Topic: Safest Exchanges in the World (Read 743 times)

kraken
bitstamp
coinbase

You might know this already after much information was shared by sweet Caroline and the Chinese quant Gary Wang during Sam's trial, however, for the people who has not followed the trial, it appears that from the statements of the witnesses on the stand, FTX did not collapse because it was mismanaged. It collapsed because it was a scam from the beginning.

FTX's collapse was not an accident. It was something that was certain to happen. It was only CZ who triggered the collapse when he commanded Binance to dump FTT.

Its always better to stick to the most popular exchange where most people trust them for their money. I know Binance has recently a lot of issues being faced but still, it is better to stick to Binance than to any other XYZ exchange.

The risk is a deposit in centralized exchange always exists no matter if it is binance or any other exchange, and we need to mitigate the risk ourself by not depositing the extra money on the exchanges and withdrawing the money back to our personal wallet and if we are buying any coin in spot, better withdraw it too if you are buying it for mid to long term.

Nah, as the saying goes "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". It has caused a lot of pain and hardship to their investors, and we might think that the effects might be just contained to crypto markets. But I have the speculation that it could trigger chain of events, just like what we have seen as a lot of banks are also collapsing in dire need of government bail out, or simple collapses and go bankrupt.

And there are still ongoing cases against SBF and his cohorts. And then their investors or shall we say those celebrities that are tie in with SBF and FTX are not being investigated, subpoena, or worst cases being filed against them.

So it's not easy as it sounds that anyone would just reboot this exchange.

We know that there's no such thing about lasting like forever, there's always an end line for everything and would really be depending on how it would really be ending up.Just like on what mentioned it could neither be a major exploit or exchange hack or would really be also about regulation issues or from the owner itself.We've seen lots of type, i do remember about even that so popular exchange Poloniex and Bittrex.
These exchangers didnt really experienced out some hacking but rather this is a regulation problem on where it did really make that full switch up into a very heavily centralized exchange where KYC is really that mandated, until Binance do sets in. Yes, FTX is known next in line about being popular and when it comes to volume until it comes to this where filing up some bankruptcy which it did really affect out its users heavily.

Recently we do have some rumors or saying that it would be restarting.
FTX says it may restart its collapsed crypto exchange
https://www.fastcompany.com/90881156/ftx-may-relaunch-collapsed-crypto-exchange

Do we really believe that they would be able to get the same trust after all the things happened? I dont think so!
There's no such thing about safest exchange because anytime tables could turn upside down without even you knowing or been expecting for it to happen.
This is why its never been ideal on storing your funds on exchangers and making it as your main wallet.

Yeah, if we go back then, it seems that FTX is solid and could be one of those exchanges that you can recommend to someone. But we all know that happen with the mismanagement of SBF resulting to a total collapse. So what lessons we learn for here? There's no such thing as safest exchange, they can be under threat from hackers and criminals and even from government regulations. And worst is the the people behind is the one bring downfall to it, no one is going to see that until it's too late. So we really need to be very vigilant on how much money we left in a exchange as history tells us that it is not good practice to just let it sit here, thousands of dollars worth and then the next day, that exchanges is in troubled.

There have been suggestions about FTX within less than a year when OP asked this. And this is what's the nature of exchanges, we'll never know who's going to be the next exchange to bite the dust and that's why for OP even if we suggest you the best exchanges that we have in mind so that we save fees away from transferring in and out of our balances. It's best to be mindful when we're leaving our funds on them. There's no safe exchange anymore even if the most known and popular, you can't be sure with them if they'll be the next FTX. That's why if you happen wanting to save fees, just deposit the amount that you think will be totally fine whether it's gone or not.

for those who really want to make long-term investments, keeping your assets in CEX is wrong, saving in a hardware wallet, software wallet or paper wallet (which you fully control it) is absolutely safe (I already wrote it in the previous post).

because dex gives users full wallet access, dex is the best choice to be safe, but the bad thing that often happens to dex is a lack of liquidity (for active traders, they are hated), so most active traders don't like dex and lean more towards cex. indeed, whether it's dex or cex, they still have their own weaknesses, you need to prepare yourself to choose whether you want to trade on dex or cex, besides that, don't underestimate security. remain skeptical.

