Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges

A cryptocurrency exchange is a digital marketplace where crypto investors can trade cryptocurrencies for other digital assets or fiat currencies. Some exchanges offer advanced trading options like margin trading, and futures trading. 

 Apart from its exchange function, some exchanges offer their users an opportunity to stake their crypto, borrow, and save to receive interest.

Here is a list of the best cryptocurrency exchanges you can choose from when deciding which exchange is the right fit for you.

Binance

Overview

Binance is the leading cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the daily trading volume. It lists over 400 cryptocurrencies for trade while its daughter company, Binance.US offers nearly 60 cryptocurrencies for purchase and trade.

It was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao who presently acts as its CEO. The company was founded in China but moved its headquarters to Japan in response to the ban on cryptocurrency trading by the Chinese government in September 2017.

In January 2019, the company launched Binance Jersey, which allows fiat-to-crypto exchange for users trading with euros and UK pounds. Also in 2019, Binance.US, a US-based partner of the original platform was launched due to the restrictions required by the United States.

Product and Service

Two cryptocurrencies developed by the company have been launched: Binance coin (BNB) launched in June 2017, and Binance Smart Chain launched in September 2020.

Apart from its exchange services facilitating trades between cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, Binance provides a platform where investors can stake and earn interest. 

Its visa card allows users to convert cryptocurrency to fiat currency and spend it on products or services without incurring administrative fees.

Binance also provides a smart pool where miners switch between different cryptocurrencies for mining to multiply their income.

To start trading, users are required to provide necessary information including a government-issued identification after which they can find their public wallet address (provided by Binance) to enable them to trade.

There is no fee charged for fund deposits but withdrawals incur fees that vary with cryptocurrency and amount.

Binance supports P2P trading.

Supported Countries

Binance services are supported in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain, and Sweden. You can always check their FAQ in case you need more clarification

Website: www.binance.com

Lopeer

Lopeer is a geolocation based peer to peer crypto trading app that allows you to trade cryptocurrency with traders in your neighbourhood as well as people who are far away from you.

Products and Services: P2P Trading

Website: www.lopeer.com

Coinbase

Overview

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that operates remotely with no physical headquarters. It was founded in June 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam.

The company is named after the coinbase transaction, which is the first transaction performed by the miner in a block to mint new cryptocurrency into circulation.

In March 2021, it was listed by Bloomberg as the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United State by trading volume.

Coinbase has over 43 million verified users in over 100 countries, offering trading services to 32 countries and a wallet option to 190 countries.

Out of the $782 billion worth of assets on the crypto market, $90 billion worth is held on the coinbase platform.

Product and Service

In October 2012, Coinbase launched the service to buy and sell Bitcoin through bank transfers. In 2014, the company grew to 1 million users and partnered with Overstock, Dell, Expedia, and Dish Network allowing them to accept Bitcoin payments.

Coinbase started offering its services in Canada in 2015 but had to halt in July 2016 after the closure of Canadian online payment services.

In March 2017, Coinbase obtained the license to trade ETH and LTC. It listed Bitcoin Cash in December 2017 and Dogecoin in June 2021.

In October 2020, the company announced the launch of its debit visa card that allows users to spend their cryptocurrency. 

Coinbase allows retail investors to trade digital assets on its trading platform called Coinbase Pro and help its users access decentralized applications through its wallet.

It provides its institutional traders a trading platform via Coinbase Prime and a service that holds their cryptocurrencies on the platform via Coinbase Custody.

Coinbase also offers an application programming interface (API) to build applications and accept payment in digital currencies.

Coinbase does not support P2P trading.

Supported Countries 

It is supported in all U.S states except Hawaii.

Website: www.coinbase.com

Gemini

Overview

Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange that emphasizes reducing the loss of digital assets through hacking by facilitating the purchase, sale, and storage of these assets by complex private keys (stored on their server) and password-secured environment. It was founded in 2014 by Cameroon and Tyler Winklevoss and its headquarters in New York.

