BitIRA Review: Company Ratings, Fees, and More

Mixing emerging alternate assets with retirement accounts that need reliability is no walk in the park. As cryptocurrencies have gotten popular over the last few years, a number of companies have popped up with their own crypto IRA offering.

In our BitIRA review, we'll examine why they might be a cut above the rest based on their products, customer treatment and reputation.

Briefly:

Visit BItIRA's website now to request more information.

BitIRA Reviews and Feedback

The reviews and ratings that the company has gotten, as well as the feedback, are virtually spotless. These include an AAA rating from the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA) and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), both top marks from the biggest consumer satisfaction watchdogs.

It has no BCA complaints, no complaints with the Complaint Board and a 4.95/5 rating from customers on the BBB page. Digging deeper will yield similar results:

Birdeye's aggregate gives it 5 out of 5 stars, with a 4.9 overall rating. ConsumerAffairs gives it 4.9/5 based on 19 reviews. Neither Birdeye nor ConsumerAffairs have a review rated below 4.

On these sites, BitIRA representatives can be seen interacting with reviewers occasionally, showing that the company pays close attention to reputation, customer service, and client feedback. It also has its own Facebook page with much of the same 5 star customer reviews of the company..

BitIRA's History and Mission

While digital IRAs might be a new thing, BitIRA benefits from being a branch of Birch Gold, a top precious metals dealer with nearly two decades of experience. Although BitIRA was founded in 2017, it indeed comes off as a company that has been in business for decades.

Their biography is a blend of working with or getting recognition from high-profile names in finance, and an individualistic customer-first approach that can be hard to come by.

Fidelity and Merrill Lynch are among the big-name custodians that BitIRA has worked with to help their customers set up a bitcoin IRA. The company was also recognized as an industry disruptor, in a good way, on the International Business Times' Hottest Fintech Startups 2021 list.

Despite the size of the company, it emphasizes that its customers will enjoy a hands-off approach with the help of a fully-staffed IRA Department. These people will provide information, step-by-step directions or altogether handle the legal side when possible. In short, they'll do everything besides acting as a custodian.

They'll provide one in the form of their partners, Equity Trust Company and Preferred Trust Company, as well as the Genesis platform that facilitates trading within an IRA in real time. BitIRA also takes insurance very seriously: along with working diligently to avoid any possible legal setbacks on behalf of their customers, they also have a unique storage solution which we'll get to in a bit.

Request more information from BitIRA's website here.

What are the Cryptocurrencies BitIRA Offers?

They've slowly but steadily expanded their coin offering to a total of eighteen cryptocurrencies over the last few years.

It's not a lot, and with a reason: it's clear that, as with any other facet of the company, the team behind BitIRA is treading the waters carefully and only offering coins that fall in line with the sister company's precious metals motto.

All of the coins on the list are top coins that have been vetted by the company. Many of them have been around since the start of the crypto market and have a very good backing. 

These cryptocurrencies have seen tremendous gains since BitIRA first listed them, and although some have been surpassed in popularity and market cap, it's clear that the company isn't willing to risk their customers' assets. The eighteen available cryptocurrencies are as follows:

Based on the company's token reviews and FAQs, it seems that there are several other coins of similar clout and backing being considered. However, we can expect any new additions to be gradual irrespective of market hype and presumably only when the company is certain of a coin's long-term utility and prospects.

Visit BitIRA's website to learn more.

BitIRA Fees and Pricing

You won't get a straight answer from glancing at BitIRA’s website, as the company insists on its individual approach and has a contact form for fee inquiries. It makes sense since every account is different, but can leave some readers wanting. With that in mind, we've managed to compile a rough BitIRA review of what one might expect in terms of fees.

For starters, there is a minimum $5,000 deposit for opening an account, which is higher than some of thier competitors. From there, the average customer can expect the following in terms of fees from the custodian:

·   $50 fee to set up an IRA

·   $30 wire fee

·   $300 fee for the initial purchase of multiple coins

·   $400 annual depository fee 

Again, this is a rough overview and by no means uniform. BitIRA's representatives will be able to explain their fee structure in greater detail along with how it applies to the kind of account you have and the transactions you are making.

Important note: The company has recently waived its monthly custodian fee, and has hinted towards making other amendments that could make their fee structure even more appealing to customers.

Can I Roll Over My 401(k) or Existing IRA? 

BitIRA is highly flexible in this regard, allowing you to merge your existing IRA into a self-directed digital currency IRA with a "rollover".

This applies to Traditional, Roth, SEP or SIMPLE IRAs. 401(k), as well as other employer-sponsored plans like 403b, 457 or TSP, are not always eligible for a rollover, but they might be. If you have one of these, the company will clarify if and how you can transfer this plan into a digital IRA.

What Kind of IRAs Does the Company Offer?

When creating your digital IRA with BitIRA, Traditional, Roth, SEP or SIMPLE are all options that are available to hold both digital and other assets.

Between the company's team and the custodian, you should have no issue navigating through what might otherwise be a complex road to setting up a long-lasting and fully compliant retirement account.

What About Liquidation?

