This guide enlists the best crypto IRA in 2023 which can be used to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using your IRA or retirement accounts.
Crypto IRAs are rising in popularity. One of the reasons for this is the high potential returns on your savings that these IRAs offer. However, they come with higher risks compared to traditional IRAs. Hence, it becomes imperative to choose the best crypto IRA which is also suited to your priorities and needs.
This guide will enlist the best crypto IRA in 2023 to help you securely invest your retirement funds in digital assets.
The table below enlists the best crypto IRA in 2023 and maps them basis their fitment.
Read: Is crypto IRA a good idea?
Read: Pros and Cons of crypto IRA
Table of Contents
Best crypto IRA in 2023
| S.No. | 7 Best Crypto IRA in 2023 | Good for |
| 1. | BitcoinIRA | One of the most trusted crypto IRA platforms. Good for you if you wish to stick to the trusted, tried, and tested crypto IRA platform. |
| 2. | iTrustCapital | Low fees and allows diversification to gold, silver, and other precious metals. |
| 3. | AltoIRA | Good for investors who merely wish to invest their IRAs into cryptocurrencies, that too at a very low fee. Alto IRA allows investment in 200 plus cryptocurrencies. |
| 4. | CoinIRA | Good for beginners as it provides handholding support at a low fee. |
| 5. | BitIRA | If security is your priority, then go for BitIRA. It implements the best security measures to protect your cryptocurrencies and tokens. |
| 6. | BlockMint | Like CoinIRA, if you want handholding support from specialized consultants, you can choose Blockcmint. |
| 7. | RocketDollar | Best for self-employed individuals. Apart from cryptocurrencies, it also provides options to easily invest in other alternative investment options like real estate, crowdfunding, and more. |
Best crypto IRA is a relative term. The best crypto IRA for you is dependent on your needs and suitability. This guide enlists the 7 best crypto IRA in 2023 based on the below parameters (not limited to).
- The number of cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investments to
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment
- Minimum Account Balance you need to maintain
- Transaction Fee for trading crypto
- Quality of Customer Services
- Ease of setting up the account and the most important
- Security of funds in the IRA
We will outline the best crypto IRA one by one, mapping the above parameters. But let us first understand what an IRA is, what an SDIRA is, and what a crypto IRA actually is. If you are already aware of these concepts you can directly skip to the main part of this guide, which is “Best Crypto IRA in 2023“
What is an IRA?
An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a savings account that has associated tax advantages.
This means the money saved in an IRA will help offset the tax you are liable to pay.
For instance, let’s say your taxable income is $20,000 and you have $5000 in your IRA account.
Then, in that case, your taxable income will be reduced by the money saved in the IRA account, up to a certain limit. Hence, in this case, your taxable income becomes ($20,000-$5000), i.e. $15000.
Please note that there is a defined limit on the amount of money you can claim for tax savings in a year in your IRA account.
You can open an IRA through a bank, an investment firm, an online brokerage, or a personal broker.
A traditional IRA account allows you to invest in diversified financial products like stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and mutual funds.
Besides the traditional IRAs, there are Self Directed IRAs (SDIRAs) that allow you to further explore alternative investment options like real estate, cryptos, and precious metals.
What is Self Directed IRA
As defined above, a self-directed IRA (SDIRA) is a form of traditional IRA. It offers the same tax advantages and the same contribution limits as the traditional IRA.
However, the SDIRA allows you to invest in a broader yet potentially riskier and potentially more rewarding portfolio of financial products, which are not included in the traditional IRA.
These potentially riskier and more rewarding financial products include real estate, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, and other forms of alternative investments.
SDIRA allows you to manage your portfolio, i.e. you can take investment decisions. However, your portfolio is administered by a custodian or trustee.
To proceed, you need a qualified IRA custodian that specializes in that type of account or investment. Banks, trust corporations, and other organizations that are approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are examples of custodians.
What is a crypto IRA?
A crypto IRA is a form of Self-directed IRA (SDIRA) or simply an IRA, that allows you to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from your IRA accounts.
These crypto IRAs, apart from simply investing and adding cryptocurrencies to your IRA portfolio, allow cryptocurrency trading and also facilitate storage of your cryptocurrencies.
For people who desire to avoid capital gains taxes while investing in cryptocurrencies, crypto IRAs are an alluring investment choice. Without an IRA, you’d be subject to capital gains taxes for regular crypto transactions. However, self-directed IRAs do away with those extra expenses (or at least defer them).
