FIVE ACTIVE BITCOIN EXCHANGES

Coinbase

A bitcoin wallet and exchange entity, the San Francisco-based company has offices in 33 American states and 19 countries. Even though still in testing stage, Coinbase unveiled its first bitcoin debit card in November last year. It can be used at any retail establishment in 25 states that honors Visa cards. In January 2015, Coinbase earned $75 million in a round of funding. Only the firm and Kraken have been incorporated into Bloomberg terminals.

Kraken

Considered a leader in security and trade against the euro, Kraken was chosen by the Japanese government to help probe the troubled Mt. Gox exchange following the latter suspended trading in February 2014 and reported loss of over $450 million.

The San Francisco-based exchange has been defying New York’s BitLicense for some time where all exchanges are obliged to accept deposits from the state’s residents. As of present, Kraken is included in Bloomberg terminals alongside Coinbase.

Bitfinex

On their website, Bitfinex considers itself the world’s largest and most progressive crypto-currencies trading platform. Having a peer-to-peer margin function, traders can use leverage up to 3.3 times. As of present, the company does not accept deposits from New York as it did not apply for the state’s new BitLicense last year.

The Hong Kong-based company, however, endured a flash crash of 29% in the price on its exchange in August 2015. Many leveraged positions being closed out at the same time caused the crash. Still, Bitfinex managed to recover and its sharp moved spooked the market enough.

Bitstamp

The Slovenia-based firm was the third biggest Bitcoin exchange worldwide in 2015. But Bitstamp has its own share of difficulty. Hacks, which were said to be executed through phishing, took its toll on the company.

In January, its exchange shut for several days. Bitstamp lost $5.1 million and spent $2 million in expenses to track the crackers and improve security. Good thing most of its currency was kept in cold wallets. These are local hard drives which are inaccessible.

Gemini

Gemini accepts conventional currencies, including bitcoins. Chasing mainstream depositors, the New York-based firm upholds regulatory adherence and security, and wants to set itself apart from its competitors as well.

Best known for long-standing dispute with Mark Zuckerberg, the firm accused the tech boss of stealing their concept for Facebook. In its first few months, Gemini experienced difficulty in garnering considerable volume. The exchange also received criticisms for levying 25 basis points to both sellers and buyers as majority of exchanges charge less to the purchaser.