Product and Service

In June 2016, Gemini became the first licensed ether exchange and the first licensed Zcash exchange in 2018.

In December 2017, it became the first exchange to launch Bitcoin’s futures contracts.

Gemini has 13.6 million active users with a user-friendly interface. All funds and assets deposited to Gemini are protected by FDIS insurance and a multi-signature identification.

Gemini offers over 50 cryptocurrencies including its own Gemini dollar (GUSD) that maintains a 1-to-1 exchange rate with USD.

Gemini supports P2P lending that allows users to loan cryptocurrencies directly from others without the need for intermediaries.

Supported Countries

Gemini is supported in over 60 countries including the United States, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Island, Canada, Cayman, Islands, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Africa, Oceania, Asia, Europe, and South America.

Website: www.gemini.com

Bitstamp

Overview

Bitstamp is one of the world’s longest-standing cryptocurrency exchanges established in 2011, two years after Bitcoin was founded. It was founded as a European-focused alternative to the then-dominant Bitcoin exchange, Mt.Gox.

Product and Service

In April 2016, Bitstamp was licensed by Luxembourg authorities to act as a payment institution. Under the European Union passporting rules, a financial service provider legally authorized by one member state in the EU is permitted to passport its services to all 28 EU states. This means that Bitstamp could offer its service to all 28 EU states.

Bitstamp is suitable for experienced traders. Its trading fee depends on the volume of what is being traded.

Supported Countries

Apart from the 28 EU member states, Bitstamp is available in Brazil, China, South Africa, South Korea, and the U.S.

Website: www.bitstamp.net

Kraken

Overview

Kraken is a San-Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange with over 70 cryptocurrencies available for trade.

It was established in 2011 but started trading operations in 2013. It was co-founded by Jesse Powell who acts as its CEO.

In 2014, Kraken was selected alongside Coinbase to provide the trade data of Bitcoin to Bloomberg enabling their client to access charts, news, currency price, and social media posts. This selection helped in popularizing it, as it was associated with a leading market data provider (Bloomberg).

In late 2014, Kraken was selected to support investigations of missing Bitcoins and help distribute the remaining assets of Mt. Gox creditors.

Product and Service

In 2015, Kraken launched an improved fiat-to-crypto exchange feature including margin trading and dark pool services. Dark pools allow users to place large trade orders and get them executed against similar-sized orders.

Kraken provides an easy way to trade fiat-to-crypto currencies by matching orders from users who want to buy with orders from users who want to sell cryptocurrencies.

Due to its margin and future trades, Kraken is more suitable for professional traders and institutional investors. It has low trading fees which drop for trades of more than $50,000 a month.

Kraken provides security to users’ assets via 2-factor authentication, Google authentication, and withdrawal confirmation via email.

Supported Countries

Kraken is supported by 48 U.S states except for New York and Washington State. It is supported by 176 countries and cannot be used in Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Japan, North Korea, and Tajikistan.

Website: www.kraken.com

Luno

Overview

Formerly known as Bitx, Luno is a cryptocurrency exchange that makes real-world use of crypto easy by helping its users convert their cryptocurrency to local currency at any time. 

It started in Singapore as Bitx in 2013 but later changed its brand name to Luno (meaning moon) in January 2017.

Product and Service

Luno provides Bitcoin services that are similar to Coinbase but instead makes their services available to countries where Coinbase exchanges are not supported.

Luno allows its users to trade in pairs; these pairs depend on their country. For instance in Nigeria, the pairs available include BTC/NGN, ETH/NGN, XRP/NGN, etc.

Luno has a savings wallet that allows its users to save their cryptocurrencies and earn up to 4%-7.5% interest per annum.

Transaction fees vary according to country. 

Luno has only 5 cryptocurrencies listed on its platform: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ripple (XRP).

Supported Countries

Luno is supported in Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia.

Website: www.luno.com

OKEx and OKCoin

Overview

OKEx is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange. It offers spot and margin trading, lending, and staking services in addition to its fiat-to-crypto exchange.