Read about the best software to file your crypto taxes
Advantages and Disadvantages of Crypto IRA
In simple terms, a crypto IRA is an IRA that also gives you the option to diversify your investments into cryptocurrencies. Now this investment into cryptocurrencies has its share of advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
- Diversification: Incorporating cryptocurrencies into your IRA can be an effective way to diversify your investment portfolio.
Cryptocurrencies might act as a hedge against the inflation and the fall of the fiat currency.
The consensus among industry experts is that cryptocurrencies are here to stay.
I understand the key here is allocating a small portion of your entire investment portfolio to utility cryptocurrencies, and holding onto them for an extended period.
Utility cryptocurrencies are those which have practical applications such as in DeFi, rather than purely speculative assets.
It is crucial to conduct thorough research before investing in cryptocurrencies. - Tax advantage: One of the most significant advantages of a crypto IRA is its tax benefits.
For tax purposes, IRS treats cryptocurrencies as property, and capital gains taxes are levied on them when you buy and sell cryptocurrencies in a normal scenario.
However, investing in cryptocurrencies via your IRA account may offset the Capital Gains (Roth option).
Furthermore, crypto IRAs, like traditional IRAs, offer deductions in your annual taxable income. - High potential returns: If we do our proper research and invest for the long term, cryptocurrencies offer high potential returns.
At present, cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy and have yet to reach their full potential. Over the next 20 to 30 years, they may experience exponential growth and increase significantly in value.
In the past few years, we have seen major rallies in prices for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin itself witnessed a whopping increase from a mere $0.09 when it started to its ATH of around $68,000 in just a matter of 10 years.
But volatility also causes significant downsizing of your investment. We should also be wary of the significant losses that might impact your portfolio.
Generally speaking, cryptocurrencies that have real-world applications can be trusted to give heart-throbbing growth to your investments. Although volatility along the way is also almost certain.
Disadvantages
- High transaction costs: Unlike traditional IRAs, self-directed IRAs (SDIRAs) have different fees and charges like one-time set-up fees, recurring maintenance fees, and trading charges (usually 1% to 2%).
These costs are often not clearly stated on the platforms, which can give you a bummer at a later stage. In addition, there may be hidden fees that are not commonly seen in traditional Roth IRAs.
- High volatility: Cryptocurrencies are mostly driven by speculation and do not have a real value attached to them, causing them to lose their value significantly over time.
Cryptocurrencies are still in their nascent stages compared to other securities such as stocks and bonds.
Despite all the media hype, they are owned by a small faction of investors. Thus, even a small fraction of investors buying or selling can significantly impact cryptocurrency prices.
Furthermore, other factors such as regulations and news can also contribute to cryptocurrency volatility.
- Custodian requirement: Holding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not prohibited by the IRS, but not all Roth IRA providers offer to hold cryptocurrencies.
If a Roth IRA provider allows cryptocurrency holdings, the next step is to find a custodian that can securely keep them. You would need to work with a custodian that will safely hold your Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. - Direct transfer not possible: You cannot transfer or roll over Bitcoins you already own to your Roth IRA.”
Best crypto IRA in 2023
Let us now quickly run through the 7 best crypto IRA in 2023. Each one of them is suited to different needs and priorities. For example, a CoinIRA and BlockMint are good for beginners whereas a BitcoinIRA is overall a good crypto IRA for intermediate and pro-crypto traders. Let us take a deeper look.