In general, Binance and Coinbase are definitely the best exchanges but regrettably they are centralized, you’re not even allowed to get the private key, that means the holdings are under their control not yours. In addition to that, your anonymity is not guaranteed. In my opinion, it is safer to use decentralized exchanges such as, Uniswap and Pancakeswap although they are not easy to use unlike centralized ones but they provide a high security and safety. In fact, your funds are controlled by you and regarding the regulations there is no KFC standards and same goes to AML.

Furthermore, the safest way to store your crypto is absolutely hardware wallet due to they are physical devices. The best ones in market are Ledger Nano , Trezor model T and Ellipal Tina, they are highly recommended and not costly ( around $100-$200 for each )However, if you are a holder or investor , then hardware wallet would be the best option for you.

Nothing is completely safe, you could put portion of your funds into hardware wallet and rest on exchange for trading. So you don't lose it all.

Regarding secure exchange, I'd stick with binance (cliché, I know). There are also dexes available on popular blockchain platforms where it's not like 'you completely hand over money' which you could use, but they come with their different share of risks.

Yes, he/she probably would have been ruined if he chose FTX alone. But that's not the point. OP asked for exchanges where he/she could make trading positions and distribute his/her coins. Which exchange would you have recommended him/her? Would it have been valid to recommend him/her YoBit because YoBit until now is still alive and kicking? Would have it been valid to recommend him/her Graviex, for example, which is unknown, has lower volume, less trusted, and so on?

Common sense would have it that you would recommend him/her the largest, most popular, most trusted, most solid, most established exchanges out there. Those who have the largest volumes.

But this is the problem with these kinds of exchanges. You cannot take away risks however large and popular they are.

If the OP had followed your advice and opted for FTX, he must have been ruined by now. I know that FTX was a reputed exchange at that time but still it scammed.
Binance is the world no 1 and i guess the most trusted exchange as they have witness the most withdrawals during the FTX crash and they still survived, Still i won't say that binance is 100% safe, yet but maybe it is better from other exchanges.

I will suggest that both the ideas of trusting one exchange too much, or using different exchanges at a time is not good. Rather select one exchange but deposit only little amount required for trading and if you have bought some bitcoin / altcoins in spot immediately move them out in your personal wallet. Even for swing trades, which may be active for few days to few weeks, move the coins out of the exchange.

PayPal is an extra intermediary between the user and crypto. User-Crypto-User system can function perfectly without such extra links. Adequate crypto-users will never use this services from PayPal because they know the flaws in their offer and PayPal's main audience, these are people who are far from crypto-currencies.

In general, the services offered by PayPal and any exchanger are identical. In terms of implementation, too. The risks are the same here and there. The choice between PayPal and exchanger shows the choice of the lesser evil. Both options should be avoided whenever possible.

I do not trust their bitcoin offering. PayPal is like a big firewall to crypto and they are notorious for banning accounts that have any links to crypto activity. So I don't know why someone would risk using PayPal when exchanges can adequately fill the hole for you.

You could trade on dexes, they have less risks than counterparties (bankrupt? No. Hacked. Yes). For leveraged trading use dapps like pika protocol — they work with hardware wallet too.

Using a hardware wallet is arguably more secure when you're in control of your own assets, but I don't think exchanges are any easier to hack. When it comes to security, I believe exchanges will do better than us. What I fear when leaving money on exchanges is that we do not fully control our assets, they can go bankrupt, and freeze our accounts at any time.
In general, no method is absolutely safe, everything is risky, but I prefer to manage my own assets rather than letting someone else manage.

Of course, hardware wallets are incomparably better and safer than centralized exchanges, but you should not blindly trust all manufacturers and what they say. Closed source devices are just as questionable as centralized exchanges, even well-known and big ones. All exchanges brag about their reliability, up to one unpleasant moment. The same thing may well happen to some devices.

