Coinbase Affiliate Program (2024)
Even if you are not a big crypto enthusiast, chances are you have heard about Coinbase. Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the USA by trading volume and it is also considered to be the safest exchange.
Crypto exchanges have become one of the primary targets of hackers and a lot of money is being stolen from them each year. Coinbase has 98% of customer funds stored offline, which makes theft and loss a lot more unlikely.
That is one of the main reasons Coinbase is a number one choice for many people who invest in crypto.
Because of its good reputation, Coinbase does not have the lowest fees. For you as a Coinbase affiliate, this is a good thing though, as you will learn in this review of the Coinbase affiliate program.
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Coinbase Affiliate Program
Coinbase has a page dedicated to their affiliate program on their website, but their program is not hosted by them but on the Impact Radius affiliate network.
If you click on the “Become an Affiliate“ button on the Coinbase affiliate landing page, it will take you to the Impact sign-up page. If you already have an account with Impact, you can search for it from your account and apply from there.
They claim that all applications are reviewed within 14 working days.
The cookie duration is 30 days and the program has the standard last-click credit policy.
Once you reach a payout threshold of $10, you can withdraw via PayPal, check, wire transfer, direct deposit, or ACH transfer. Please note that the payout threshold can differ based on the chosen payment method.
Since the Coinbase affiliate program is hosted on Impact, you can take advantage of one of their features, which is getting paid in your local currency and not in US dollars. You can set your local currency in your Impact account settings.
One thing that has to be pointed out is that it is very hard to get accepted to the program. At the time of writing this review, the acceptance rate was only 6%, which is very low.
I was looking for the reasons behind this low acceptance rate and found them in the Coinbase affiliate handbook, which states that affiliates who want to promote Coinbase should have at least 45k website or app unique visitors per month. Your traffic should be passionate about crypto, so your website/app should preferably be in a crypto niche. Furthermore, even if you manage to get accepted to the program you need to acquire at least 30 referrals within the first three months.
So this explains the low acceptance rate. The Coinbase affiliate program is not suitable for new affiliate marketers as they will not be accepted to the program with a new website.
The program is suitable for people who have an already established website in a crypto niche that receives a significant amount of traffic each month.
If you are not one of those people and just starting with affiliate marketing, don´t get discouraged from starting a new website. Crypto is not going anywhere anytime soon and building a website in a crypto niche could become very lucrative in the years to come. In the meantime, you can check the Coinbase referral program.
Coinbase Affiliate Program Commission
With the Coinbase Affiliate program, you receive 50% of your referees’ trading fees for the first three months.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, Coinbase fees are not the lowest compared to other crypto exchanges.
Transaction fees on Coinbase are as follows:
| $10 or less | $0.99 |
| More than $10, less than or equal to $25 | $1.49 |
| More than $25, less than or equal to $50 | $1.99 |
| More than $50, less than or equal to $200 | $2.99 |
| More than $200 | 1.49% |
What I have not managed to find anywhere is whether the affiliate program only applies to Coinbase or also to Coinbase Pro. I have asked the support department but have not received a reply yet. If I do, I will update the article with an answer.
UPDATE: I have received a reply. The affiliate program does not apply to Coinbase Pro.
Coinbase is the main platform, which is more beginner-oriented and has higher fees. Coinbase Pro has more features, like advanced charting and lower fees. For purchases of up to $10,000, you would pay just 0.50%.
That’s quite a big difference and the reason I use Coinbase Pro for my crypto purchases. Coinbase Pro is free, so it would not make sense to pay the higher fees on the main platform.
Coinbase Pro is used by fewer people mainly because many people don´t even know it exists, but it would be good to know if Coinbase affiliates get the commission even from the lower transaction fees on Coinbase Pro.
Can You Make $1000 a Month as a Coinbase Affiliate?
How much money you make with the Coinbase Affiliate program depends hugely on how many purchases your referrals make during the 90 days and most importantly how much they invest.
If your referral purchased $20 of crypto each month on the main Coinbase platform, you would receive around $2.235, which is not much.
Now imagine that they do one purchase for $10,000; you would earn $74.50 with that one purchase. For $1000, you would get $7.45.
The chances are that few of your referrals will invest a bigger amount, but you should also expect that many people will invest just a few bucks just to test how the exchange works.
