Public Crypto Review 2027: Fees, Coins and Regulation

The company made a point of difference early on by giving up payment for order flow on share trades, the practice by which most free apps earn money from routing customer orders. It replaced that income with optional tipping and later with subscriptions and interest.

It has also leaned into fixed income. Buying a Treasury bill or building a bond ladder in the app takes a few taps, which is unusual among mobile-first brokers.

More than 40 coins are available, among them bitcoin, ether, solana, XRP, cardano and dogecoin. The list is shorter for residents of New York, where state rules limit which assets can be offered.

These are real coins bought without leverage. Fractional purchases are supported from small dollar amounts.

As with several US apps, the crypto side is delivered through a specialist partner that executes trades and holds the coins. For years that partner was Bakkt's crypto unit. The company has since moved its crypto service to Zero Hash, an infrastructure firm that performs the same role for other brokers, saying the change would bring more coins, better order types and more on-chain transfers. The brokerage, Public Investing, is a separate legal entity.

The arrangement is disclosed on each order. It means the fee you pay is charged by the partner, and the custody terms are the partner's terms. Some of the company's older help pages still name the previous partner, so rely on the agreement shown in your own account.

There are only two reasons. The first is convenience: if your shares, bonds and cash are already here, adding crypto takes no effort. The second is the retirement account, described next. On cost alone, there are better choices.

In November 2025 the company acquired the CryptoIRA business of Alto, a provider of alternative-asset retirement accounts. Customers can now hold crypto inside traditional and Roth IRAs.

The appeal is tax treatment. Trades inside an IRA do not trigger capital gains tax each time, and Roth withdrawals in retirement can be tax-free if conditions are met. The fees on crypto IRA trades should be checked carefully, since retirement products often have their own schedule.

Under the earlier partner, coins bought in the app generally could not be sent to another wallet. Wider on-chain transfers were one of the stated reasons for the change of provider. Confirm in the app whether the specific coin you want can be withdrawn and in which direction, because support differs by asset and by state.

Spot crypto cannot be bought on margin in the app. You pay in full. Losses are limited to what you put in.

The design is clean and readable. Each asset page shows a chart, key statistics and a feed of commentary. An artificial-intelligence assistant summarises why a price is moving and answers questions about companies and assets, drawing on news and filings.

Charting is simpler than at moomoo or Webull. The emphasis is on context and explanation more than on technical analysis.

The feature that most distinguishes the app is the yield side:

• A high-yield cash account with competitive interest
• Treasury bills bought and rolled automatically
• A bond account that spreads money across investment-grade corporate bonds

For an investor who wants a conservative core with a small crypto satellite, having both under one login is practical.

Consider someone with $20,000: $15,000 in Treasuries and bonds, $4,000 in shares and $1,000 in bitcoin. Rebalancing the crypto slice once a year might mean a $200 trade, costing about $2.50. At that scale the high percentage fee is trivial. The same investor putting the whole $20,000 into coins would pay about $250 to get in, which is a different matter.

A paid tier adds advanced data, extended-hours trading for shares, and priority support. It does little to reduce crypto costs, so it should be judged on its other benefits.

Crypto trades at all hours. Shares have extended sessions for premium members.

Users can follow each other and see what others hold, with real identities encouraged. It is a calmer environment than most trading forums. It is still a place where enthusiasm for particular coins runs ahead of evidence.

Year-end tax forms are issued for crypto and for securities separately. For IRA accounts, individual trades are not reportable, which removes a lot of record-keeping.

Bank transfers are free and deposits are usually available at once up to a limit. Whole brokerage accounts can be moved in from other firms, though crypto cannot be transferred this way and has to be sold or sent separately.

Support is by chat and email, with phone callbacks for some issues. The help centre is well written.

A retirement account suits assets you intend to leave untouched for decades. Crypto fits that description only if you accept its swings without needing the money. Two practical points apply: annual contribution limits cap how much can go in, and withdrawals before retirement age usually trigger tax and a penalty. A Roth account is generally favoured for assets with high growth potential, because future gains escape tax altogether, but that is a decision to take with a tax adviser.

Partner arrangements in this industry do change. When that happens, customers are normally given notice and their coins are migrated to the new provider, or they are asked to accept new terms. Fees and the list of supported coins can change at the same moment. Keep an eye on emails headed as service updates; they are easy to ignore and occasionally matter.

Both offer crypto in IRAs. Fidelity lists only a handful of coins, charges about 1% and keeps custody in-house through its own trust company. Public offers many more coins at a slightly higher fee through a partner. An investor who values the institution will lean to Fidelity; one who values choice will lean to Public.

It suits you if you:

• Want bonds, Treasuries, shares and crypto in one US account.
• Are interested in holding coins in a traditional or Roth IRA.
• Trade crypto rarely.

It is a poor fit for frequent traders, cost-focused buyers and anyone who wants to move coins freely to private wallets.