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StealthEX has been around since 2018. It lists over 1,500 coins. It says “no registration, no KYC” right on the tin. And for thousands of people, it works perfectly fine. So why write this comparison instead of just telling you to go use StealthEX?
Because StealthEX has a habit of changing the rules mid-game. You start a swap thinking nobody will ask you for anything, and then somewhere between “deposit sent” and “coins received,” its compliance system decides you look suspicious. Now you are uploading selfies and passport photos to a service that promised privacy. The industry politely calls that “optional KYC.” We call it a surprise party nobody asked for. CoinVast attacks the same problem from the other end: the compliance check runs before you send, so the surprise stage does not exist.
The one-sentence verdict: pick StealthEX for its enormous coin list and brand recognition; pick CoinVast when you want printed pricing and a swap that, by design, cannot be frozen mid-flow.
✓ and ✗ mark what’s better or worse for you, not a feature checklist. Every StealthEX cell traces to its own published pages, public complaint logs, or our June 2026 research sweep; the URLs are in the Sources section.
| Feature | StealthEX | CoinVast |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts and KYC | ||
| Sign-up required | ✓ No, swaps run without an account | ✓ No, and there is no account to create |
| Documents at any point | ✗ Can be demanded on flagged swaps, per its own AML/KYC policy | ✓ Never requested, pre-send screening replaces them |
| What triggers a flag | ✗ Transaction size, privacy coins, high-risk jurisdictions, “suspicious patterns”; thresholds not public | Screening runs before the exchange, and the result shows on your order page |
| If you refuse verification | ✗ Its policy allows postponing the transaction, blocking funds, or terminating the swap | ✓ Nothing to refuse, the verification step does not exist |
| What happens to a flagged deposit | ||
| When screening happens | ✗ After your coins arrive | ✓ Before the exchange starts |
| Flagged outcome | ✗ Swap frozen, KYC demanded, funds held | ✓ The swap never starts; coins auto-return minus the network fee |
| Predictability | ✗ Independent 2026 testing: “some swaps go through; others trigger flags. There’s no way to foresee which experience will unfold” | ✓ Pass or refund are the only two outcomes |
| Completed swaps | ✓ Final in practice once paid out | ✓ Final by written policy, never clawed back |
| Sanctions-list match | Held under AML law | Held and reported, the single stated exception to auto-refund |
| Rates and fees transparency | ||
| Published fee schedule | ✗ None; the margin sits inside the quoted rate | ✓ A flat 2% spread, printed on every quote and locked at quote time |
| Measured cost | ✗ Independent 2026 tests put the embedded markup at roughly 1.0 to 1.5% | ✓ The printed 2% spread plus the network fee, checkable against any price index |
| Rate lock | ✗ Disputed; marketing mentions a fixed rate, but a 2026 hands-on test found floating only | ✓ One rate, locked the moment you create the swap |
| Network fee | ✗ Bundled into the final rate | ✓ Its own line, shown in the payout coin |
| Coins and networks | ||
| Assets listed | ✓ Roughly 1,400 to 1,500+, depending on which of its pages you read | ✗ 136 coins on 20+ networks, every pair live |
| Privacy coins | ✓ XMR and others, and privacy coins are a listed flag trigger | ✓ XMR, ZEC and DASH, screened before you send |
| Buy crypto with fiat | ✓ Via third party card providers; KYC reportedly kicks in around $700 | ✗ No fiat, crypto to crypto only, on purpose |
| Own blockchain nodes | Not disclosed; liquidity is aggregated from third party providers | ✓ Self-hosted BTC, LTC, BCH and DASH nodes |
| Trust signals | ||
| Operating since | ✓ 2018 | ✗ 2026. We are the new kid and we know it |
| Trustpilot | Around 4.0 as of June 2026; positives on speed, negatives on rates and surprise KYC | No reviews yet, and we will not invent any |
| BestChange status | ✗ Delisted in 2024; BestChange says it “cannot recommend using it” | Listed, no warnings as of June 2026 |
| Brand recognition | ✓ Named in Monero guides and no-KYC lists across the web | ✗ Building from zero |
| Answers complaints in public | Replies on review platforms | ✓ A human answers at [email protected] |
First, the fair framing. StealthEX is not a scam. It has run since 2018, holds around 4.0 on Trustpilot, and most of its swaps complete without drama. What follows is the documented record of one specific failure mode, the post-deposit compliance flag, where “no KYC” turns into “please upload your passport.” Here are four patterns from the public record.
StealthEX’s marketing says “no registration, no KYC.” Its AML/KYC policy, analyzed by kycnot.me, tells a fuller story: identity verification can be requested based on automated risk checks covering transaction size, high-risk coins, high-risk jurisdictions, and “suspicious patterns.” If you do not comply, the policy allows StealthEX to postpone your transaction, block your funds, or terminate the swap entirely. None of this is hidden, it is published policy. The problem is the sequencing: you learn whether your swap trips the wire only after they have your coins. kycnot.me/service/stealthex, read June 13, 2026.