It was founded in 2017. In 2018, it became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by reported turnover.

Product and Service

OKEx offers over 400 trading pairs with educational resources under the learn section of its website. It offers tutorials and videos for new investors, articles, and industry analysis for experienced traders.

OKEX has over 20 million traders (users) in more than 200 countries.

OKEx is not available to U.S residents; instead, it’s sister exchange, OKcoin, which is a simpler exchange that focuses on buying and selling cryptocurrency and ICO tokens.

Supported countries

200 countries including Australia, Cameroon, Denmark, France, Greece, Libya, Nepal, and Senegal.

Website: www.okex.com

Huobi

Overview

Huobi is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by Leon Li in 2013 in China.

In December 2013, Huobi’s trading volume exceeded 30 billion yuan, making it China’s largest digital asset trading platform at that time.

In November 2016, its transaction volume accounted for more than 60% of the global Bitcoin exchange market.

Following the Chinese government ban on ICOs and domestic crypto exchanges in September 2017, Huobi adjusted its business structure to fit global expansion. In October 2017, it expanded to Korea with a new headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.

Huobi expanded to Singapore and Tokyo in 2017, the United States in 2018, and Malaysia in 2020. In August 2018, Huobi became a publicly listed Hong Kong company.

Product and Service

Huobi continues to operate in China as a blockchain consulting and research platform.

Huobi has over 100 cryptocurrencies and tokens on its platform with level cyber security. Its trading fees are charged at a flat 0.2% regardless of the transaction type.

Supported Countries

Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, United States, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Website: www.hbg.com

Kucoin

Overview

Kucoin is a cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2017 which offers exchange options to its 6 million users.

Kucoin has over 30 trading pairs with more than 75 listed cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. It accepts fiat currencies as deposits including USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, and CNY. Deposits are free and the trading fee is 0.1% of what is being bought.

Product and Service

Kucoin offers trading options like margin, futures, spot, and P2P trading. It also provides lending and staking services.

Its website is protected by an encryption protocol that keeps users’ account information secure.

Kucoin has a native currency called Kucoin Shares (KCS) that gives its holders access to discounted trading fees.

Kucoin also offers trading bots which makes trading easy by using information about the market to analyze prices and place orders.

Supported Countries

United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, India, and Japan.

Website: www.kucoin.com

Bithumb

Overview

Bithumb is a Korean-based crypto exchange founded in 2013. It offers crypto trading paired with South Korea Won (SKW). Bitcoin, including other altcoins like Ethereum, is available on its platform.

Product and Service

Bithumb offers 2 types of accounts: General account for individual investors and corporate accounts for businesses.  

Apart from SKW being the only supported fiat currency, other non-Korean users can deposit cryptocurrency.

Bithumb has approximately 8 million registered users with 1 million mobile app users.

Supported Countries

South Korea, United States, Thailand, Chile, and Brazil.

Website: www.bithumb.com

Crypto.com

Overview

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers more than 70 cryptocurrencies for trade including options for margin trading.

CRO is the exchange’s stable coin that gives its holders interest up to 8% when staked.

Product and Service

Apart from its buying, selling, and swapping of cryptocurrencies, crypto.com acts like a crypto bank where users can open interest-earning accounts, get paid in crypto, and acquire crypto loans.

It accepts over 20 fiat currencies including USD and EUR. Deposit through bank transfer is free.

Supported Countries

Crypto.com offers visa cards that help in the easy exchange of crypto-to-fiat currencies. These cards are available in the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and 31 European countries.

Website: www.crypto.com

eToro

Overview

eToro is a social trading and brokerage company that focuses on forex and crypto trading. It was founded in 2007 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and added cryptocurrency to its investment instruments in January 2014.

Product and Service

In 2018, it launched a crypto wallet for Android and iOS devices and entered the U.S market by offering 10 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, NEO, and EOS).

In October 2019, eToro launched a crypto portfolio using AI technology to analyze Twitter’s latest perception about digital assets.

