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Bamboo cryptocurrency microinvestment app – July 2021 review

Bamboo lets you round up your spare change from purchases and put it in cryptocurrency and precious metals.

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Andrew Munro
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Bamboo is a microinvestment app that lets you automatically invest your spare change in Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and silver. It works by rounding up purchases to the nearest dollar, and investing the difference into the assets of your choice. Of all the ways of investing in cryptocurrencies its one of the less common ones, so keep reading to see how it stacks up.

Quick guide

Great for:
  • Quick set-up
  • Microinvesting
  • Easy crypto price exposure
Not so great for:
  • Anything except BTC, ETH, gold and silver
  • Large purchases
  • Active trading

Check out our full list of pros and cons or read on.

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade.

Which fiat and cryptocurrencies are supported?

  • Supported fiat currencies: The currency of the linked bank account
  • Supported cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, Gold and Silver-backed tokens.

Which payment methods are accepted?

  • Transfers from a linked bank account

What's it like to use Bamboo?

1. Round-up your spare change

Bamboo lets you automatically round-up purchases to the nearest dollar, and use them to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum, in the balance of your choosing.

2. Create your portfolio

Create your portfolio by choosing what percentage to put at Ethereum and Bitcoin, and rebalance it as needed.

3. Manual top-up

Manually top up your account by adding to your balance.

‹ ›

Fees and limits

Platform trading fees

Bamboo has its own native token (BAM). By default, fees are paid with BAM tokens. If you don't have enough BAM, the fees will be taken out of your next scheduled direct debit or payment.

If neither of those are enough to cover the fees, Bamboo will sell or transfer the cryptocurrencies held in your account to pay the outstanding fees

Deposit and withdrawal fees

You cannot deposit or withdraw cryptocurrency from Bamboo. The only deposits are fiat currency payments from the linked bank account, and the only withdrawals are when you request that Bamboo sells your cryptocurrency and transfers funds to the same linked account.

The deposit and withdrawal fees are based on the amount, and are charged for deposits and withdrawals to and from your linked bank account.

Deposit/withdrawal amountFee
$100 or less$1.49
$100 to $250$1.49
$250 to $500$3.99
Over $5000.8% of transaction

Each round-up deposit does not occur immediately. Rather, Bamboo queries your bank account every few days and adds up the rounded-up amount from transactions in that period of time, then pulls that amount all in one go.

According to Bamboo, it does not take a profit on cryptocurrency exchange rate margins.

When you opt to automatically round-up your purchases, the app will periodically sweep your transfers and pull the spare change. The sweep happens every time the spare change adds up to $50. You'll be able to see your progress towards the next sweep in your app.

Limits

The minimum amount you can manually top up with is $50. There is no minimum withdrawal amount.

The deposit fee on the automatic sweeps and the minimum transfers comes out equivalent to a 3% fee, which is on par with many other cryptocurrency brokerage platforms. But the equivalent fee is considerably lower for larger deposits. For example, a $500 deposit with the $3.99 transfer fee is equivalent to 0.8%, making it overall much better value overall than a similar-sized purchase at another broker.

However, you cannot withdraw your cryptocurrency from Bamboo. You can only get paid the fiat value of your portfolio (minus the withdrawal fee) to the same linked bank account.

How fast will my funds be available?

How long transfers take depends on how long it takes to send funds between Bamboo and your linked bank account. Transfers will typically be same-day for Australian bank accounts.

Transfers typically takeClock icon for transfer speed

1 day

Is Bamboo safe to use?

  • Regulation. Bamboo is not a digital currency exchange so it doesn't have the same obligations as an exchange. It's not registered with AUSTRAC, but doesn't need to be. It's still covered by Australian consumer law though.
  • Verification. Bamboo doesn't require users to get verified, because funds will only move between the app and the linked bank account.
  • Security features. Bamboo holds cryptocurrency for its users, but its website does not disclose the security measures taken to protect it.

How do I create an account at Bamboo?

Bamboo in a nutshell

Pros

  • Quick to start. Bamboo is a fast way to get exposure to crypto micro-investing, because you simply have to link it to your bank account.
  • Easy to use. Bamboo holds crypto on your behalf, making it easy enough for anyone with no tech knowledge needed
  • Automatic round-ups. The automatic round-ups let you set your portfolio balance and then just let it ride.
  • Rebalancing. You can rebalance your portfolio for free. With other systems you'd have to sell and then buy crypto to rebalance.
  • Can be good value. If you're mindful of the fee structures, Bamboo can offer significantly better value than other "easy" crypto services.
  • Includes gold and silver. You can mix some gold and silver-backed tokens in with your cryptocurrency for more diversity.

Cons

  • BTC, ETH, gold and silver only. There is a limited range so far.
  • No crypto withdrawals. You cannot withdraw cryptocurrency from Bamboo. Withdrawals are only available to a linked bank account.
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