Best Selection of Cryptos

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Crypto IRA

Wide selection of cryptocurrencies, with over 250 to choose from
Neat, easy-to-use app with high ratings on the Apple store
Relatively low and predictable transaction fees, with only $10 investment minimums

Relies on the Coinbase infrastructure, which might be an issue for some
Android compliance, but some users say it’s not as easy to use as Apple app

Investing in crypto doesn’t have to stop at your regular trading account. With Alto CryptoIRA, you can hold digital assets like bitcoin, ethereum, and solana inside a self-directed IRA—giving you the tax advantages of a traditional retirement account while expanding your portfolio into newer territory.

In this review, we’ll look closer at how Alto CryptoIRA works, what makes it different from other crypto IRA platforms, and whether it’s a smart choice for long-term investors who want to add crypto to their retirement mix—without giving up on structure or simplicity.

Table of Contents

How does Alto CryptoIRA work?
Is Alto CryptoIRA legit?
Fees
Pros and cons
Alternatives to Alto CryptoIRA
How to invest with Alto
FAQ

How does Alto CryptoIRA work?

Alto CryptoIRA is an IRA administration firm offering the typical range of retirement account choices, such as traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs. And just like any other IRA firm you might expect to work with, you can call Alto up today and expect a friendly voice to guide you through the process.

But what distinguishes Alto from most self-directed IRA administration firms is its specialization in crypto assets.

Working with Alto CryptoIRA is like working with most retirement brokerages: You open an IRA and start investing. It’s just that with Alto CryptoIRA, you start selecting from more than 200 cryptocurrencies, not a small selection of stock funds. This is one of Alto’s greatest strengths, as you’ll see in the comparison section below: Even crypto IRA firms rarely offer selections this wide.

You can open an IRA with Alto, unlock tax-protected trading with the Alto mobile app, and immediately include cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in your retirement account. Of course, before you do, you still have some decisions: which assets to buy, what type of account to open, and how Alto stores these crypto assets on your behalf.

Crypto IRA or Bitcoin IRA: What It Is and How It Works

Types of cryptocurrency

Our Alto CryptoIRA review showed more than 250 cryptocurrencies in the current Alto offerings, including familiar names like bitcoin, ethereum, solana, and even dogecoin.

Fair warning: A 1% trade fee applies universally on the U.S. dollar amount for any buy and sell orders within the account. So even though you’re getting the tax protections of an IRA, too much trading will still eat into your account via transaction fees.

Alto Roth IRA

Roth IRAs are especially popular with investors, thanks to the tax-free distributions they allow upon hitting retirement age. Open an Alto Roth IRA if you want to invest in cryptocurrency for retirement without paying large capital gains taxes on the assets in the account.

Alto SEP IRA

If you have more money to put away quickly, a SEP IRA has higher contribution limits than Roth and Traditional IRAs, which are currently capped at $7,000 for most investors.

Contributing to a SEP IRA also uses post-tax contributions, which helps you save money on your current tax return through contribution deductions.

Alto traditional IRA

Traditional IRAs have the same contribution limits as Roth IRAs but feature the front-end savings of tax-deductible contributions. The caveat is that if you use a traditional IRA to invest in cryptocurrencies, you will pay taxes on the gains when you pull the funds out after retirement.

Coinbase trading platform

One reason to use a service like Alto CryptoIRA is that it simplifies trading. Alto uses Coinbase as its third-party provider to deliver the digital assets.

Coinbase is one of the most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms and is even a publicly traded stock, which should assure you that Alto is buying your cryptocurrency on your behalf with a reputable dealer.

Is Alto CryptoIRA legit?

Yes, Alto CryptoIRA is as legit as it gets regarding self-directed IRAs like these. Many of the customer reviews we read on Trustpilot and in the App Store are glowing, thanks to Alto’s customer support.

However, Google Play members report issues with Android compatibility, so keep that in mind if you’re not an iPhone user.

