Bitcoin Forum

Which is the best and safest cryptocurrency exchange?

They're ofcourse never 100% safe, but some of the exchanges have the best people out there on their security.

For example, http://bittrex.com has an ex-amazon security developer. It's the second guy https://bittrex.com/home/about

It still doesn't garantuee 100% security, but these guys know what they are doing.

Same for sites such as coinbase, and http://bitfinex.com, these sites are the ones i personally think are the "safest" out there.

Every single exchange has their own set of security guidelines that they follow so it's really hard to tell you which the safest crypto-exchange that exists. But you can be sure that these registered exchanges are too darn secure since it's millions of $ on the line here for them if they fuck it up. Also, I'm pretty sure they hired top-notch security experts to maintain the general security of their system, so everyone is in good hands until someone thought of Goxxing everybody.

In general, it is not safe to store your money on an exchange, or with any other third-party site.

Exchanges have had a very poor track record. Of the dozens of exchanges that have existed, very few have survived. Most have shut down with their customers losing all of their money.

Bittrex is a popular exchange for trading. If you are looking to store your coins, it is better to use desktop or hardware wallets.

Coinbase and Xapo have never had a breach or have or theft that's been reported.

Coinbase has struggled with service issues and navigating the evolving finance and banking regulations in som of the United States.

Xapo doesn't operates outside the United States.

Is security your big concern? If so, why leave a sizable balance at all on an exchange?

Exchange your coins and cash out. There are several dangers:
- Scams
- Being Hacked
- Goverments can seize any exchange at anytime and stole all the coins.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that both bittrex, coinbase, Bitfinex and poloniex are 100% completing with US laws.

Unless they have laundered 100s of millions of dollars, like BTC-E, i don't see how the US government could just suddenly ""Seize" them.

Care to explain that?

Exchanges are relatively safe if you don't keep money on them for more than a day. It doesn't mean that you can't be unlucky and have your money stuck, like some former mtgox users, but that's extremely rare. Just get your money in, perform a transaction and get out to minimize the risk and you'll be fine. I've been using poloniex, bittrex and yobit without issues for months now.

So many money in there... do you really think this is not secure? Look at some great exchange like poloniex, kraken or bittrex. There is no problems with them and a serious team in case. All my problems are always be resolve faster.

Too much interest...

Exchanger always risky.Your coin is not secure in exchanger.also Exchanger can shut down their service any time. Better use core wallet. In my opinion Bittrex,coinbase is safe.Also no one can tell that this exchanger 100% safe

crypto exchange are safe as long as they are continuing to operate, so if they are not operating or updating in a few days that sites is soon to become a scam trading site, all you have to do is monitor the site every hour to ensure that your coins are in a safe condition, and my best crypto exchanges are bittrex, poloniex and etherdelta. try to visit those sites, there are so many traders are in there to do trade everyday.

Any exchange is not 100% safe, but large exchanges will never play their face for the sake of deception, trust is always higher for them. And their security is at an altitude, because they do not save on shots. If I mean one of them, Bitrex.

The U.S. government can order the exchange to freeze your account. They could also seize the funds in your account. An exchange complying with U.S. laws would do what they say.

Not safe at all. Every major crypto exchange, even those with volume reaching hundreds of millions of $$$, has been hacked in the past and there is no guarantee that it won't happen again in the future. Plus there is also a chance that a government could seize your account. Any legal exchanges are very likely to comply with any government order. That said, the best way to store your cryptocurrency is in your own wallet. You can guarantee your own coin safety. You handle your own coin and nobody else have access to them.

You shouldn't keep loads of money on exchanges. Better to put the in wallets. Safest is if you get a hardware wallet. You can read more about them here: https://besthardwarewallets.com/

Coinbase and bittrex are two good and safe exchanges. There are a lot more decent ones as well.

Coinbase and bittrex are the best, you can find ofcourse lots more but those two are most recommended by beginners/ expirience people.

Never, never store your money on an exchanger. That's a basic rule, don't forget it, every exchanger seemed secured before going havoc

The one thing you have to know about exchanges is: not you but the exchange owns the private key!!
Check the reputation and the history of the exchange.

Bittrex, Poloniex, or the like is a cryptocurrency exchange site, any so-called site, all vulnerable to hacker attacks

But we must believe that every bona fide founder of cryptocurrency certainly has installed (the security system) and put the experts to monitor the traffic that occurs, so that all the problems that will happen can be prevented

Choose the recommended cryptocurrency site in the forum, look for kriptocurrency with a good history record.