Independent testing in 2026 described StealthEX’s compliance behavior as “unpredictable,” noting that “some swaps go through; others trigger flags. There’s no way to foresee which experience will unfold.” The flag triggers are not publicly documented, so you cannot plan around them. Multiple Trustpilot reviews confirm the experience of being asked for identity documents on a service that was supposed to be anonymous. These are one-sided accounts and we treat them as allegations, not verdicts. But the consistency of the pattern is itself the data point. trustpilot.com/review/stealthex.io, read June 13, 2026.
BestChange, one of the largest and most established exchange aggregators, delisted StealthEX in 2024. It explicitly states it “cannot recommend using it” and will not assist with disputes related to StealthEX. BestChange does not delist services casually; its whole business depends on listing working, reliable exchangers. No detailed technical explanation was published, so we will not invent one. But when a major aggregator removes a service and says so in public, that is a signal worth weighing. bestchange.com, read June 13, 2026.
StealthEX shows up in Monero buying guides all over the internet, and it has a real reputation in the XMR community as an easy way to swap into or out of Monero without an account. Here is the catch: privacy coins are exactly the kind of asset listed among its compliance triggers. A 2026 review specifically names privacy coins as a factor that can activate KYC demands. So you might choose StealthEX for Monero privacy, only to get hit with a KYC request because you are swapping Monero. The irony writes itself. kycnot.me/service/stealthex, read June 13, 2026.
Our own fine print, stated just as plainly: CoinVast screens every deposit before the exchange starts. Pass means the swap runs and is final. Fail means it never starts and your coins auto-return, no documents. The one exception is a government sanctions-list match, which the law requires us to hold and report. We print that exception everywhere, including here, because a no-freeze promise without it would be a lie.
StealthEX supports somewhere between 1,400 and 1,500+ assets depending on which of its pages you read; some older reviews cite 2,000+. Point is, it has a lot of coins. If you need to swap some random token that has been trending on Crypto Twitter for 48 hours, StealthEX probably has it and we probably don’t. For mainstream stuff, BTC, ETH, LTC, XMR, USDT, USDC, both platforms have you covered. But on sheer variety, StealthEX wins by a country mile and then some.
StealthEX launched in 2018. That is eight years of being online, processing swaps, and not disappearing with everyone’s money. For a crypto service, that is practically ancient, and it has survived multiple bear markets, which is more than most projects in this space can say. CoinVast launched in 2026. If your decision process involves the phrase “time tested,” StealthEX has the edge simply by not being new.
StealthEX lets you buy crypto with a card through third party providers, with KYC reportedly kicking in around $700. If you are starting from dollars or euros, StealthEX gives you a path. CoinVast is crypto to crypto only, deliberately, because fiat rails are where the regulatory surface explodes. If you need to buy crypto from scratch, you will need to start somewhere else.
StealthEX shows up in XMR buying guides, no-KYC exchange lists, and privacy tutorials all over the internet. People know the name. CoinVast is building that reputation from zero. That says nothing about product quality, but if you are the type who searches a service name and wants pages of results, StealthEX has more to show.
StealthEX screens your transaction after you have already sent your coins. If its automated system decides something looks off, and the triggers are not publicly documented, your swap stops, your coins sit in its system, and the next email asks for your passport. CoinVast screens your deposit before you send it. Pass, and the swap runs to completion, final. Fail, and you get an automatic refund minus the network fee. The CoinVast model is checked before you commit, never frozen after. The StealthEX model is send first, find out later. Ask anyone whose coins sat in a compliance review whether they wish the check had happened before they hit send.
StealthEX’s own policy lets it demand verification for large amounts, privacy coins, or unusual patterns, and to postpone or block funds if you refuse. CoinVast does not do KYC. Not sometimes, not for large amounts, not when a system feels like it. There is no account, so there is no identity on file, and flagged addresses get refunds, not investigations. There is literally no mechanism to ask for your passport because there is nowhere to upload it. “No KYC” should mean no KYC, not “no KYC unless we decide otherwise.”
StealthEX does not publish a standard trading fee; the cost is baked into the rate. Independent testing in 2026 measured it at roughly 1.0 to 1.5%, with one $1,000 test swap returning about $985, and user complaints describe receiving “about 1.5% less than the initially shown quote.” That last part is the whole point: with StealthEX you cannot know your real cost until after the swap. Our spread is a flat 2%, printed on every quote next to a separate network fee line and locked the moment you create the swap, so the rate you see is the rate you get. Their number might beat ours on a given pair, but only one of the two is a number you can actually check before you commit.
StealthEX’s marketing mentions fixed and floating rates, but a detailed 2026 hands-on test reported only floating rates were actually available. That matters in volatile markets, where a floating rate means the price can move between when you start the swap and when it completes. CoinVast quotes one rate, a flat 2% spread, and locks it the moment you create the swap, so the price you accept is the price you settle at. No surprises.
