Back when Bitcoin was launched in 2008, you needed to be a command-line nerd to be able to buy it. Times have changed and in 2024, you can download an app on your smartphone, give a few details, and do your first cryptocurrency trade.
This is made possible by the advent of cryptocurrency exchanges, both centralized and decentralized. This article will introduce you to the largest crypto exchanges in the world, based on trading volumes. Let’s get started without any delay.
1. Binance
24-hour spot trading volume: $26.3 billion
Binance is and has been the world’s largest crypto exchange for a while now and has a worldwide customer base of about 100 million. It was founded in 2017 in China by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He.
The platform has garnered the trust of the crypto space, providing users with a plethora of offerings, including the centralized exchange, Labs, Launchpad, Info, Academy, Research, Trust Wallet, Charity, and NFT. Over 350 popular and new cryptocurrencies are listed on Binance and thousands of trading pairs are available.
2. Coinbase
24-hour spot trading volume: $3.4 billion
Coinbase Exchange was founded in 2012 by former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong and former Goldman Sachs trader Fred Ehrsam. It is a US-based crypto trading and investment platform and was established in San Francisco.
The platform is designed to be intuitive and beginner-friendly and supports elementary transactions, a digital wallet, and withdrawals via PayPal. For professional traders, Coinbase offers competitive fees and advanced features.
3. Bybit
24-hour spot trading volume: $5.9 billion
Bybit was established in 2018 by founder and CEO Ben Zhou. The platform features a super-fast matching module, priority customer service, and community support to its users.
Bybit now serves over 10 million customers and organizations and supports over 100 assets and contracts across spot and perpetual markets. The platform offers a launchpad for new projects and an NFT Marketplace.
4. OKX
24-hour spot trading volume: $4.1 billion
OKX was founded by Mingxing Xu in 2013 in China. It is based in Seychelles and offers its own wallet in addition to the exchange. The platform serves millions of clients worldwide and the exchange offers both spot trading and options.
OKX also supports derivatives, including margin, futures, and perpetual swaps. Other products in OKX’s portfolio include trading bots, block trading, and staking. The platform has recently launched Jumpstart, a launchpad for new crypto tokens. The OKX wallet supports more than 30 networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, Polygon, and Avalanche.
5. Upbit
24-hour spot trading volume: $2.8 billion
Upbit was cofounded in 2017 by Song Chi-hyung. It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea. The platform supports over 180 cryptocurrencies and over 300 active trading pairs. Apart from the exchange, Upbit also offers an NFT marketplace and staking services. It has an easy-to-use web platform and smartphone apps, making it more accessible to the masses. The platform also has excellent investor protection services and provides finance education to investors.
6. Kraken
24-hour spot trading volume: $1.4 billion
Kraken was founded in 2011 by digital currency pioneer Jesse Powell. The platform lets users buy, sell, and trade crypto assets at extremely competitive rates. They also have a rewards program via staking of the coins.
The exchange supports over 100 crypto assets and 7 fiat currencies, including USD, CAD, EUR, and GBP. Kraken can be accessed on the web or via its mobile apps. The offerings of the company include spot trading, margin trading, futures, and indexing. A new NFT marketplace is in the pipeline. The exchange is home to over 8 million users and organizations.
7. KuCoin
24-hour spot trading volume: $1.08 billion
KuCoin was founded in 2017 in Seychelles by Michael, Eric, Top, Kent, John, Jack, and Linda. It was built with the aim of facilitating the free flow of digital value across the globe. The platform features an intuitive design, a simple registration process, and robust security features.
The platform supports derivatives trading, P2P exchange, credit and debit card transactions. Crossing 1 trillion in total trading volume and serving 30 million users worldwide, KuCoin is known as the people’s exchange. The platform is community-driven and is powered by the KuCoin token (KCS).
8. Gate.io
24-hour spot trading volume: $3.9 billion
Gate.io was launched in 2013 in China by founder and CEO Lin Han. Back then, the company was named Bter.com. The platform has support for over 1400 cryptocurrencies or tokens and over 2500 active trading pairs. Gate.io supports spot trading, margin trading, and derivatives trading.
The exchange aims to be a user-friendly trading platform with round-the-clock customer support and smartphone apps. However, to withdraw funds from the wallet or deposit cryptocurrencies, users should complete the KYC process.
9. HTX
24-hour spot trading volume: $2.5 billion
HTX was created in 2013 by Leon Li in Beijing. The exchange has a presence in over 100 countries and handles over $4 billion in daily trading volume. HTX supports over 500 crypto assets, 300 trading pairs, and initial coin offering (ICO) tokens.
The platform allows spot trading, margin trading, futures trading, derivatives trading, and staking. HTX also offers custom trading instruments, which can be accessed by actively trading users.
10. Bitfinex
24-hour spot trading volume: $450 million
Bitfinex was co-founded back in 2012 in Hong Kong by Raphael Nicolle and Giancarlo Devasin and is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The holding company of Bitfinex, iFinex Inc, also owns the Tether (USDT) stablecoin. The platform was created for professional trading and supports both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Bitfinex is a go-to exchange for BTC pairs and major coins like ETH and XMR. On the security front, the trading platform offers both 2FA and IP address monitoring. The platform offers margin lending, margin funding, paired trading, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
Who Are the Bitfinex Founders?
Nicolle started his career as an IT technician and worked as a system administrator at Gutenberg Networks. Afterward, he focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem and started developing Bitfinex based on the Bitcoinica trading platform code.
Devasini is the serving CFO. He graduated from Milan University with a Doctor of Medicine but developed a passion for technology and entered the computer hardware business. He founded Point-G Srl and then Solo SpA. In 2012, Devasini met Raphael Nicolle and joined Bitfinex, running its trading and risk management operations.
Conclusion
Crypto exchanges have made trading crypto assets easy and thus made it accessible to everyone. This has resulted in the wider adoption of crypto assets as an investment class and supported the growth of several blockchain protocols. However, these are not enough reasons to gamble away your life savings in the crypto market.