Top exchanges inspire more confidence, but as history reminds, this doesn't guarantee anything either (Mt.Gox, FTX). I would not be 100% sure of the availability of reserve funds until it is confirmed by serious and respected audit companies, or better, several.

Regarding the conditions of exchangers - they can at any time come up with any reason to take away your money and agreeing to their terms, each user actually remains vulnerable and dependent on their decisions.

Yes, this is true. Hardware wallets are safer than all central exchanges that are vulnerable to hacking, bankruptcy, and others. But if you want to trade, I advise you to trade on top exchange platforms such as Binance and Coinbase. It has a reserve fund in the event of any accident to compensate affected users, but do not send all your wealth at once, but In parts and at separate intervals, and you must read the terms of use well before you deposit your funds, as Binance warns its customers not to trade with countries and individuals subject to sanctions and it takes this condition seriously, and you must verify well the source of the funds that you will deposit on these exchanges, because if they discover that the source of this money is illegal, they will immediately freeze your crypto and permanently ban your account. Therefore, you must read their terms of use and adhere to them.

you make me jealous LOL. until now I still have big hopes the funds that I put in FTX can be returned quickly because I really need it.


no one can be trusted, especially exchanges that say they have it (high security), I've been traumatized by FTX, and even major media spread the good news about him. the safest way to store assets is to store them in a personal wallet (software wallet or hardware wallet). at the moment I only use exchanges to exchange my crypto for my country's currency if I need it. until whenever a third party cannot be trusted.

I think there's no problem if your intention is to trade and then withdraw them all later after your session on exchange but storing it in a long term isn't a good decision.  

People or traders embraced CEX just because of these pros.

• High Liquidity
• High Trading Volume
• High Trasaction Speed

But storing your fund in CEXs for the long term isn't ideal.

This is not true, it's all about preference and having to throw a couple of dollars in a luxury crypto product  

Bad idea mate, so as long as you don't have access to those wallets privates keys to are standing on thin ice and this has been preached year in year out... "Not your private key, not your coins" you don't want to be caught on the wrong side of crypto users should something happen to any of those exchanges.

When it comes to the world of finances trust nobody not even your shadow! Besides best exchanges and what not I don't have any on the list as most secure but I would prefer a dex over a Cex as I have full access of my wallets pvt key.

Thank god. It is FTX turn this time, who knows what happen in the future. Your sentence can easily change to "I almost put money in Binance. Glad I did not."

It is almost impossible to not live without risk when you use a CEX or other centralized services. Just gotta live with it or change the way you do things. Glad things turned out OK for you OP. I've seen many people lose life savings because they feel bothersome dealing with cold-hot wallet transfers because they want to trade easily.

Exchanges won't be able to meet "safe" standards from various people's perspectives. Especially about the dirty business scandals run by the founders that the average user can barely detect. In conclusion, there is no "safe" word when you entrust your funds to a third party
Also don't believe in naive author's article reviews (for example ^[1]), consider them a joke.

1. https://www.cryptovantage.com/best-crypto-exchanges/safest-cryptocurrency-exchanges/

Lucky call! 


Some would really just be posting or suggesting on something which is the current one of the top exchangers before or platforms which it would really be creating that
kind of feeling inside that it is really safe among others which is something that cant be blamed out or simply people do just bandwagon on what they do saw on what
others been suggesting.

Its true that nothing is safe when we do touch up exchange platforms.Once you do sent out your funds on exchange which you dont possess the keys
then its not your coins anymore.

I almost put money in FTX. Glad i did not.

Can we stop recommending people any kind of exchange? I've gone through this topic and I saw the name of FTX four times as recommended exchange, making it the top of the safest ones out of the myriad of scams and it turned out to be a ...total scam!

How would you feel if one of those you listed fill for bankruptcy the same as FTX with zero coins in the wallet and OP comes here and tells how he lost his life savings?
Let's just stop assuming one is better than the other and focus on cold storage be your own bank, that's the principle of cryptos, if you want to use coins use your own wallet, if you don't care about coins and you just want to trade just trade on a platform where there are not even coins and you trade indices.