| 7 best crypto IRA | No. of cryptocurrencies and tokens it allows investment into | Fees and the minimum amount needed to open an account | Good for which type of customers? |
| BitcoinIRA | 60 different cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, ADA. | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $3000 It also offers a Saver IRA that allows you to make an initial investment of $100 followed by monthly recurring $100 investments from a bank linked to your IRA. Fees: Comparatively higher fees as compared to other crypto IRAs in the market. It charges a custodian, security, and one-time service fee. The fees charged is dependent on the amount, you invest. | If you want to go with the trusted, tried, and tested crypto IRA platform, BitcoinIRA is your choice. It is one of the oldest and most trusted crypto IRA platforms (which also allows easy investment in gold). Although the platform fees are comparatively high. |
| iTrustCapital | 29 different cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Ripple and more. | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $1000 Fees: No monthly and security fees. A 1% fee is charged on each trade. | If you want to go with a crypto IRA which charges one of the lowest fees (among all crypto IRAs) and allows you to diversify your investment in Gold, Silver and other precious metals. |
| Alto crypto IRA | 200 coins and tokens including Bitcoin, Ether, ADA, Apecoin, and more. Check this. | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $1000 Fees: No monthly fees, setup fees, and security fees. A 1% fee is charged on each trade. | Good for investors who want to choose from 200 plus cryptocurrencies, to diversify their retirement funds at a very low fee. |
| Coin IRA | 20 different cryptocurrencies and 3 precious metals | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $5000 Fees: No monthly fees, setup fees, and security fees. A 1.25% on Buy trades and 1% on Sell Trades. | One of the pioneers in the crypto IRA space. Good for beginners as it provides handholding support (for account setup and more). The fee is also comparatively lower with multiple storage options. |
| BitIRA | 18 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, DAI and Litecoin | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $5000 Fees: Setup fee: $50 Storage fee: 0.05% Annual/monthly fee: Zero Trading fee: Not clearly stated on the website | It offers one of the finest security measures of all crypto IRAs. Both your transactions and your cryptocurrencies are secured. Additionally, it offers dollar by dollar, unlimited insurance to your cryptocurrencies. |
| BlockMint | 6 cryptocurrencies including the popular ones like Bitcoin and Ether. | Minimum amount needed to open an account: $10,000 Fees: Comparatively higher fees. Annual maintenance fee: $195 Monthly storage fee: 0.05% Crypto purchase fees: 15% Sell fee: 1% | Much like CoinIRA, it is good for beginners as handholding support is provided by the BlockMint consultants to set up your account. The consultants even help you to choose the right cryptocurrency suited to your needs. |
| Rocket Dollar | Invest in cryptocurrencies through various exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, Coinbase, ErisX, and River Financial. | Minimum amount needed to open an account: Zero Fees: Rocket Dollar offers two subscription models-Silver and Gold. All features in Silver is offered in Gold also. Silver: Monthly maintenance fee: $15 One-time setup fee: $360 Gold: Monthly maintenance fee: $30 One-time setup fee: $600 For more details refer to this guide. | Apart from investors who are employed, Rocket Dollar also supports solo self-employed investors. Self-employed investors can diversify their IRA/retirement funds to cryptocurrencies (besides other alternative investment options like a startup, crowdfunding, lending, real estate and more). Read here: Best Solo 401 (K) providers for the self-employed |
BitcoinIRA
BitcoinIRA is the first and one of the largest crypto IRA platforms, which was established in 2016. Its is one of the most trusted crypto IRA platforms. Good for you if you wish to stick to a trusted, tried and tested crypto IRA platform, for investing your IRA in cryptocurrencies.
A complete review of BitcoinIRA on different parameters is given below.
- Insurance to your funds: BitcoinIRA provides insurance of $700 million by Lloyd’s of London. to your funds saved in the IRA. This makes it a crypto IRA of choice for most of investors.
- Cold Storage: BitcoinIRA also offers secure cold storage of your crypto investments. This makes your cryptocurrencies secure and not vulnerable to any cyber-attacks.
- The number of cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investments to: Bitcoin IRA allows investments into 60 different cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, ADA.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment: BitcoinIRA provides the option to diversify your investments to physical gold also. The gold bars are stored in Brink vaults.
- Minimum amount needed to open an account: In BitcoinIRA the minimum amount needed to open an account is $3000. This means that you need to make the first investment of at least $3000 to open your account. However, BitcoinIRA also offers Saver IRA that allows you to make an initial investment of $100 followed by monthly recurring $100 investments from a bank linked to your IRA.
- Associated Fees: BitcoinIRA is comparatively higher in terms of the fees that it charges from the investors. There are three types of fees namely a custodian fee, a security fee and a one-time service fee, which depend on the amount you are investing. The bad part is that these are not clearly mentioned in their website. One needs to contact and check from the customer service for the specific numbers.
- Quality of Customer Services: Prompt customer service. BitcoinIRA also provides a library of resources to learn cryptocurrency investments.
- Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA: Yes, BitcoinIRA allows converting your existing IRAs to it
- Ease of setting up the account and the most important: Quick and easy setup.
- Security of funds in the IRA: One of the best in the industry. BitcoinIRA offer military level of protection to your cryptocurrencies. It is secured by BitGo, which is one of the most trusted security provider for on chain Bitcoin transactions. It offers a 256-bit encrypted SSL trading (same encryption used in blockchains), cold or offline storage of your cryptocurrencies and insures the digital assets up to $700 million.
Learn what is blockchain here
Learn about cold/offline or hardware wallets and online wallets here
Pros and Cons
iTrustCapital
Low fees and allows diversification to gold, silver, and other precious metals
If you want to go with a crypto IRA which charges one of the lowest fees (among all crypto IRAs) and allows you to diversify your investment in Gold, Silver, and other precious metals.
iTrustCapital offers one of the lowest fees among all the crypto IRAs. Besides you need a mere $1000 to open an account.