In November 2019, it acquired Delta, a crypto portfolio tracker company based in Belgium.

In May 2020, eToro had 13 million registered accounts in 140 countries. 

It has 18 listed cryptocurrencies with over 100 crypto trading pairs. eToro accepts 8 fiat currencies for fund withdrawal including USD, EUR, and GBP.

It charges a $5 withdrawal fee for non-U.S users and a $10 fee after a year of inactivity. It also offers a crypto copy portfolio which is portfolio management that uses predetermined investment strategies.

Supported Countries

eToro is available in more than 140 countries including 43 U.S states except for Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Hawaii, Nevada, and Tennessee.

Website: www.etoro.com

Coinmama

Overview

Coinmama is a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013. It is best for crypto traders who are interested in trading a few sets of cryptocurrencies as it offers only 10 cryptocurrencies.

Product and Service

Coinmama provides a cryptocurrency calculator that helps with fiat-to-crypto conversion.

It also offers a loyalty program to reduce purchase fees.

Coinmama accepts a minimum trade of $30 to buy a cryptocurrency and $100 to sell.

Supported Countries

Coinmama has 2.3 million active users across 188 countries including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New Mexico, Texa, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Website: www.coinmama.com

Bittrex

Overview

Bittrex is a crypto-to-crypto exchange established in 2014 and based in Seattle, USA.

As a crypto-to-crypto exchange, users cannot buy cryptocurrencies with fiat currency.

Bittrex has more than 190 listed cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, and new currencies like Tron.

Product and Service

It offers more than 284 trading pairs with a flat fee rate of 0.25% on every trade.

Bittrex was built on elastic computing, meaning that its trades are processed as soon as they happen.

Supported Countries

Bittrex is available to users worldwide except Afghanistan, Botswana, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Panama, South Sudan, and Syria.

Website: www.bittrex.com

FTX and FTX.US

Overview

FTX is a Bahamian-based cryptocurrency exchange established by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang in 2019.

In August 2020, FTX acquired Blockfolio, a crypto portfolio tracking app.

FTX has over 1 million users and an average daily trading volume of over $10 billion.

Product and Service

FTX has a daughter platform called FTX.US that is licensed and regulated by the United States. FTX is not available in the U.S.

FTX offers a utility token called FTX token (FTT). FTT can be staked, serve as collateral in futures trading, and reduce trading fees.

FTX also provides derivative trading that allows its users to speculate price actions of assets by buying or selling derivative contracts.

Supported Countries

FTX is not supported in the U.S, Cuba, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and North Korea.

FTX.US is supported in the U.S

Website: www.ftx.com, www.ftx.us

Quidax

Overview

Quidax is a Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange that aims to serve Africa. It was launched in 2018 by Buchi Okoro (an investment and valuation analyst), Uzo Awili (a software developer), and Morris Ebieroma. It has over 400,000 users in more than 70 countries.

Product and Service

In its earlier days, its founders used WhatsApp to build a reputation and trust for the exchange by creating WhatsApp groups that fostered buying and selling of cryptocurrencies.

Quidax makes money by charging a fee for P2P trades, fiat deposits, and crypto withdrawals.

It has a native token called QDX that is used for reward and discount distribution.

Supported Countries

Users from any country can trade on Quidax but the only local currency supported at the time of this writing is Nigerian Naria (NGN).

Website: www.quidax.com

Buycoin

Overview

Buycoin is a P2P cryptocurrency exchange established in 2017 as Bitkoin Africa but rebranded in 2018 as Buycoin.

Product and Service

It supports 3 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin) with only Nigerian Naria as its supported fiat currency.

Buycoin offers a wallet, referral bonuses for inviting new users, and a lending option where users payback in BTC within 6 hours.

Supported Countries

Nigeria

Website: www.buycoin.com 

Conclusion

When choosing a crypto exchange, it is important to consider its trading fees, the number of cryptocurrencies listed on its platform, its supported fiat currency, and if it is accessible in your country. To avoid losing your funds to fraudulent exchanges, it is necessary to do your research.