Website Evaluation: CoinSpot and Coin Base

This paper compares and contrasts two online financial services companies in Australia, CoinSpot and Coin Base, which belong to the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) business model. The paper assesses the websites using a five-point semantic differential scale and evaluates their principal business goals.

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Website Evaluation: CoinSpot and Coin Base
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Website Evaluation: CoinSpot and Coin Base
Online marketing also known as internet marketing is defined as using internet platform to
market products, services or brands. Online marketing is supported by internet media such as
affiliate marketing, website, social media, and search engine (Barolli, et al., 2017, p. 74).
Online marketing allows businesses to understand the behaviour and needs of their
customers, their competitors and the market at large. Therefore, online marketing gives
businesses to expand their market growth and expansion as well as their competitive edge
(Wang, 2015, p. 111).
With the evolution of online marketing, three different electronic commerce (e-commerce)
models were developed. The models are;
Business to Consumer (B2C) which refer to the end to end trade between a company and
consumers who use its products (Seybold & Marshak, 1999, p. 79).
Business to Business (B2B) which refer to the end to end trade between two companies/
businesses which transact together (Brinck, 2002, p. 132).
Peer to Peer (P2P) refers to a decentralised internet platform that allows to people to interact
by buying and selling with each other. Buyers and sellers are permitted to transact directly
without the intervention of a third party (Buford, et al., 2009, p. 331).
This paper seeks to compare and contrast two online financial services companies in
Australia. Considering the emergency of cryptocurrency exchange platforms, this important
segment of the service market will be addressed. Two competing websites, that is, the
CoinSpot and Coin Base have been chosen for comparison basis.

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A. Chosen e-commerce business model
The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) business model has been selected for the study. The introduction of
cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin has seen many people engaging in P2P by buying and selling
the currency. Bitcoin P2P business model uses websites and other internet platforms to
facilitate the relationship between the buyers and sellers (Milne & Parboteeah, 2016, p. 23).
There are several platforms in Australia that facilitate cryptocurrency P2P business. The most
famous platforms are Independent Reserve, Coin Base, eToro, CoinSpot, Bitcoin OTC,
Coinmama, and CoinJar (Eyers, 2015); (Holderness, 2018). The study seeks to compare the
Independent Reserve P2P platform and Coin Base P2P platform.
i. Business Name
Business 1: CoinSpot
Business 2: Coin Base
ii. Homepage URL
The Homepage URL for CoinSpot is https://www.coinspot.com.au/ while its website is
www.coinspot.com.au.
The Homepage URL for Coin Base is https://www.coinbase.com/ while its website is
www.coinbase.com.

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iii. Homepage Screenshot
a) CoinSpot
b) Coin Base

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B. Why the website belongs to P2P business model
As mentioned earlier, Peer to Peer (P2P) refers to a decentralised internet platform that
allows to people to interact by buying and selling with each other. In other words, P2P is an
online market that facilitates buying and selling between two end users without interference
from an intermediary (Liang, et al., 2011, p. 13).
i) CoinSpot
CoinSpot Pty. Ltd is an online bitcoin trading Company which is located in Melbourne,
Australia. CoinSpot was established in 2013 and provides end users with a platform and
wallet of buying and selling bitcoins among other currencies (CoinSpot, 2018). Users are
required to register through the company's website www.coinspot.com.au before they can
gain login access and trade among themselves (Bloomberg, 2018). CoinSpot is considered to
be the largest online platform in Australia based on the number of cryptocurrencies bought
and sold on a daily basis. CoinSpot is an online trading system that uses a multicoin wallet
and Australian dollar to store, send and receive tokens and cryptocurrency coins. An end user
can communicate, receive and access cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin and
Litecoin instantly into their wallet accounts after transacting (Dervojeda, 2013, p. 58).
CoinSpot meets the description of a Peer to Peer business model. First, it provides a platform
where an end user can interact and undertake the business transaction. Second, there is no
involvement of the third party. And third, all the activities are done online without a physical
meeting between the buyer and seller.
ii) Coin Base
Coin Base Ltd Company was founded in 2012 in San Francisco in the United States. The
company operates in over thirty-two countries including Australia. Under the leadership of

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CEO Brian Armstrong, Coin Base realised revenue of I billion USD in 2017. Coin Base is an
online broker who specialises in the exchange of Cryptocurrencies. Just like CoinSpot, Coin
Base provides end users with a platform to facilitate the buying and selling of bitcoins among
other currencies. Users are required to register through the company's website
www.coinbase.com before they can gain login access and trade among themselves (Coin
Base, 2018).
Coin Base is the largest and highly popular online cryptocurrency exchange platform which
facilitate an exchange of at least $ 150 billion on a single day. Although users shy away from
Coin Base because of its high fees, the company offers security assurance and quality
exchange. Some of the cryptocurrencies that the company trade in are Ethereum, Bitcoin,
Ethereum classic, Litecoin, and Bitcoin cash (Eyers, 2015).
Coin Base meets the description of a Peer to Peer business model. First, it provides a platform
where an end user can interact and undertake the business transaction. Second, there is no
involvement of the third party. And third, all the activities are done online without a physical
meeting between the buyer and seller (Dervojeda, 2013, p. 15).
C. Principal business goal (s)
The demand for cryptocurrencies has increased globally over the last five years. Today
Bitcoin and other digital currencies are available in over 190 countries. The growth in the
global digital currency industry has been attributed to by the forces of demand and supply.
With the increasing growth on the online market, consumers wanted a common currency that
would facilitate smooth trade. The existing currencies such as US Dollar, Australian Dollar,
and Pound were affected by transactional risks. In other words, the currencies would lose
value when exchanged from one currency to the other (Milne & Parboteeah, 2016, p. 12).
Therefore, there was the need for common digital currencies hence the invention of the