- Insurance to your funds: iTrustCapital insures your digital assets via two separate channels. One is a $50 million insurance provided by Munich Re. The other one, which iTrustCapital added to its portfolio in 2021 is of Coinbase Custody which is a custodian of your digital assets up to $370 million.
- The number of cryptocurrencies iTrustCapital Crypto IRA allows investments to: 29 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Ripple and more.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment: iTrustCapital allows you to diversify your portfolio by investing in Gold, Silver, and other precious metals.
- The minimum amount needed to open an account: iTrustCapital requires you to at least invest $1000 to open an account. Besides a $30 minimum is needed to make any trade.
- Associated Fees: It offers one of the lowest fees among all the crypto IRAs.
Only a 1% fee is charged for cryptocurrency trading
No monthly fees
No broker fees - Quality of Customer Services: Decent customer support services as is well evidenced in the reviews on TrustPilot.
- Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA: Yes. You can convert your traditional, Roth or SEP IRA to a crypto IRA by paying an additional $75 as fees.
- Ease of setting up the account: Easy
- Security of funds in the IRA:
- iTrustCapital partners with Coinbase, which offers Coinbase Custody to your digital assets up to $370 million. Gold and Silver are held at the Royal Canadian Mint and traded on VaultChain, a secure blockchain-distributed ledger.
Pros and Cons
AltoIRA
Read a complete Alto IRA review here.
Read a complete Alto crypto IRA review here.
Best crypto IRA for investors who want to choose from 200 plus cryptocurrencies, to diversify their retirement funds at a very low fee.
- Insurance to your funds: Provided by Coinbase.
- The number of cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investments to: Supports over 200 coins and tokens including Bitcoin, Ether, ADA, Apecoin and more. Check this.
- Minimum amount needed to open an account: AltoIRA only needs an initial minimum investment of $10 to start your account.
- Associated Fees: Low fees. No account maintenance or setup fees.
Only a straightforward 1% trading fee per transaction. - Quality of Customer Services: Good.
- Ease of setting up the account and the most important: Easy. Offers a free concierge service to help walk you through setting up and funding your account.
- Security of funds in the IRA: The security is provided by Coinbase. Coinbase stores your cryptos in offline storage. Read more here.
Pros and Cons
CoinIRA
Best crypto IRA for beginners as it provides handholding support (for account setup and more) at a low fee.
CoinIRA is an industry pioneer, which started in 2017. It is good for beginners especially owing to the support provided by the customer support.
One of the best in terms of user experience owing to the handholding provided by the team to setup your account, low fees, and multiple storage options.
- Insurance to your funds: Insurance of up to $100 million for your digital assets.
- The number of cryptocurrencies crypto IRA allows investments to: 20 different cryptocurrencies and 3 precious metals. Cryptocurrencies included are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Litecoin, Aave, Basic Attention Token, Chainlink, and more.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment: Gold and Silver
- Fees:
- Very low fees.
- No Setup Fee
- No Account Maintenance Fees
- No Storage Fees
- Buy trades-1.25%
- Sell trades and 1%
- Account initiation fee: zero
- Minimum first investment amount: $5000
- Quality of Customer Services: Very good. In fact, there is a team of cryptocurrency advisors, for setting up your account.
- Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA:
- Ease of setting up the account and most important: Easy. Besides, there is a team of cryptocurrency advisors, for setting up your account.
- Security of funds in the IRA: Provides multiple storage options.
It uses custodian-Equity Trust Company, to hold your digital assets safely in cold storage.
Pros and Cons
BitIRA
Best crypto IRA in terms of the security provided to your digital assets and transactions.
If security is the key in selecting your crypto IRA, then BitIRA is the best bet for you.
Founded in 2017 it provides one of the best security measures among all the crypto IRAs. It provides security to your cryptocurrencies as well as your transactions. Besides it also provides dollar by dollar, unlimited insurance coverage for your cryptocurrencies.
- Insurance to your funds: Dollar by dollar, full insurance coverage for your digital assets. Besides a $1 million consumer protection insurance is also provided to protect you against any internal frauds.
- The number of cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investments to: 18 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, DAI and Litecoin.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment
- Minimum amount needed to open an account: Minimum $5000 required to start initiate the account.
- Associated Fees: Does not enlists the fees on its website.
- Quality of Customer Services: Decent customer service.
- Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA: Yes from Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs and 401(k)s.
- Ease of setting up the account and the most important: Not that easy as compared to other crypto IRA providers.