Platform	Rating	Number of reviews
Trustpilot	4.2/5	1,271
Apple App Store	4.1/5	14
Google Play	1.9/5	23

Collected March 2025.

What about the security of your crypto storage?

Once Alto completes your crypto purchase, your assets are stored in institutional custodial wallets at Coinbase, specifically maintained for AltoIRA account holders. While any uninvested cash in your account may be FDIC-insured, your crypto holdings themselves are not. That’s standard across the industry—no crypto platform offers FDIC protection for digital assets.

This might sound like your crypto is locked away, but it’s actually held in a way that keeps it liquid (easy to sell) and distinct from personal wallets or devices.

Thinking of something more secure, like a hardware wallet you can stash in a safe? Keep in mind that storing IRA assets personally can risk disqualifying them from tax advantages. That’s why custodial storage with Alto is the compliant and expected approach.

What are Alto CryptoIRA fees?

Alto IRA fees for crypto clock in at 1% per transaction and shouldn’t raise any red flags. True: 1% every time you buy or sell crypto might sound steep, but it’s also typical in an industry where anything from 0.5% to 5% can be the norm.

As for the other Alto IRA fees here, there’s a $0 custody fee, a $10 investment minimum, and a 1% transaction fee, which keeps your fees straightforward.

To begin with, you’ll typically want to use your IRA for buy-and-hold strategies. If you’re planning on making a quick buck in alternative coins, going through the trouble of setting up an IRA might protect you from some taxes, but keep in mind that even if you sell the crypto within the account, the proceeds from that sale remain in the account until you reach retirement age.

Another advantage of Alto is its low account minimums—you only need $10 to start. This low barrier to entry makes it appealing even to beginning investors.

Alto CryptoIRA pros and cons

Great customer service and a low barrier to entry should give any aspiring crypto retirement investor confidence to move forward. But let’s dive deeper to give you a sense of the Alto crypto investing experience:

Pros

Setup cost

The low barrier to entry means you can set up a crypto IRA as soon as you’re done reading this review.
Plenty of options

Alto offers hundreds of cryptocurrency possibilities and makes them easy to buy and sell with its well-rated app.
Customer service

Alto’s customer service frequently gets high marks from customers—even if they were unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies before.

Cons

Account fees

Don’t just use $10 to poke around—Alto charges an additional $50 closure fee.
Android-compliant

People love the Apple version of the trading app, but it’s more difficult to find consistent customer reviews on Google Play, where it earns lower marks.

Overall, we see more to like about Alto CryptoIRA than there is to dislike. That’s particularly true if you’re using an iPhone and want to make trades easily using the app. Alto’s customer service is a crucial feature for anyone new to cryptocurrency investing. Since it’s the newest of the major asset classes, we’re guessing that’s most of you.

How does Alto CryptoIRA compare to alternatives?

Just about any crypto IRA firm will help you transact, store, and secure your crypto within a retirement account. So how do we judge one personal finance company against another?

It comes down to the basics: range of cryptocurrency choices, customer service, and fee structure. And while many of the crypto IRA firms on our list performed just about as well in areas like customer service, the one area Alto consistently outperformed was in the crypto choices available to you.

Simply put, if a wide variety of crypto choices is what you’re after, Alto CryptoIRA is the choice. However, we should also note when the Alto alternatives compare favorably:

Alto CryptoIRA vs. iTrustCapital

Matching Alto Crypto’s 1% transaction fees, iTrustCapital also comes with higher minimums and a less-than-stellar overall asset selection. However, it scores well on Trustpilot with thousands of reviews, which gives you confidence that it’s earned a stellar reputation with customers over the years.

Overall, Alto CryptoIRA and iTrustCapital are fairly close in terms of their strengths, with Alto winning out mainly due to its wider range of crypto asset choices.

