I decided to sign up with Cryptopia today in an effort to understand more about how trading platforms work. The experience was ok but the messaging could be improved to make it more accurate and consistent.
Mixed messages
Registering on the site is easy. In order to buy cryptocurrencies with New Zealand dollars though, I had to make a bank transfer. One also has to know that you are actually “buying” NZDT, otherwise known as a New Zealand Dollar Token. It’s a 1 for 1 swap which you then use to purchase other cryptocurrencies.
There is a warning at the top of the deposit screen saying:
But then at the bottom it says:
So it’s contradicting information. Not a good thing for a newbie. So I click on the “here” link to apply for level 2 verification and get this screen here (I’ve only screenshot the top part):
Now, I’m thinking I’m confirmed for a withdrawal limit of $5000 NZD. I don’t need Level 2 verification because the message there says “Users that have provided evidence of their identification have daily limit of $50,000.00 NZD”. I won’t be anywhere near $50,000 so I’m thinking Level 1 is fine.
My bank transfer
I then go and do a bank transfer of a very small amount of NZD into their account thinking it’ll be there tomorrow and I can buy my first tiny fraction of a bitcoin from Cryptopia.
The next day I get an friendly email from support saying that my NZD has been received but I need to complete level 2 verification. I’m like why? Then I find out that the daily withdraw of $5,000 NZD is if you want to withdraw $5,000 WORTH of CRYPTO out of Cryptopia and into another crypto wallet. If you want to involve a bank in any way, shape or form then you need level 2 as a minimum. It would have been good if this was made clear from the start. Clear on the relevant pages and not in an FAQ or help guide somewhere else.
Level 2 verification
So I complete level 2 verification and I get an email a few hours later saying:
Congratulations!
Your Level 2 account verification has been approved. You can now trade up to a maximum of $50,000 NZD per day. Happy trading. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our friendly Cryptopia Support team.
Great. I’m good to go? Well, not quite. I log in and still see a zero balance in my NZDT account. 8 hrs has past and it’s 9pm.
I log in the next day and find my balance has been updated. Whoohoo.
What could be improved?
- The obvious part is that the messaging needs to be clear and consistent.
- The level 2 congratulatory email was a bit premature. It says “Happy trading.” Well, I couldn’t at the time. Note though, it was a matter of timing because although I could trade if it was crypto to crypto but then in that case I wouldn’t need level 2. Do you see the “circular reference”?
- An indication of when the NZDT will appear in my “balances” would be good because I have no idea how long I should wait. This is important because it could be something that I’ve done wrong as a newbie. It means I might end up putting an unnecessary support ticket onto the queue.
- The fact that Cryptopia have acknowledge receipt of the deposit, as a new user I’m wondering, “shouldn’t it appear fairly quickly on my balances page? Like within 30mins?
- Having a question mark icon over the menu where if you hover over it, an explanation appears would be great. I don’t really want to do a search in an FAQ or help page somewhere to figure out what Paytopia is. It sounds interesting though!
Summary
The issues I came across are not serious ones. These suggestions make the user experience smoother. Note that I have passed these comments to Cryptopia and understand some improvements are on their way. The user interface looks good and keen to understanding more about the neat features within. All in all it took 2 sleeps for me to be able to buy my tiny fraction of a bitcoin. 2 sleeps and confidence that my transaction will go through is pretty good considering the other alternatives around in NZ at the moment!
