Domain Money is a wealth-building platform that offers clients a streamlined means to gain exposure to assets like stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and NFTs.
Domain Money is similar to a hedge fund in that it actively manages customer portfolios, but rather than charging a percentage of performance, it charges a flat management fee of 1%.
The company is relatively new, but it has made early progress in bridging the gap between the cryptocurrency community and the broader world of personal finance.
In this Domain Money review, we’ll look in-depth at the broker’s offerings, fees, security, cryptocurrencies, legitimacy, and if the company may be a good fit for you.
Domain Money: A Quick Company Summary
Domain Money is a privately held company headquartered in New York. It was created in 2021 and officially launched in January 2022 by Adam Dell, former head of product at Marcus by Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s best-known brands in investment banking.
The Domain Money team comprises former employees from several leading financial and FinTech companies, including BlockFi, Coinbase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Coincidentally, Adam Dell is Michael Dell’s brother, the Founder of Dell Technologies.
Domain Money was built by a reputable team staking their stellar reputations on creating a meaningful and ideally commercially successful financial product. Several team members worked at Goldman Sachs’ Marcus, an online platform offering high-yield savings accounts, like Sam Saunders, VP of Product at Marcus, and Matt Jacobs, former director for the Marcus Digital Storefront team.
Domain Money —How Does it Work?
Domain Money works similarly to a hedge fund business but with fewer user barriers. To put this in perspective, it’s not uncommon for a hedge fund to require a minimum investment of $100,000 —or as much as $1 million. Moreover, fees can be hefty: 1.5% to 2%, and performance fees can reach 10% to 20%.
Users can access one of Domain Money’s most basic portfolios, Domain Edge, with a minimum of $100 –we’ll explore this in another section.
Domain Money is a solid option for those who want to gain exposure to a handful of assets but don’t necessarily have the time to research the market and manage their positions.
The Domain Money platform allows users to create and customize their own portfolios or choose one of the five portfolios professionally managed by Domain Money’s trading team. This provides all users, from beginners to advanced, with proper guidance for strategic investments.
Domain Money’s primary products include:
Domain Core: the “flagship” stock portfolio that allows users to invest 100% in stocks with the potential for long-term growth, especially stocks that focus on technological advancements.
Minimum investment: $500.
Domain Access: comprised of 80% stocks and 20% in crypto — a popular option for users who prefer stocks but also want to receive exposure to crypto assets.
Minimum investment: $500.
Domain Balanced: as the name suggests, it balances 50% for stocks, and the other 50% is crypto. The stocks in this portfolio are similar to Domain Core, with some focusing on technology.
Minimum investment: $500.
Domain Edge: for those with a bigger risk appetite, this portfolio comprises 100% of at least 20 cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Filecoin, and actively seeks out and adds emerging cryptos with potential long-term growth.
Minimum investment: $100.
Domain Metaverse: this portfolio is a mix between stocks and crypto assets and invests in the metaverse and Web3-related companies, including Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Minimum investment: $500.
Domain Money’s investment team monitors and rebalances users’ portfolios to keep track of the market, identify new investment opportunities and mitigate risks. Users can deposit money in any of these portfolios freely with no lockup periods.
How Much Money Has Domain Money Raised?
The firm has raised $55 million in three funding rounds led by numerous VC firms and institutional investors, including Maveron, Torch Capital, former Goldman Sachs chief information officer Elisha Wiesel, and Entrepreneur and CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff.
Domain Money: Sign Up, Deposits, and Fees
Domain Money doesn’t charge performance, unlike other brokers. It charges an annual management fee of 1% across all portfolios, not based on performance but on the sum of money it’s managing. For example, if you invest $1000 on any of the five portfolios, you’d get an annual fee of $10.
Here’s a breakdown of its fee structure:
- Management fee: 1%
- Performance fee: None
- Transaction fee for cryptocurrency trades: 1.49%
- Transaction fee Stocks and ETFs: None
- Crypto Withdraws Fees: depends on the currency
Domain Money is only available for US customers and offers an individual taxable account with no minimum deposits. It’s yet to be known if the broker will add more account types in the future.
Domain Money Cryptocurrency Trading
Domain Money also offers self-managed crypto trading. It’s very straightforward; once your account is ready, the investment section is where you can buy and sell crypto or stocks and deposit and withdraw with crypto or fiat. Here are some key facts on trading crypto on the platform:
- Several supported crypto assets: 49, including Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Filecoin, Fantom, and Chainlink.