Alto CryptoIRA vs. Bitcoin IRA

Bitcoin IRA wins positive marks for its multi-signature wallets with BitGo, a large processor of bitcoin transactions, and for its customer service. And though it doesn’t offer as many choices as Alto (around 75 cryptocurrencies for now), it’s still an up-and-coming company worth checking out.

Bitcoin IRA also scored well on barrier-to-entry since it’s free to open an account. So if you were thinking about starting sooner rather than later, Bitcoin IRA gets the edge there.

Alto CryptoIRA vs. BitIRA

BitIRA scores major marks on customer review platform Birdeye thanks to a 4.9 rating on 68 reviews—which makes it less popular than Alto CryptoIRA but also well-regarded. The reviews highlight its customer service—with BitIRA responding to some glowing reviews personally.

The downside of BitIRA, for the moment, is its more limited selection of crypto assets. Bitcoin is the emphasis there, and the other “major” crypto assets are offered, but its current offerings are closer to “dozens” than the hundreds of offerings at Alto.

How to invest with Alto CryptoIRA

Imagine you’re convinced. You want to hold bitcoin, for example, within a retirement account. Now what?

Setting up a crypto IRA with a company like Alto is probably easier than you’re imagining. But it will help if we explain the process in greater detail.

Open an Alto investor account. It starts with signing up to Alto directly and creating an online investor account. This only requires an email address, a password, and agreeing to Alto’s consent form.
After the verification process—which is required by law, so there’s no getting around that part—you’ll select the type of IRA you’d like to open. For example, do you want a traditional IRA? A Roth IRA? A SEP IRA? (Note: There are additional questions for the SEP IRA.)
From here, you’ll encounter the seven-day rule. You can fund the Alto IRA, but you can’t start with any investment transactions. This is another mandated rule that neither you nor Alto have any control over, so expect this with any IRA firm.

Once you get started, trading cryptocurrencies is much easier than you might think—especially with Alto’s convenient app. But before you do anything, plan on waiting a week. Don’t forget that you should know what kind of IRA you want before you begin.

You’re ready to start investing once your funds are available and you’ve passed the waiting period. Since Alto partners with Coinbase, you’ll have access to a wider range of cryptocurrencies—a feature that won high marks with us.

Your experience after this may depend on the type of IRA you want. For example, a traditional IRA means you can begin deducting your contributions on your next tax return, while a Roth IRA won’t affect your short-term tax liability much. But that’s another story for another day—and likely something to discuss with your financial advisor.

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FAQ

Is Alto CryptoIRA safe?

Alto CryptoIRA is a legitimate self-directed individual retirement account provider that allows investors to hold cryptocurrencies in a tax-advantaged account. It partners with Coinbase for custody, meaning assets are stored using Coinbase’s security infrastructure, which includes offline cold storage for most funds.

However, investing in crypto always carries risks, including market volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and potential security breaches. Unlike traditional IRAs, crypto IRAs are not FDIC-insured, and holdings are not protected from losses.

Is Alto CryptoIRA a good idea?

Whether Alto CryptoIRA is a good idea depends on your investment goals, risk tolerance, and familiarity with cryptocurrency. It offers tax advantages for long-term crypto investors, but it also comes with high volatility, fees, and potential security risks.

Unlike traditional IRAs, crypto IRAs do not generate dividends or interest, and tax advantages may not offset potential losses. Investors should weigh the potential for high returns against the risks before choosing a crypto IRA.

Do you pay taxes on an Alto CryptoIRA account?

Alto CryptoIRA accounts follow the same tax rules as other IRAs. If you choose a traditional crypto IRA, contributions are tax-deductible, but withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income.

If you opt for a Roth crypto IRA, contributions are made with after-tax dollars, but qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. Early withdrawals or improper rollovers could result in taxes and penalties.

Recap of Alto CryptoIRA

Feature	Good	Exceptional
Accounts offered	☑️
Cryptocurrencies available		✅
Customer reviews	☑️
Fees	☑️
Security	☑️
Customer support	☑️