Crypto is surging once more, but investors should remain cautious about where they invest their funds.
Bitcoin received an early Christmas gift this year, soaring past $100,000. This surge follows record-breaking ETF launches from financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity, which have accumulated $112 billion in bitcoin, along with Donald Trump’s reelection in November. Crypto enthusiasts anticipate an even more bullish 2025, as a pro-crypto Congress takes office, promising long-awaited regulatory clarity that could propel the industry forward.
Such market hype fosters extreme optimism and FOMO, yet investors must remain cautious—not just about which tokens they choose but also where they trade. There are hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges—essentially retail brokerage firms—each boasting sleek websites, enticing features, and security assurances.
However, not all crypto exchanges are created equal. They differ significantly in licensing, asset protection measures, and trading opportunities. Those affected by FTX’s 2022 collapse understand the importance of these factors. Additionally, exchanges vary in fees and transaction costs. Forbes’ third annual Best Crypto Exchange ranking, which evaluated over 200 firms, placed Chicago-based CME Group at the top. With an $85 billion market cap, CME is a highly regulated futures exchange overseen by the CFTC, prioritizing security in the unpredictable crypto landscape. Though crypto remains a small fraction of its overall trading, CME processed $1.4 trillion in digital asset futures contracts in 2024. It offers Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures and options, with entry points as low as $300, accessible through traditional brokerage platforms like Charles Schwab and Fidelity.
Among retail-focused exchanges, Coinbase secured the second spot, boasting a $70 billion market cap. As the only publicly traded U.S. crypto exchange, it commands higher fees in exchange for perceived security. With 8 million active accounts, Coinbase is the largest bitcoin custodian globally, holding 2.4 million BTC worth approximately $245 billion at current prices. According to a retail crypto trader survey, asset security remains the top priority when selecting an exchange.
UK-based Bitstamp, a major European player, ranked third, while Binance—the world’s largest exchange by trading volume—came in fourth. Menlo Park-based Robinhood, primarily known for stocks and options, placed fifth. Often criticized for its gamified approach to investing, Robinhood has become a hub for meme coins, holding $15 billion in DOGE for its users. It recently added “dogwifhat” to its meme coin offerings, alongside Shiba Inu, PEPE, and BONK. Beyond meme trading, Robinhood expanded its crypto presence by acquiring Luxembourg-based Bitstamp last July for around $200 million. The firms continue to operate independently as they await board approvals, but this deal could signal the beginning of industry consolidation as major players seek to expand beyond regional markets.
After being absent from last year’s rankings due to legal challenges, Binance remains a dominant force. With 245 million registered users and an average daily spot trading volume of $14 billion—nearly a quarter of the global $62 billion—Binance far surpasses Dubai-based Bybit, which ranks second at $8.2 billion. Coinbase follows with an average daily volume of $5.3 billion. Binance’s new leadership aims to strengthen compliance, which could benefit the broader regulatory landscape.
The remaining top-ranked firms represent global industry leaders. In the U.S., key players include Kraken, Gemini, Crypto.com, and Fidelity. In South Korea, Upbit and Bithumb lead the market, while Japan’s dominant exchanges include Bitbank, bitFlyer, and Coincheck. Europe’s major exchanges include Revolut, Bitpanda, and Bitvavo.
Collectively, these firms manage approximately $1.2 trillion in client assets, and according to Similarweb, their websites attracted a combined 438 million visitors in November.
CME GROUP
While not primarily retail-focused, CME stands as the world’s largest regulated bitcoin futures exchange. Its robust performance in 2024 propelled its crypto trading volume up by 135%, while its bitcoin open interest—the total value of capital committed to futures contracts—surged by 83% to surpass $20 billion.
COINBASE
As a publicly traded entity, Coinbase secures custody of over 12% of all existing bitcoin. Its Coinbase Custody division manages more than $300 billion in digital assets, including bitcoin, ethereum, and solana. Though not the most cost-effective platform for crypto transactions, its reputation for security enables it to charge premium fees. To expand its presence in the offshore derivatives market, Coinbase registered in Bermuda in late 2024, positioning itself against competitors like Deribit.
BITSTAMP
Headquartered in Luxembourg, Bitstamp operates globally but has a particularly strong presence in Europe. It excels in key ranking criteria, including a substantial asset base, clear ownership structure, a credible audit history, and a diverse crypto product offering. The company is in the process of being acquired by Robinhood, with board approvals expected in the near future.
BINANCE
Binance’s corrective measures addressing past compliance issues have enabled it to rejoin Forbes’ rankings in 2025, securing a top-five position. It ranks as the second-largest exchange by assets and remains the leader in trading volume, particularly in BRICS nations and Europe. Although Binance does not actively operate in the U.S., its U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, has minimal trading volume and is unranked. While the firm has not disclosed its ownership details, founder Changpeng Zhao—recently released from prison—is believed to remain the primary shareholder. Forbes estimates his net worth at $65 billion, making him the wealthiest person in crypto. Although Binance has yet to conduct an audit, it provides on-chain asset snapshots and is working toward a formal audit for the first time.