 

not a perfect answer but regulated means they are safer then any other exchange
best regulated exchanges are:
Coinbase
Gemini
Kraken

FinCEN, FINTRAC, FCA are regulators in different countries for these exchanges
more info :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSj8smV63Es

PayPal still have the complete control because they are centralized and they are very strict with customers. People depending on them do not know the reason that led to the creation of bitcoin which is for people to have the complete control over their own money. But people are using exchanges, custodial wallet and custodial organisations like PayPal to store their coins. But there is nothing better than going for noncustodial wallet.

Even If withdrawal is beyond US, I can never make use of PayPal than using it for fiat, not crypto.

You are correct, but not all top exchanges have been hacked though, but any exchange can be hacked at anytime.

It's good that you understand this, its a mark of a good holder that you know where you keep your coins, and a hardware wallet is the right place


Unless you know all the risks of putting your coins in exchange I can recommend Binance, Kucoin, and OKEX, these are three of the exchanges that I'm comfortable trading my coins, but I'm more on trading on decentralize exchange, trading on the top exchange in the industry will give you peace of mind than trading on a new and unpopular exchange, it's still best to not hold your coins on exchanges for a long period of time.

Historically, all the top exchanges including Binance have experienced hacks in the past. It may not be the case for small exchanges because they aren't attractive targets for hackers, but that doesn't mean they don't have other problems with customers. In conclusion, there is no answer to your question.

Certainly a difficult choice for active traders. So, it's best to trade the amount you are willing to lose due to the safety of the exchange.

I understand that you're looking for a platform where you can have a position. Of course, there are always risks involved when having funds in exchanges. But I generally believe it is much easier for a smaller and unknown exchange to suddenly exit, become insolvent, go bankrupt, and so on. So it is generally safer to choose those large exchanges that are trusted by many, established, and have a more or less long and solid track record. And since you're planning to distribute your funds to several exchanges, then I guess you should try to check FTX, Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, ByBit, and Okex.

If you have lots of cryptos then yes it would be better to store them in a hardware wallet because number 1 is you can easily afford to get one even the best quality in the market today and number 2 is that hardware wallets are known to be more robust than the commonly used online wallets.

I see that you are also trader and its indeed hassle to just withdraw or depo the coins in an exchange every time you feel the need to trade, not only that but its also time and money consuming (the fees) so why not store a good portion of your coins inside the exchange? Binance and kuckoin are only two of the most safest exchange that I know. I only cant assure that they won't be hacked but maybe they can return your money if ever something bad happens to them.

Last I heard, withdrawals are only in the US and it could still be in the middle of rolling out to some users. Better to double check if the account indeed supports it unless you don't mind waiting for who knows when.

That's good news if they are now allowed to withdraw and deposit Bitcoin in Paypal.
Paypal is founded in the year 2000 they serve customers for many years and it is proven trusted and it's a highly secure financial service.
Yes, it's centralized and regulated I just recommend the safest one and there is no 100% safest option hardware can be still hacked physically but it is less exposed to any online attacks.

I still choose the hardware wallet for holding coins for the long term but since he doesn't want to lose his investment due bankruptcy and hacked exchange and due to the unstable price of Bitcoin Paypal would be the best and safest option with instant exchange. You just need to sacrifice a bit of your documents ID and selfies to verify your account. I'm using Paypal to receive payment since 2009 I never experienced any issue with them except a few users trying to revert the transaction.

it is clear that there is no guarantee, nor can anyone claim that any exchange is completely safe, but I would also single out these exchanges (except Coinbase) which probably have the highest level of possible security.
which is another reason for these exchanges to be a choice if something bad happens there like some new mt.gox, there would certainly be big falls and losses. because they store a huge amount of cryptocurrencies.

