Bitfinex Review

Security and licensing

Bitfinex is run by iFinex Inc., a British Virgin Islands company operating since 2013. Rather than holding a single top-tier license, the group has built up jurisdiction-specific approvals: Bitfinex Derivatives and Bitfinex Securities hold Digital Asset Service Provider licenses issued in El Salvador, and Bitfinex Securities also operates within Kazakhstan's Astana International Financial Centre for tokenized-securities activity. A US subsidiary, BFXNA Inc., has been registered with FinCEN as a money services business since 2015, though Bitfinex does not accept US retail customers.

The exchange's most consequential event was the August 2016 hack, in which 119,756 BTC were stolen from customer accounts. Bitfinex avoided bankruptcy by socializing the loss across all users and issuing BFX tokens as IOUs; all tokens were redeemed at full value within eight months, either in cash or converted into iFinex equity. In 2021 iFinex settled with the New York Attorney General over past disclosures related to Tether, without admitting wrongdoing.

Trading fees

Since December 2025, Bitfinex has run a permanent zero-fee policy: maker and taker fees are 0% across spot, margin, derivatives, and OTC trading, with no minimum volume requirement. This replaces the exchange's older tiered schedule, which historically started around 0.10% maker and 0.20% taker for retail-sized spot accounts.

Deposits are largely free for crypto, but fiat movement carries costs: bank wire deposits and withdrawals in USD/EUR typically run about 0.10% of the amount (with a flat minimum fee), and an express 24-hour wire withdrawal costs roughly 1%. Crypto withdrawals incur standard network fees rather than exchange markups.

Coins and products

Bitfinex lists a large but somewhat variable count of assets depending on how trading pairs are counted — third-party trackers put the number of supported coins anywhere from roughly 250 to over 400. Core products include spot and margin trading, perpetual and futures derivatives, staking, and a distinctive peer-to-peer funding market where users can lend or borrow assets directly against interest rates they set themselves.

The exchange also runs Bitfinex Securities, offering tokenized bonds and other regulated instruments to eligible users under its El Salvador and Kazakhstan licenses — a niche feature not found on most retail-focused exchanges.

Proof of reserves and safety of funds

Bitfinex has published proof-of-reserves data since 2022, listing over 100 cold and hot wallet addresses and partnering with BitGo on real-time solvency verification tooling. Public snapshots have shown reserves exceeding 100% of client liabilities in BTC and ETH.

There is no formal third-party insurance fund; user protection instead rests on the exchange's own capital, its proof-of-reserves disclosures, and its track record of fully compensating the one major loss event (2016) out of pocket over time.

Deposits and withdrawals

Crypto deposits and withdrawals are supported for the exchange's full asset list, with standard network fees applying to withdrawals. Fiat deposits and withdrawals run through bank wire, including OpenPayd rails for GBP and EUR, and carry percentage-based fees with minimums as noted above.

Withdrawal limits scale with verification level; unverified or lightly verified accounts face lower daily caps, while fully verified accounts can access higher limits for both crypto and fiat.

Customer support

Bitfinex offers 24/7 live chat and a support ticket system, but independent reviews consistently flag slow response times and unresolved tickets as a recurring complaint, reflected in a low Trustpilot score (around 2/5) despite more favorable ratings on software-review sites like G2 (around 3.8/5). Support is primarily in English, with limited documentation in other languages.

Who is it for

Bitfinex suits experienced traders who want deep liquidity, advanced order types, and access to peer-to-peer lending markets, and who are comfortable weighing its regulatory and support-quality trade-offs against its zero-fee pricing. It is not a good fit for beginners, US residents, or anyone prioritizing responsive customer support and a simple interface over raw trading functionality.