ROBINHOOD
Based in Menlo Park, Robinhood.com experienced a remarkable 780% increase in trading volume following the November elections. The surge was driven by its innovative prediction markets for election outcomes and its free trading model across multiple asset classes. Robinhood is a leading marketplace for memecoins like dogecoin, with its holdings growing from $6 billion in October to $15 billion post-election.
BITBANK
As one of Japan’s top three exchanges, Bitbank (bitbank.cc) prominently features Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its homepage. Among Japan’s three ranked exchanges, Bitbank offers low trading fees on popular altcoins. Its consistent ranking reflects its transparency, audited financials, and substantial crypto holdings.
UPBIT
Upbit is among South Korea’s two largest crypto exchanges, catering to nearly 10 million users. It is one of the top ten bitcoin holders but prioritizes payment tokens like XRP and XLM over bitcoin. Owned by Song Chi-hyung, one of Korea’s wealthiest investors, Upbit is under regulatory scrutiny for alleged irregularities in its know-your-customer documentation as part of its license renewal. The company maintains that all domestic exchanges are being reviewed and that no final decisions have been made.
BITGET
Bitget’s partnership with soccer legend Lionel Messi in October 2022 proved to be a marketing masterstroke. Following Argentina’s victories in the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa America, millions of users flocked to the exchange. While legally based in Seychelles, most of its employees operate from the Singapore region. Bitget pioneered copy trading in crypto, allowing users to mirror top traders’ moves, which now accounts for 20% of its trading volume.
DERIBIT
Dubai-based Deribit dominates the offshore derivatives market, allowing traders to leverage bets on future asset prices. Specializing in options trading, the platform enables investors to hedge risk and execute complex strategies. Deribit holds over $30 billion in notional crypto open interest, with 2024 volumes rising 95% to $1.2 trillion. The firm has secured spot and derivatives licenses in Dubai, a recognized regulatory hub for derivatives. Although reportedly entertaining acquisition offers—including from Kraken—Deribit has stated that it is not actively seeking a buyer.
GEMINI
The recent bitcoin rally has increased Gemini’s holdings by 34% over six months, reaching $19 billion. Owned by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Gemini expanded internationally in 2024 with new licenses in France and Singapore. Despite these expansions, the company reduced its workforce by 10% in late 2024 to maintain efficiency.
KRAKEN
U.S.-based Kraken manages over $30 billion in client assets and offers a comprehensive product suite with competitive fees compared to Coinbase. The company has been exploring strategic acquisitions and is particularly focused on launching an offshore derivatives business.
REVOLUT
UK-based digital banking giant Revolut, valued at $45 billion, serves over 50 million clients with services spanning payments, savings, investing, and crypto trading. While crypto trading is available on both its web and app platforms, users have increasingly migrated to the lower-cost Revolut X platform, which supports over 200 tokens.
CRYPTO.COM
Crypto.com, owned by founders Kris Marszalek, Rafael Melo, Bobby Bao, and Gary Or, is known for its aggressive marketing strategies. It secured a $700 million naming rights deal for the Los Angeles Lakers’ arena and renewed a major Champions League partnership in 2024. However, its reported user numbers appear inflated. While it claims to have 100 million users, Similarweb data indicates only 2.3 million unique visitors in November. Additionally, Arkham data shows that its bitcoin, ethereum, and stablecoin holdings dropped from $10 billion in December to $5.7 billion by mid-January.
FIDELITY
Fidelity had a transformative year, with its spot bitcoin ETF, FBTC, surpassing $20 billion in assets under management by its first anniversary. Fidelity Digital Assets now holds $35 billion in crypto. While Fidelity does not position itself as a traditional exchange, its Fidelity Crypto platform offers trading in bitcoin, ether, and litecoin with a 1% trading spread.
HASHKEY EXCHANGE
A subsidiary of Hong Kong-based HashKey Digital Asset Group, HashKey Exchange is one of only two crypto exchanges licensed under Hong Kong’s digital assets regulatory framework. Despite its modest size, it serves 145,000 retail and 300 institutional clients. Fees and spreads vary between its two platforms, with HashKey Exchange charging 29bp in trading fees and 16bp in spreads, compared to HashKey Global’s 12bp fee and 206bp spread.
OKX
Formerly OK Coin, OKX has gained regulatory approvals in multiple countries, including France, Turkey, Dubai, Singapore, and Australia. Its extensive product offerings and low trading costs make it a competitive player. The platform attracted over 22 million unique visitors in November, with a significant user base from the U.S., Italy, Russia, and Egypt.
BYBIT
Dubai-based Bybit remains a major exchange, frequently ranking among the highest in trading volume. It has secured licenses in the Netherlands, Turkey, and Canada, but a third of its users come from Russia and Ukraine, regions subject to U.S. sanctions. Regulatory scrutiny has resulted in blacklisting in France, a ban in Hong Kong, and a temporary suspension in India.
HTX
Formerly Huobi Global, HTX was acquired by About Capital Management in 2022, a firm owned by Tron founder Justin Sun. While HTX has secured licenses in Australia, Dubai, and Lithuania, it has yet to disclose its beneficial owners or undergo credible financial audits.
