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7.6/10
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Review Exchange Review Bitfinex Review – The Most Controversial Exchange

Bitfinex Review – The Most Controversial Exchange

Bitfinex is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, and even after 8 years, it’s still the go-to place for a lot of people that trade with a serious amount.

Breakdown

US Residents AllowedNo
Exchange TypeCentralized
Exchange TokenYes, LEO Token
Two-Factor AuthenticationYes
Foundation Date2012
HeadquartersHong Kong
Withdrawal Limit Without KYC DocumentsNo Limit for Cryptocurrencies
Fiat-to-CryptoYes
Crypto-to-FiatYes
Bank DepositsYes
Bank WithdrawalsYes
Credit/Debit Card PurchasesYes
Trading FeesNot Fixed | See Fees
Margin TradingYes

Bitfinex is the most controversial cryptocurrency exchange, what will it take to clear their reputation?

Start and Founders

Bitfinex started in December 2012, as a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange, by Giancarlo Devasini and Raphael Nicolle.

The company behind Bitfinex also launched Tether (USDT), the most widespread stablecoin available at the moment. — You can read more about Tether here.

Bitfinex is operated by iFinex Inc., which has a headquarter in Hong Kong.

Security

You can add two-factor authentication to protect your account — which we highly suggest.

The exchange has been hacked multiple times in the past, first in 2015 for $400 000, and then in 2016 for $73 million.

The second hack was so significant that it has also massively crushed bitcoin’s price at the time.

However, to Bitfinex’s defense, they have managed to bounce back on both occasions.

We strongly recommend everyone to use a hardware wallet.

LEO Token

Bitfinex launched their LEO Token in a private sale back in May 2019, so retail investors didn’t have a chance to participate in this Initial Exchange Offering.

The total amount that was raised was $1 billion.

The token is used to reduce fees from 15% to 25% on their platform.

The company is also buying back, and burning tokens based on their revenue, which could drive up the price in the future, as the supply keeps decreasing — please note that this does not guarantee that the demand will keep growing as well.

Bitfinex is burning Leo all the time, 2% of the total supply is already gone.

Main Focus

Bitfinex’s main focus is to create a platform for professional traders, while making it accessible to retail investors too, in the past they used to have a $10 000 minimum equity for using their exchange, but this has been gone for a while now.

Tether

Bitfinex’s parent company is the creator of the most widespread stablecoin, called Tether (USDT).

There used to be a lot of negative press around it, claiming that it’s not fully backed, or that it has been used to create the 2017 bubble.

While Tether has remained the most popular stablecoin, others have emerged, both decentralized ones, such as Reserve Protocol, or Dai, as well as centralized ones, which are mainly made by exchanges, such as USDC by Coinbase, BUSD by Binance, or HUSD by Huobi.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, we would advise against it. You can do it with a VPN, but if you get caught, you could get your account banned and lose all your funds.

You do not, but if you would like to deposit or withdraw fiat currencies, such as the USD or the EUR, then your account must be verified to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) laws and regulations.

To our best knowledge, Bitfinex is not insured.

We don’t have a stance on that. The exchange has been operating for over eight years now. Still, thanks to the Tether drama and the past hacks surrounding it, while trading is probably okay, we advise everyone not to store their cryptocurrencies there. — However, that is true for every exchange.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Great liquidity
  • Gives you the ability to margin trade
  • Reasonable fees
  • Has an OTC desk
  • Wide variety of cryptocurrencies
  • One of the longest-standing exchange

Cons

  • Not available to US residents
  • Bad Reputation
  • Not insured

Fees

MakerTaker30 Day Volume
0.1%0.2%0
0.08%0.2%> $500,000
0.06%0.2%> $1,000,000
0.04%0.2%> $2,500,000
0.02%0.2%> $5,000,000
0.00%0.2%> $7,500,000

You can also further reduce it by holding LEO; by holding at least 1 USDT worth of LEO, you reduce your taker fees by 15%, while if you hold at least 5000 USDT worth of LEO, you can reduce your taker fees by 25%.

Use one of the links in this review to receive 6% off your trading fees.

Review Summary

Ease of Use
8.5
Reputation
5
Security
7.1
Fees
9.1
Payment Methods
8.5

7.6/10

Overall Score

Disclosure: The links in this review are referral links. Using them costs you nothing, but allows us to pay for hosting, and work on quality, fact-based reporting, which we are really thankful for.

We did not contact anyone before writing this review, and we rated them to our best knowledge.

7.6/10
OVERALL SCORE

Disclosure: The links in this review are referral links. Using them costs you nothing, but allows us to pay for hosting, and work on quality, fact-based reporting, which we are really thankful for.

We did not contact anyone before writing this review, and we rated them to our best knowledge.