Review

Buda – Is It Good?

Buda is a cryptocurrency exchange created in 2015 by South Americans for South Americans. Based in Santiago de Chile, Buda lets you trade with a few more cryptocurrencies than Bitcoin and accepts several South American coins too.

But how good is Buda? Is Buda a scam? Which countries do they support? And, most importantly, how does it stack up against other platforms?

What Does Buda provide?

One of the things we love about Buda is their security. 90% of their coins are held in cold wallets, making them impossible to reach by hackers. The fact that it has been running since way before the Bitcoin crash adds credibility to their platform.

Their app is a huge plus for those looking to trade on the go. It’s available for both Android and iOs and allows you to trade comfortably with a slick design. Not to say their desktop design isn’t slick, it’s just not as intuitive as some other designs we’ve seen. However this design is very focused on data so beginners and experienced traders alike will like their charts in the middle of the screen, helping you track your coins.

And speaking about coins, you got a few to choose from. Although this isn’t your huge “from-Litecoin-to-dodgecoin” kind of exchange, Buda at least gives you a few alt-coin options. You can trade with the alt-coins you’d expect: Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

One of the biggest issues we found with Buda was the way (or lack thereof) to top up your account. You can do a wire transfer only because they don’t take cards. This rather outdated option isn’t super convenient but gets the job done. However we’d hope to see some changes in the near future.

They also had some issues with the Colombian government back in early 2018 which made them have to temporarily suspend activities in Colombia for lack of guarantees. And although they have since resumed activities there, having that kind of issues with the government isn’t really something you want to have in your history.

Supported Countries

Buda is available in a few countries, however they’re mostly focused on South American countries, mainly Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru. They provide no support to the United States due to their regulations. If you need an exchange for the United Estates you can easily find the best one for you here.

Buda Rates and Buying Limits

Trades in Buda are P2P and occur when the maker has an existing order prior to the trade and the taker places the order that matches the maker’s.

Buda taker’s fee: 0.8%

This fee is way above the industry’s average and we only make sense of this number by comparing it to the rest of the South American exchanges which are more expensive than their American counterparts. Even their lower fee of 0.4% for takers is still above the American’s average.

Their withdrawal fee however is a very reasonable fixed amount of 0.00011 BTC, which is below the industry’s average.

Buda Cons

• Fees: Although they aren’t as large if you compare them with their counterparts in South America, they’re still slightly above average there.
• Lack of support for alt-coins: You’ll be able to buy only three altcoins besides bitcoin.
• No Credit Card support: Having to wire your fiat all the time when you could just wipe out your credit card seems outdated.
• Only for South Americans: Although they do give support in other countries, you’ll really only find it useful if you live in the main four they focus on.

Go to Buda

Is Buda Good For Bitcoin?

Buda is a great bitcoin exchange platform for anyone who lives in Argentina, Chile, Colombia or Peru, and that’s pretty much it. Their fees are fair for the region and being a somewhat old platform definitely gives it credibility. Although it’s not focused to more experienced traders (who will find better fees and more alt-coins elsewhere), Buda is pretty good for the beginner to intermediate trader.

If you don’t live in the main four countries, this is probably not the right exchange for you. However if you do, you’ll definitely want to check Buda yourself.