- Crypto trading fees: 1.49%
- Minimum trade: $5
- External wallet transfers: Domain Money doesn’t allow users to send crypto funds to external wallets. You’d have to exchange your crypto for USD and withdraw the funds to be able to cash out. The company claims this feature will be rolled out in the near future.
Domain Money Stock Options and ETFs
Today, you can invest in over 4000 stocks and 3000 ETFs commission-free. One feature from the platform that can help you gauge the market more accurately is Signal. This tool allows you to check three key parameters when investing, and these are:
- Investors’ sentiment: What buyers and sellers say about a particular asset.
- Trading activity: which assets are experiencing the largest trading volume?
- Project development: what companies or crypto projects currently have the largest increase in development activity and present promising products/services for long-term growth?
Domain Money: How Safe Is It?
Domain Money leverages several security features, including AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard), to protect users’ sensitive information. Besides, it offers biometric authentication, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and magic links, which are one-time links sent to users via Gmail to authenticate registration processes.
Domain Money’s portfolios are managed by Domain Money Advisors LLC., an advisor that complies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Moreover, to mitigate the risks of cyber-attacks, Domain Money claims most crypto assets on its platform are held in cold storage (meaning, assets are maintained offline) through one of its partners the Gemini Trust Company, LLC., one of the largest US cryptocurrency exchange and custodians. A small sum is held in hot storage (within the blockchain).
The broker has up to $500k insurance provided by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and up to $250k allocated to cash deposits held at WebBank.
Upcoming Features of Domain Money
Domain Money is a relatively new force in the industry but is anticipating the rollout of several notable features:
- Domain Borrow: will allow users to borrow up to 40% of their portfolios with no origination fees, and WebBank will provide loans. The borrow feature charges 7% APR (annual percentage rate) on borrowed money to invest in margin positions.
- Domain Spend: This feature is a crypto rewards credit card that will be synced with the Domain Money app. It will allow users to earn cash back that can be reused to send, spend, or reinvest in crypto. Users have to join the waitlist to be one of the first to earn custom cash back.
- Domain Earn: this feature allows users to earn rewards automatically by simply holding supported crypto assets.
Domain Money Customer Service
Domain Money ranks positively on Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau (BBB). Reviews on the Apple Store are also largely positive: over 280 reviews and most are four out of five stars.
Most users praise Domain Money’s easy-to-access features and user-friendly interface while providing beginners with balanced investment strategies and advanced users with more high-risk options, so it’s a fairly suitable platform for all users. Domain Money customer support can be contacted via in-app messages or email at: [email protected]
Pros and Cons of Domain Money
Doman Money offers a lot as a new company, particularly for those users that want exposure to a basket of assets ranging from equities to crypto without the active management aspect.
Here’s what we like about Domain Money:
- Several actively managed investment portfolios for both beginners and advanced clients
- Lower barriers for users: minimum investment of between $100 to $500, which is fairly more accessible than many investment platforms today.
- Zero fees on self-directed strategies.
- Fees are competitive compared to other platforms.
- Composed of a solid team with deep experience in finance and technology and backed by a wide range of prominent VC firms.
The limitations of Domain Money are the following:
- Only available for US customers.
- A limited number of assets and account types —only supports individual accounts.
- Android version of the app to be released.
Final Thoughts: Is Domain Money Legit?
Having only launched publicly in January 2022, Domain Money is a new product that still must prove itself. Today’s Domain Money features are limited to the actively managed portfolios, but plenty of promising products may be released in the coming months and years.
As such, the Domain Money value proposition is unique– actively managed portfolios, whether filled with crypto or equities, for a 1% annual fee, which seems refreshingly normal in an industry that tends to imply quick, lucrative returns with zero incentive.
Considering most investment funds’ costs, a 1% annual fee seems pretty modest. However, remember that Domain Money gets the 1% fee on the lump sum of the money it’s managing, not on performance.
Domain Money’s performance (and yours) also comes down to whether its portfolio managers can earn their keep and justify the 1% fee. As with all financial products in crypto, performance may vary.
Investors of Domain Money include names like Marc Benioff, which doesn’t hurt the company’s curb appeal.
For instance, Domain Earn, a feature that allows users to earn yield by holding crypto assets, is particularly exciting– and ideally, Domain Money can fill the void left in the crypto interest account niche left by Celsius, BlockFI, and Voyager.
It seems to cater its offerings to a non-crypto native audience primarily, and the decades of Wall Street experience likely help win over more conservative investors.
The choice is yours– Domain Money checks our boxes for being a legitimate company, and we’re eager to follow its journey as it rolls out new features.
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