Let’s try to do a very simplified simulation. Let’s say that 90% of people will invest between $1 and $200, with the average processing fee of $1.99.
That’s 9% investing $1000 and the remaining 1% investing $10,000.
For this example, let’s say that your conversion rate is 2% and your website monthly traffic is 45k, which is also the Coinbase requirement to get accepted to the program.
So 2% from 45k is 900 referrals.
Out of the 900 referrals, 810 people invested less than $200, and that would result in $805.95.
Out of the 900 referrals, 81 people invested $1,000, and that would result in $603.45.
Out of the 900 referrals, 9 people invested $10,000, and that would result in $670.50.
Overall, a Coinbase affiliate from this example would earn $2,079.90.
I always try to make my examples more pessimistic rather than optimistic, so the earnings would most likely be higher. Imagine that just one of the 900 referrals would make a bigger investment worth $100,000, from which you would get $745.
How to Make Money as a Coinbase Affiliate
The Coinbase affiliate program is for you only if you have a website or app in the crypto niche.
If you don’t, then you will most likely not be accepted to the program. In this section, I will therefore assume that you have a website in a crypto niche or that you will start and work on growing a new one.
Articles Tips
The best way to be successful with the Coinbase affiliate program is to target keywords that are “beginner related. “
You will have the highest conversion rate with people that are new to crypto as those are the ones who won’t have a Coinbase account created yet. People who are getting into crypto will not search for things like “Lightning Network“, “Parachain” etc., they will search for more basic information like what it is mining, etc.
It goes without saying that targeting such phrases is much harder as there is huge competition. But there still are some good keyword opportunities. Try to brainstorm with what you can come up with. You can try asking your family and friends who are not crypto enthusiasts what questions they have about crypto. Then look into your SEO tool and check the search volumes and ranking difficulty for the keywords you have gathered.
Social Media
Coinbase affiliate program does allow you to promote their program through social media. Of course, there are rules like disclosure, trademark usage guidelines, etc. I recommend checking the Coinbase affiliate marketing guide. In particular, be sure to never forget to include an investment disclaimer. You can use the one I have at the top of this review.
I don´t recommend looking for Facebook groups and just spamming your affiliate links everywhere. You will not achieve any success with it.
Social media is a good option for those who have their channels related to crypto. If you have your own Facebook group about crypto, you could include your affiliate link within a pinned post. On Instagram, you can have it in your bio, etc.
If you have just a crypto related social channel and not a website/app, you will not be accepted to the program, so look at social media as a secondary promotional channel not as a primary one.
YouTube
Even though YouTube is considered to be social media, it deserves a separate subheading.
If you have a YouTube channel around crypto, promoting Coinbase is a great way to monetize it. During the last couple of years, there has been a huge boom in crypto channels, and in most of the videos, you will find affiliate links in their descriptions.
Coinbase is one of the most promoted brands, even though I must admit that I have seen only a few people promote the affiliate program. Most of the YouTubers promote the Coinbase referral program.
Coinbase Referral Program
With the Coinbase referral program, you invite a friend to Coinbase and you both receive $10 in Bitcoin when your invitee buys or sells $100 or more on Coinbase.
You can access your invite link through your Coinbase account.
You only get the referral bonus if the invitee creates a new account and if their buy or sell is made through the main Coinbase platform and not Coinbase Pro.
The buy or sell also has to be made within 180 days of opening the new account.
As you can see, with the Coinbase referral program you earn less than with the Coinbase affiliate program.
Nevertheless, the referral program is more popular. It is simply because there are no requirements for joining. All you need is a Coinbase account, which you can create for free. On the other hand, the affiliate program has strict requirements, as you have learned in this review.
Should You Join the Coinbase Affiliate Program?
The Coinbase affiliate program has a lot of earning potential. If you can fulfill the program’s requirements and get accepted to the program then you should give it a try.
As you can see in the examples in this review, getting 50% of your referees’ trading fees for the first three months can earn you a lot.
Crypto is a very hot topic and there is no indication that this will change any time soon. If you are new to affiliate marketing and currently without a website, starting one in a crypto niche is not a bad idea. I recommend checking my free mini course on how to pick a niche in which you learn what you should take into account when picking a niche for a new website.