Creating an account with BitIRA can take anywhere between one to three weeks. Longer waiting times tend to be associated with the process of changing custodians, as well as the new custodian double-checking on the paperwork.

Liquidating the assets in your account does not incur a fee with BitIRA, but does with the custodian they've partnered with.

Visit BitIRA's website to request more information.

Is BitIRA for You?

As in the case of its precious metals branch, BitIRA caters to a wide array of customers, but undoubtedly some more than others. Primarily, those with a long-term outlook on both investment and savings will find BitIRA an optimal choice. Digital IRAs, and for that matter digital assets, might be new, but the company isn't in a rush.

Long-term investment planning is synonymous with the kind of account BitIRA provides. This is partly due to the selection of cryptocurrencies available.

None of these tokens are going to disappear overnight, and barring truly extreme circumstances, their development should continue as intended. If you'd like to hold digital assets securely, in every sense of the word, for years or even decades, BitIRA will most likely be a good choice.

This extends past the selection of tokens themselves and onto how the company operates. Not many digital IRA providers can claim the kind of experience and reputation that BitIRA already enjoys, and that its precious metals branch has built over nearly two decades.

Oversights, be they of the legal or investment variety, are likely to be minimized or altogether eliminated with BitIRA as your account provider.

Related: What is DeFi? An Introduction to Decentralized Finance

On the other hand, cryptocurrency trading has quickly become as popular as stocks and forex, if not more so with certain groups. This holds true when it comes to IRAs.

Many would like to utilize retirement accounts for tax-deferred trades of a wide variety of tokens on a regular basis. This group will likely find BitIRA's fee structure and indeed the overall company structure somewhat prohibitive.

What Makes BitIRA Stand Out from its Competitors?

We've mentioned a few highlights that the company has over its competitors, and they are not to be overlooked. The biggest of them could be insurance. Obviously, all digital IRAs need some form of insurance to be competitive, but BitIRA goes the extra mile with what they refer to as "end-to-end" insurance. 

There are many misconceptions about the security of digital assets. The truth of the matter is that, for a digital asset to really be secure, it needs to rest on an offline, hardware ledger.

Cold storage is part of what makes digital assets so appealing, as it makes them untouchable. Of course, then you need to worry about the ledger itself, not unlike in the case of bullion storage.

All of the digital assets you store with BitIRA are held on offline ledgers and in highly secure vaults. The transactions themselves are protected with multi-layered encryption.

Digital wallets have become immensely popular, and exchanges are constantly improving their security. But they can always be compromised one way or another. The digital assets held with BitIRA can't, as there is no way to access them without your permission.

Related: 16 Page Investor Guide Shows How to Invest in Cryptocurrencies Tax-Free

Beyond just transactions, the assets in cold storage themselves are insured with $100 million coverage policies via the top insurers in the business. This gives BitIRA's customers unprecedented peace of mind in what can often feel like a rocking and flailing market.

Important note: This $100 million insurance coverage is for each BitIRA customer. Other bitcoin IRA companies claim $100 million in insurance coverage, but fail to mention they offer "pool coverage."

Meaning, if 10 people are covered, they split the $100 million insurance coverage across these ten customers. With BitIRA, your individual retirement account is insured up to $100 million. 

If all of this storage stuff gives you precious metals vibes, it's with good reason. Another of BitIRA's strong points is that it has taken close to 20 years of knowledge surrounding precious metals IRAs and applied them to digital ones.

This means that, even though your digital IRA is a new invention, the people behind it are seasoned veterans. They've shown it by quickly building up BitIRA to the same high standard of Birch Gold, and are unlikely to change in their ways.

Related: How to Buy Crypto with Your 401(k) - Interview with BitIRA's Jay Blaskey

What Don't We Like About BitIRA?

Everything has its good and bad sides, and BitIRA is no different. Keeping that in mind, the tradeoffs are fairly limited when pitted against what the company is offering.

What stands out for most is the $5,000 minimum account deposit fee, which is slightly higher than some of the competitors. The slow process of adding coins to their palette will also undoubtedly be less-than-ideal for those with a restless eye on the market. 

Cryptocurrencies are trending on a weekly basis, and many of them are quite cheap. Someone might want to waste no time adding a cryptocurrency that hasn't yet passed the BitIRA review.

Related: Coinbase Review - Ultimate Guide to the Popular Cryptocurrency Exchange

BitIRA Review

There are plenty of things you might want from your IRA, but none more than reliability. You want that account to be functional, accessible and on solid foundations a year or a decade from now. Digital assets, with their volatility, have gained a reputation for being unreliable among many.

BitIRA has, in short order, managed to give reliability to digital assets to the point where they can find a place in a retirement account. At this time, there is virtually nobody doubting the growing global adoption of Bitcoin, and it's potential as a long-term investment. 

But can you guarantee you'll have access to it 20 years from now? With the company's history, BitIRA gives you that assurance.

Its team of experts will help manage your account and, as numerous reviews have pointed out, be there for any other need you might have. Trust, friendliness and dependability: In our BitIRA review, we've added the crypto IRA firm on our short list of recommended alternative assets dealers for 2022. Request more information from BitIRA here.