For this, we look into the user agreement/contract which details what is covered, what is not and up to which amount. Depending on one's situation, it's possible to not assume any loss e.g. when a bank files for bankruptcy and your deposit does not exceed the max insured coverage (from where i live).

In binance? there are only tweets that says "your funds are safu" in case of hack and few articles.... which isn't surprising! they are merely relying on their own set money pool which will be shared by everyone. In the worst case scenario, it wouldn't be surprising to only get bits of your total cryto out of it, hence saying funds are insured seems wrong and sends the wrong message. plus this is all supposing that their safu jar remains untouched and CZ keeping his word-- to use them all for their users.

I agree with the lesser evil point but I would never think I'm insured just because the exchange has set aside some funds that they also control.

Yeah, it might be one of their marketing strategy but it works as it is just like what binance did on its previous hacked incident. Yes, it was small-scale loss, but the thing is they did reimburse the affected accounts.

Why it wasn't an insurance while it works like insurance? Of course, what do you expect from an insurance company, they won't give you the total 100% of the funds lost but they did reimburse some, and insurance work like that either it's a life insurance or accident or etc. And that's the risk of using exchange which everyone of us here knows already.

What I'm talking is use the trusted of them all ^(exchange) and those exchange that had allocated funds when something hacked happened, lesser evil ^{(just like mentioned above)} because using DEX isn't for everyone especially newbies.

BitMaxz already said it's not safe but it's about choosing the lesser evil since stefan is likely to use exchanges despite all the warnings anyway. Paypal is less likely to go bankrupt compared to those unregulated centralized platforms with less than 10 years of existence.

I didn't know why you advised OP to put his money in Paypal since Paypal is a very strict company, we shouldn't trust any centralized exchange out there even though how big a company they are.  They're still prone to hacking or it becomes bankruptcy.

BTW, PayPal allows users to withdraw Bitcoin to external wallets anytime if you wanted to transfer it into your external wallet.  A hardware wallet could be the right choice because it has security features that can protect your wallet and never leave a footprint on any computers that you'll use.

CEXs IMO, should be used for trading and converting fiat to crypto or vice versa, they shouldn't be trusted on storing your coins in the long run.

There's no safest exchange all of them are risky if you are planning to hold coins for a long period of time.  
Why would you transfer your coins from a hardware wallet which is way more secured and have full control of your wallet?

That's pretty bad practice if you don't want to lose in a bear market when coins are dropping then it is better to use virtual Bitcoin on PayPal for safety but the only problem is Bitcoin/other cryptos on Paypal can't be able to transfer to another wallet. However, the advantage is that you can able to exchange your Crypto back to fiat instantly. Since Paypal is a big finance company and it was here for many years Paypal is safe but the problem you don't actually holding a real Crypto.

No, you won't find what you are looking for. Then have to use the direct decentralized exchange. But you might not get your desired pair there. For centralized exchange, no one can assure they wouldn't hack or bankrupt. We can't read exchanges owners' minds. Anytime could change their mind and anything could happen. So I won't suggest you any exchanges on that case. DYOR.

How it can be consider as cumbersome when you're only holding on your hardware wallet, you're not doing anything lol.

There's no safest centralized exchanges, since they're holding your coins on their hot wallet. The safest exchanges would be decentralized exchanges since they're not holding your coins, it's peer to peer transaction.

Avoid other exchanges e.g. Binance, FTX, Kucoin, Coinbase etc if you're really want the most secure exchanges.

The SAFU could be their marketing strategy only but the fact doesn't give true insurance to their customers.
Don't believe in SAFU and store your coins with them in a long run, though they're trusted the best thing is to withdraw your fund after your session in trading.  Never leave your coins in an exchange for a long-term purpose or don't let your coins sleep in their wallet while you're comfortable that it's safe, there's no single centralized exchange that safe nowadays.

The best golden rule was always this "Not your keys, Not your coins" we keep advice this to everyone and remind them of the correct storing of our valuable coins.  The best example is that what happened to MtGox exchnage will happen again in random trusted crypto exchangers.