- Security of funds in the IRA: BitIRA provides security for your funds as well as your transactions. Your digital funds are kept in safe and secure cold storage- grade-5 nuclear bunkers protected by armed guards and computer security specialists 24/7. Besides, your transactions are secured using multi-factor encryptions. This is a major value add that BitIRA provides as compared to other crypto IRAs, by providing multi factor encryption for transactions.
Pros and Cons
BlockMint
Owned by one of America’s leading precious metal investment companies, Lear Capital, BlockMint is well-recommended for beginners much like CoinIRA. Handholding support is provided by the BlockMint consultants to set up your account. The consultants even help you to choose the right cryptocurrency suited to your needs.
However, as much as BlockMint gives you the support from its consultants to setup your account and plan your investments, it does not give you enough flexibility to diversify your account. Hence, if you are looking for an IRA where you can be flexible in choosing your investments and do not want to rely on professionals, then BlockMint is not the correct platform for you.
- Insurance to your funds: Information not available.
- The number of cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investments to: Currently BlockMint supports 6 cryptocurrencies including the popular ones like Bitcoin and Ether.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment: Information not available.
- Minimum amount needed to open an account: Minimum 10,000 required for account setup.
- Associated Fees: High Fees. 15% fees for any crypto purchases.
Further there are fees imposed by the account custodian like 2.5% purchase fee, 1% sell fee and $195 annual maintenance fee and 0.05% monthly storage fee. - Quality of Customer Services: Decent customer support.
- Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA: Yes.
- Ease of setting up the account and the most important: Yes. Handholding support is provided by the BlockMint consultants to set up your account.
- Security of funds in the IRA: The funds are stored offline in cold storage and protected in 2 separate guarded vaults.
Pros and Cons
Rocket Dollar
Best crypto IRA for self-employed individual investors who wish to diversify their retirement funds to alternative investment options like cryptocurrencies, crowdfunding, startup lending, and real estate.
- Insurance to your funds:
- Cryptocurrencies the crypto IRA allows investing: Currently, Rocket Dollar allows you to invest in cryptocurrencies through various exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, Coinbase, ErisX, and River Financial. But you need to connect your Rocket Dollar account to these exchanges so that the digital assets can be connected to your retirement (IRA) account.
- Additional assets (besides crypto) available in the IRA for investment: Real estate, Metals, Commodities, Equity crowdfunding, Private equity lending, Startup lending, Conventional lending, Peer-to-peer lending
- The minimum amount needed to open an account: Zero
- Associated Fees: Rocket Dollar offers two subscription models-Silver and Gold.
Silver:
Monthly maintenance fee: $15
One-time setup fee: $360
Gold:
Monthly maintenance fee: $30
One-time setup fee: $600
For more details refer to this guide. - Quality of Customer Services: Decent customer support.
Phone number: 1 855-762-5383
(Phone support available: Monday-Friday: 9:00am-4:30pm (CST))
Email: [email protected] - Whether it allows for converting your existing IRAs to crypto IRA: Yes. Rollover from old IRA plans is allowed by Rocket Dollar. You can fund your Rocket Dollar account by rollover from your old IRA account. Generally, it does not charge any fees for the rollover.
- Ease of setting up the account: It might be a little cumbersome for beginners to understand the asset classes, the processes, and vital things to take care of while investing in alternative financial assets via Rocket Dollar. However, Rocket Dollar has a number of support and how to articles to help you open an account and start investing in alternative asset classes. It aslo provides phone (1 855-762-5383) and email support to address challenges.
- Security of funds in the IRA: Rocket Dollar SOC-2 certified company, and continuously updates its systems to comply with best practices to maintain security. Each year Rocket Dollar undergoes a SOC2 Type audit to ensure the highest levels of security standards for data security, availability, confidentiality, integrity, and privacy processes. Additionally, the company’s custodian is an FDIC-insured bank, which means that cash held in the custodian’s accounts is insured up to $250,000 per depositor.
Pros and Cons
Best crypto IRA: Conclusion
In conclusion, choosing the right crypto IRA platform is crucial for those looking to invest in cryptocurrencies for their retirement.
This guide presents the best crypto IRA platforms present in 2023 and does a comprehensive review of their features including security, ease of usage, fees, and the investment options available.
Each platform has its pros and cons and the one that you choose will strictly depend on your requirements.
Ultimately, selecting the right crypto IRA platform can be a wise move for those seeking to diversify their retirement portfolio and take advantage of the potential benefits that cryptocurrencies may offer.
Detailed one. Thanks for sharing