BITFLYER
BitFlyer, Japan’s largest crypto custodian, manages $4 billion in client assets and offers competitive trading fees between 0% and 0.1%. It holds regulatory approvals in Japan, the U.S., and Europe.
SWISSBORG
Swissborg, backed by a $52 million ICO, differentiates itself through its regulatory-first approach and thematic crypto investing. However, its fees remain relatively high.
COINCHECK
One of Japan’s top three exchanges, Coincheck holds over $5 billion in assets. In December 2024, its shares (CNCK) debuted on Nasdaq with a $1.2 billion valuation.
BITFINEX
Bitfinex, affiliated with Tether, operates under licenses from El Salvador and Kazakhstan but remains largely unregulated in major markets. Despite this, it secured a tokenization partnership with Swiss asset manager Lazard Group.
BITVAVO
Based in the Netherlands, Bitvavo primarily serves European clients and reports over $2 billion in crypto holdings. Its $545 million daily trading volume surpasses that of Gemini and Bitfinex.
BITHUMB
South Korea’s leading exchange by web traffic, Bithumb, is considering an IPO on Nasdaq or Kosdaq in 2025. It supports trading in 348 cryptocurrencies.
BITPANDA
Vienna-based Bitpanda blends crypto services with traditional brokerage, partnering with major German banks to facilitate crypto-fiat conversions.
Trading Costs Relation to Share of Trading Volume
The chart above illustrates both fees and spreads, highlighting that the largest exchanges by market share generally offer the lowest trading costs—except for Coinbase. Robinhood, which primarily serves retail traders, operates on a zero-fee trading model. However, the figures shown do not account for spreads, which are integral to Robinhood’s business model, as the platform generates revenue by selling order flow.
U.S. exchanges with over a decade of experience in the crypto market, such as Coinbase and Kraken, continue to see strong demand despite their higher trading costs. Over time, competition from platforms like Robinhood may lead to fee compression, driving costs down.
Some firms offer both high-cost and low-cost alternatives for frequent traders, with Coinbase and Revolut serving as prime examples. Coinbase’s retail clients incur an average fee of 126 basis points. To retain low-volume but high fee-paying customers, the company introduced a monthly subscription service called Coinbase One, which eliminates trading fees. Subscription costs range from $30 to $300 per month, depending on trading volume. Similarly, most Revolut users trade via the standard app, paying an average fee of 249 basis points. However, in late 2024, Revolut launched Revolut X, a web-based platform available in select countries, offering significantly lower fees of just 10 basis points per trade. This service has gained substantial traction.
Crypto Geography
According to Forbes’ estimates, there were at least half a billion crypto users globally by the end of 2024.
To determine where most crypto traders are located, we partnered with web analytics firm SimilarWeb. The map below provides an estimated geographic distribution of crypto investors.
Crypto Visitors
Geolocation of unique visitors to 57 crypto platforms (millions), November 2024
Total: 445 million unique visitors
- Asia-Pacific: 160 million
- Europe: 134 million
- U.S. & Canada: 56 million
- Latin America & the Caribbean: 40 million
- Africa: 18 million
Traffic to crypto platforms is highly concentrated. Twelve ranked firms and three unranked firms each attracted over 10 million unique visitors. Many companies, including Binance, Crypto.com, and Bitget, prominently showcase their user numbers in the tens or hundreds of millions. However, they often do not define what qualifies as a “user” or provide updated figures on active accounts.
By leveraging SimilarWeb’s monthly data, a clearer and more standardized picture of user activity across exchanges emerges. This analysis indicates that Binance had 75 million unique users (17% of the total), while Coinbase had 56 million (13%). Robinhood ranked fourth with 37 million unique users.
Crypto Providers – Unique Visitors
In millions, November 2024 (Lighter shaded firms are unranked)
Beyond the major global exchanges, some platforms cater specifically to one or two regions. In South Korea, which has 49 million crypto traders, two dominant exchanges—Bithumb and Upbit—account for 70% of all crypto exchange traffic. The remaining traders primarily use larger offshore exchanges such as Binance, ByBit, and Bitget, though none of these platforms hold official licenses to operate in the country.
In Japan, the top three exchanges serving the country’s 16 million visitors are Bitflyer, Coincheck, and Bitbank. Meanwhile, Germany’s 15 million traders primarily use Austria-based Bitpanda, along with Bitget and Binance.
In India, Binance dominates the market, attracting nearly all of the country’s 6 million monthly crypto visitors. Among local exchanges, CoinDCX is the largest, with 1.1 million visitors.
Turning to Latin America, Brazil’s 14 million crypto traders primarily access Binance, Singapore-based Gate.io—which has a sponsorship deal with soccer star Lionel Messi—and Coinbase.
Finally, in Russia, where 18 million people trade crypto monthly, American exchanges such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken do not operate due to U.S. sanctions. Despite this, Russia remains a major crypto trading hub. The top three platforms serving Russian traders are ByBit (6.7 million users), HTX (3.5 million), and Binance (2.4 million).