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cryptocurrencies. More people were willing to transact using the currencies such as Bitcoin
which resulted in high demand. Companies such as CoinSpot and Coin Base show this as an
opportunity to expand their business. Online financial service platforms have ensured that the
demand for cryptocurrencies has been met through adequate supply (Ivory, 2013, p. 57).
Therefore, the general objective of platforms provided by CoinSpot and Coin Base is to
enable the end users to transact at their convenience by enhancing the security of their money
and reducing the time it takes before a transaction is completed (Barolli, et al., 2017, p. 213).
i) CoinSpot
The main objective platform is to facilitate currency exchanges. CoinSpot provides each user
with a secured wallet/ account containing their details which allow them to send, receive and
store coins. To facilitate seamless operations, CoinSpot provides users with a variety of
digital currencies at their disposal. Generally, CoinSpot allows wallet owners to trade online
irrespective of their location globally (CoinSpot, 2018).
ii) Coin Base
The primary objective of Coin Base is to be the largest online exchange platform. With its
presence in over 32 countries, Coin Base is in a right direction towards achieving its
objectives. Lastly, Coin base strive to be a platform that provides quality online exchanges
besides assuring the security of the users' information and money (Coin Base, 2018).

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D. Assessing the websites using on a five-point semantic differential scale
The questions have been assessed using the semantic differential scale below;
1 2 3 4 5
Very Poor Poor Inapplicable Good Very Good
i) CoinSpot
No Questions Scale Comment
1 2 3 4 5
1 How does the website URL
relate to the business name?
√ The company’s name is
contained in the website
URL
2 How easily is the website
found using general internet
search engines (e.g. Google,
Ask, AltaVista, Bing,
Yahoo!)?
√ Appears among the top of
the search lists in Google
3 Does the website give me all
the organisational information
a
user could reasonably require?
√ All the necessary
information has been
provided. However, the
home tab should be more
detailed.
4 Are requirements to provide a
user’s (personal or sensitive)
information appropriate?
√ Yes, the information is
appropriate. A user should
provide an email, at least
10 character password,
referral email and a
confirmation whether the
user is a robot or not.
5 How well does the website
reassure users about the
security
and use of their information?
√ The Privacy Policy provide
adequate information on
security issues
6 How well does the website
foster user trust in the
organisation?
√ Accuracy, reliability,
completeness and
relevance of information is
maintained. Captured
information cannot be used
without their consent.
7 How well does the website
address legal issues associated
with use of the website or
engagement in transactions?
√ Adequate information has
been provided on the terms
of service, privacy policy
and AML

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8 How well does the website
provide for the accessibility
needs
of users?
√ The website can easily be
accessed via several search
engines.
9 How well does the website
address the language or
cultural
needs of users?
√ The website only use
English language.
10 Does the website contain all
the product information that a
user could reasonably require?
√ The website contain the
essential product
information.
11 Does the website allow all the
customisation (user-managed
features) that a user could
reasonably expect?
√ The website cannot be
customised because of
security issues.
12 How well does the website
personalise the experience for
users?
√ The website have help
centre, Contact Support,
Complaints and Disputes
which facilitate
personalised experience.
13 Does the website identify
sufficient channels for user
service/support?
√ The website have help
centre, Contact Support,
and Complaints and
Disputes sites
14 How easy is it to find any
information on the website
about
the organisation, their
products or services?
√ A click on the listed tabs
allows easy access to
required information
15 How easy is the information
on the website to read (i.e. is
provided information in
appropriate language and with
sufficient detail for most
users)?
√ The information is
provided in a user friendly
language to read and
understand.
16 Is the website easy to navigate
(i.e. move through the website
to find information, products,
or services, and engage in
transactions with the
organisation)?
√ It easy to access
information through tabs at
the top of the website.
17 How appropriate are the
website aesthetics (e.g. use of
layout, colours, imagery,
fonts, etc) for the target
√ There is the use of
appropriate layout, colour,
imagery and catchy fonts