CoinVast runs self-hosted nodes for BTC, LTC, BCH and DASH, so your swap runs through infrastructure we control directly. StealthEX aggregates liquidity from third party providers, which is how it supports 1,500+ coins, and also why compliance flags can come from directions you do not expect. When your swap routes through someone else’s systems, someone else’s compliance rules can flag it. Running our own nodes is more expensive and means fewer coins. It also means fewer middlemen and fewer surprises.
Four steps, no onboarding. Start with a small amount, that is what we would do with a service we had just met.
Choose what you send and what you receive. The rate, the printed spread, and the network fee are on the card before you commit to anything.
Payout address plus a refund address. Screening runs at order creation, so the decision about your swap is made before a single coin moves.
From any wallet, to the deposit address on your order page. No account, no email, nothing to verify.
Most swaps complete in 5 to 30 minutes depending on the chain. Every step shows on the order page with transaction hashes. Bookmark the link, it is your receipt.
No. CoinVast and StealthEX are completely separate and unrelated services. Both offer no-account crypto swaps, but they use different architectures, different compliance approaches, and different fee models. CoinVast launched in 2026 and is based at coinvast.io. StealthEX has been operating since 2018 at stealthex.io.
For most small, routine swaps, no KYC is required. However, StealthEX's AML/KYC policy explicitly allows it to request identity verification based on automated risk checks. Triggers include large transaction amounts, privacy coins, high-risk jurisdictions, and what the policy calls suspicious patterns. If you are flagged and do not provide documents, it can postpone or block your transaction. Multiple independent reviews confirm this happens in practice.
No. CoinVast requires no account, no email, no registration, and no identity verification of any kind. The pre-send screening model checks deposit addresses before you send. If the check passes, the swap completes. If it fails, you receive an automatic refund. No documents are ever requested because there is no account infrastructure to collect them.
StealthEX is non-custodial in the sense that it does not maintain standing account balances. However, its own policy states it can postpone transactions, block funds, or terminate swaps when compliance flags are triggered. Independent reviews describe this happening with no way to foresee which experience will unfold. While this is not the same as a centralized exchange freezing your whole account, the practical effect for that specific transaction is similar: your coins are stuck until the situation resolves.
No. CoinVast's pre-send screening model eliminates the scenario where funds are held pending review. Passed transactions swap and complete. Failed transactions refund automatically, minus the network fee. The only legal exception is a direct match against government sanctions lists, which is a legal obligation for every financial service, not a CoinVast policy choice.
Only one of us makes the cost checkable. CoinVast charges a flat 2% spread, printed on every quote and locked the moment you create the swap, so the rate you see is the rate you get. StealthEX's fees are embedded in the exchange rate and not published as a standard number. Independent testing in 2026 measured StealthEX's total cost at approximately 1.0% to 1.5%, sometimes higher. On headline percentage StealthEX's measured markup can sit below our 2%, but its number is hidden inside the rate while ours is printed and fixed: you can audit our quote against any price index in seconds, and it never moves between quote and settlement.
StealthEX aggregates liquidity from multiple third party providers, which gives it enormous coin coverage but also introduces third party compliance risk. CoinVast runs its own infrastructure with self-hosted nodes for BTC, LTC, BCH and DASH. Fewer coins, but every swap runs through systems CoinVast controls directly, with no external provider able to independently flag or freeze your transaction.
This is disputed. Some StealthEX marketing materials mention fixed rates, but a detailed 2026 comparison test that actually used the platform reported that only floating rates were available. CoinVast keeps it simple: one rate, a flat 2% spread, locked the moment you create the swap, so the price you accept is the price you settle at.
BestChange, one of the largest crypto exchange aggregators, delisted StealthEX in 2024 and publicly stated it cannot recommend using the service and will not assist with related disputes. BestChange did not publish a detailed technical explanation for the delisting. Regardless of the specific reason, a delisting from a major aggregator is a notable event for any exchange service.
For most users making small to moderate, straightforward swaps, StealthEX works fine and most transactions complete successfully. The risk is specifically around compliance triggers: if your swap gets flagged for amount, coin type, jurisdiction, or patterns, the experience can shift quickly from anonymous instant swap to provide-your-passport-and-wait. Independent 2026 reviews describe StealthEX as broadly safe for normal swaps but not the top option for users who need guaranteed privacy or predictable behavior on every transaction.
You get an automatic refund minus the network fee. That is the entire process. No emails, no document requests, no appeals process, no waiting for a human to review anything. The refund happens automatically because the screening occurred before the exchange, not after. Your coins return to your wallet and you move on with your day.
Every external claim on this page traces to one of the pages below, all read on June 13, 2026, or to our June 2026 research sweep where noted in the text. All user complaints quoted are direct quotes or close paraphrases from publicly posted reviews. If a fact changes, tell us at [email protected] and we will fix the page.
The spread is on the quote and the decision is made before your coins move. Test it with a small swap.
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