Past incidents where funds were reimbursed should not be taken as a means of insurance. The reason they were fine is because it was only a small-scale loss and there is no guarantee that the SAFU jar will be able to cover every losses if a large scale hack happens.

There's no best exchange. But i agree the mentioned exchanges above at least you are insured (this is based on exchanges recent hack incidents such binance) that even a hacked incident happened your funds will stay there.

Of course, when you consider such statements you're disregarding the risks and safety measures of "not your keys, not your coins" idea.  

Nobody knows the answer to this question.

There are some who vouch for x or tell y is better but nobody here, absolutely nobody knows their financial status, nobody knows how deep in debt or how many reserve funds they have, nobody knows the level of security they have or how bad or inexistent those are in reality.

All you're going to get ar the name of the largest and most known and that's it because something if this exchange has lasted for 4 years then it's trustworthy which can' be more false. If I were to ask what makes Binance or Huobi so secure the only answer will be that they have money and CZ said funds are safu, nobody knows the true situation as they don't have access to that data.

So bottom line, you're going to have to gamble on this and maybe in one year see that all top ]3 exchanges have been hacked while some no-name ranked 300th is still up and running.


Thousands used MtGox, hundred recommended it too as it worked well for them, till it didn't.
Binance was hacked once, can you say it will not happen the second time?

When it comes to centralized exchanges, the best you can do are:

1. withdraw your funds if you're not actively trading.
2. minimize how much you put in to relatively small exchanges. IMO they have less chances of properly investing in cybersecurity and being able to hold out during tough times like bear market.
3. keep yourself updated on what's going on with the exchange/s you use, sometimes there are signs you need to get out.
4. if you can, avoid them or limit your usage.

No exchange is safe from hacking even if they are not hacked they can still freeze your money for all kinds of reasons, so when you have placed your money on the exchange you must be prepared with all possibilities to lose, for now Binance is still at the forefront but you have to be ready with KYC, Kucoin can be you use it without doing KYC with a withdrawal limit, besides looking for an exchange that you think is safe I think trading and withdrawals fees also trading volume should also be considered.

Binance, FTX, Huobi and Okx are the leading exchange that least can encounter bankruptcy among all the CEX available on crypto right now.

Why not use DEX instead of CEX if you want to play safe on this kind of market so that you still have the keys while trading at the same time. There’s  just a limited option on order type but its a small compromised for the safety of your funds that you can get.

Exchanges can get hacked.
Exchanges can suffer from inside jobs.
Exchanges can get bankrupt.
Exchanges can lock your funds because of whatever laws.
Exchanges can lock your funds because of something they don't like in your KYC filling.
Exchanges can lock your funds because you got your funds from somewhere they don't like or you use your funds somewhere they don't like.

And... does anybody expect them admit that they're unsafe for your funds?!!!?

Didn't you learn anything from recent cases of Celsius, Voyager, and all other centralized exchanges like MtGox?
Read this carefully, ALL centralized exchanges can go bankrupt, be hacked and die, and sending coins to them you are officially not owning those coins anymore.
Exchanges are used for trading and exchanging coins, not for holding, so I am not going to recommend any centralized exchanges, but best ones probably have biggest volume.
I would recommend using decentralize exchange Bisq, so you don't have to make compromises or to worry about bankruptcy or kyc.

Exchanges can be hacked.

On exchanges, you do not have complete control over own money.

It is not advisable to have your money on exchanges.

I have been using Binance and OKX now very well and incan recommend both. For future trading, I think Huobi global is good as well but the fee for spot trading is huge. I have Huobi global account but not that active.

Other exchanges I have heard about: Kucoin, said to be recommended but I have not used it before.

Always know that some exchanges are shady.

Hello,
I know you should always have your coins on a hardware wallet.

But for my trading position I don't want to put the coins on a hardware wallet because that would be too cumbersome but I want to distribute the coins on several exchanges.

In your opinion, what are the most secure exchanges in the world, i.e. where can I be most sure that the exchange will not go bankrupt, be hacked, etc.?