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audience?
18 How well does the website
foster community among
users?
√ There is no information
that address fostering
community among users
19 How quickly does the website
load into your browser and do
all website features, links and
embedded objects (eg: media
files or applets) work as
intended?
√ It takes only 10-20 seconds
for the website to load into
a browser
20 How well does the website
support different web-
browsers or platforms (e.g.
mobile devices)?
√ Can easily be accessed
using personal laptops and
mobile devices
21 Does the website provide a
sufficient range of payment
options as could be reasonably
expected?
√ The Website a range of
payments such as POli
payments, BPAY
payments, and Cash
payments.
22 Does the website provide a
sufficient range of delivery
options as could be reasonably
expected?
√ Not applicable in this case
ii) Coin Base
No Questions Scale Comment
1 2 3 4 5
1 How does the website URL
relate to the business name?
√ The company’s name is
contained in the website
URL
2 How easily is the website
found using general internet
search engines (e.g. Google,
Ask, AltaVista, Bing,
Yahoo!)?
√ Appears among the top of
the search lists in Google
3 Does the website give me all
the organisational information
a
user could reasonably require?
√ Yes, there is adequate
information on the
Company, contact,
products and other
information.
4 Are requirements to provide a
user’s (personal or sensitive)
information appropriate?
√ User’s are required to
provide their personal
information for the purpose
of signing up and trade.
5 How well does the website
reassure users about the
security
and use of their information?
√ Adequate measures have
been put in place to ensure
the security of the users’
information and wallet.

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6 How well does the website
foster user trust in the
organisation?
√ There is a contact and
support centres which
address users concern to
their satisfaction.
7 How well does the website
address legal issues associated
with use of the website or
engagement in transactions?
√ The website has adequately
addressed the legal and
privacy issues of
engagement.
8 How well does the website
provide for the accessibility
needs
of users?
√ Necessary information has
been captured in the
website and it is easily
accessible
9 How well does the website
address the language or
cultural
needs of users?
√ Issues of culture and
language barrier have not
been addressed.
10 Does the website contain all
the product information that a
user could reasonably require?
√ The website contain
information on nine
services being offered
11 Does the website allow all the
customisation (user-managed
features) that a user could
reasonably expect?
√ Users are not allowed to
customise features for
security issues
12 How well does the website
personalise the experience for
users?
√ There are variety of
products and services that
meet specific needs of the
users
13 Does the website identify
sufficient channels for user
service/support?
14 How easy is it to find any
information on the website
about
the organisation, their
products or services?
√ The website can easily be
found via search engines
and browsers
15 How easy is the information
on the website to read (i.e. is
provided information in
appropriate language and with
sufficient detail for most
users)?
√ The language is user
friendly. The information
can easily be understood
16 Is the website easy to navigate
(i.e. move through the website
√ The website has a well
arranged layout that makes

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to find information, products,
or services, and engage in
transactions with the
organisation)?
it easy to navigate.
17 How appropriate are the
website aesthetics (e.g. use of
layout, colours, imagery,
fonts, etc) for the target
audience?
√ The website has an
effective layout, imagery
and fonts. The colour is
dull.
18 How well does the website
foster community among
users?
√ Users can engage each
other through discussions
using Facebook, Twitter
and Blog
19 How quickly does the website
load into your browser and do
all website features, links and
embedded objects (eg: media
files or applets) work as
intended?
√ It takes between 10 and 20
seconds for the website to
load
20 How well does the website
support different web-
browsers or
platforms (e.g. mobile
devices)?
√ Can easily be accessed
using different browsers
and devices
21 Does the website provide a
sufficient range of payment
options as could be reasonably
expected?
√ Information not disclosed
22 Does the website provide a
sufficient range of delivery
options as could be reasonably
expected?
√ Not applicable in this case
E. Compare and contrast your chosen websites: which website is more likely to be
successful than the other, and why?
Five main factors can be used to evaluate a website. The elements are Speed, navigation, text
clarity, functionality and appearance.
i. Speed: Refer to the time it takes for a website to load. Both websites take
approximately 20 seconds to load.

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ii. Navigation: Refers to how easy is it to access information on the website. A website
can either have an easy to navigate or clumsy structure. CoinSpot can easily navigate
because related information is captured under one tab. On the other hand, Coin Base
has a poorly organised layout hence clumsy (Maier, 2008, p. 34); (Ivory, 2013).
iii. Text clarity: Both websites have used simple language that can easily be understood
by users without much interpretation. Contact and Support Centres have provided for
follow up assistance. CoinSpot targets a wide coverage (global) while Coin Base
target the Australian market for now. Therefore, CoinSpot uses a simpler language to
meet the needs of a huge market compared to Coin Base (Tate, 2009, p. 17);
(Martinez, 2011, p. 33).
iv. Functionality: Refers to how effective is the website to meet its primary objectives.
Although both websites have adequately presented products in line with its objectives,
CoinSpot is more outstanding (Steinmetz & Wehrle, 2005, p. 172).
v. Appearance: Refers to how easy is it to access the website from the homepage to the
support centre. The CoinSpot is well laid out, considering its layout, compared to
Coin Base. CoinSpot's website is easy to scan (Nelson, 2009, p. 99).

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