Usually, the larger the size of the exchange, the safer you'll be, because they would rather keep customers and provide a legitimate exchange rather than a shady one that has curencies go missing. However, these sites usually have larger fees, to maintain their services, but have better security and such.

Exchanges are vulnerable to many problems - Mt Gox being the epitome of examples. As everyone is saying here its just unethical to store any sort of value in an exchange for long term. I understand that for the most part they are necessary - so whenever I intend on exchanging coins I focus on long term holds. I literally have my money on an exchange for an intended purpose and for 30 minutes at most (depending on transaction times) - after that it is transferred to a wallet that I have private keys for.

i think bittrex and yobit ihave known as safest crypto exchangers in my experience some exchanger are blocked you without any reason...but this 2 exchanger i have no heard any bad fed back yet...

better more research to see which wallet is comfortable and safe to u.

I see in the blockchain, there is Bitcoin and Ethereum that we can save in there. And I see a button that will exchange Bitcoin into Ethereum, maybe that is what you mean. I think it is save because the system is proceed your transactions not people. You may see some exchangers that will buy or sell money currencies out there. They are legit people and sometimes can scam you. But no need to worry, because all you need to do is finding a trusted exchangers. You can find it on forum or ask in some facebook groups.

You and your investment will be safest if you assume your broker/exchange is NOT safe.

Buy your coins, and move them out immediately.  If you sell, move your cash out immediately.  Only keep enough fiat cash at an exchange for operational purposes.   Having a few thousand dollars exposed is one thing but 50,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 dollars, never.   I wouldn't keep 100,000 dollars in a checking account at a bank and I would not keep 10,000 bitcoins at an exchange.

Minimize your risk.

Cash at a bank is no safer then cash or bitcoin at an exchange.   If bank or an exchange goes under, so do you.   Both have happened.

Be safe, maintain diversification, keep the bulk of your bitcoin off line on a hardware or paper wallet and guard them.

I think they are quite safe.

If you only have <500$ it's fine to keep it on the exchange, otherwise I'd store them in a hardware wallet.

Online wallets are also safer than letting your funds on an exchange, but not as safe as they would be in an hardware wallet.

Always store your private keys in a safe place! It's also advisable to store them at different locations.

They are as safe as their word and nothing more. The only safe wallet is one with private keys you and you alone control.

If someone other than you controls and has access to your private key, you never really own the bitcoins.

In the case of exchanges, they act as custodians (just like banks which safe-keep your money in their vaults). But if you look at the bank analogy, the physical money (the cash) is in their possession (in their vaults) and they can take full ownership of it any time and any day. You are at their complete mercy. When you look at your balances on their online banking site, it's just that... numbers on the screen. They can block that money anytime. The money is only yours when you have it in your possession.

The same applies to crypto exchanges. They control the private keys and you need their permission to access your coins. Some are considered safe exchanges (such as the licensed ones.. Bitstamp for example). Some will screw you deep and bad (such as Yobit).

If you dont hold massive amounts on exchanges then no need to worry.My advice is to use hardware or desktop wallets: Trezor as hardware and electrum as desktop.

To be honest, exchanges are not always safe because there are many cases about an exchanges ended with scam. That's why i never stored my coins on exchanges but there are many good and recommended exchanges like bittrex and kraken. I prefer this two sites and it's quite safe for me.

Right now, Bitfinex/Kraken/Bittrex if you are verified.

If you are unverified then you're going to be really limited in terms of choice but i personally like to use shapeshift. Not exactly an exchange, but incredibly convenient and you never need to worry about verification.

Overall, crypto exchanges can be quite dangerous since a lot are unregulated. Use at your own risk and don't store a lot of funds in it.

Bitfinex literally got hacked for 120,000 bitcoins ~ a year ago. And they still haven't explained how it happened or why they should be trusted now. Not only that, but they are blacklisted by the banking system -- no fiat in or out of the exchange since March of this year. Stay the hell away from Bitfinex -- something bad is brewing there.

I've also heard bad things about Kraken, mostly about poor API and trade engine performance, as well as frequent problems with connectivity during volatile times. Same goes for Coinbase, too, unfortunately. Bittrex is pretty good for altcoins, but there are no fiat pairs, and liquidity is poor for USDT.

Kraken is a very decent exchange, but they do indeed happen to suffer from high intensity moments when the markets are quite volatile. It mainly happens because people are refreshing constantly, which causes a soft DDoS effect occasionally - this of course still doesn't justify them not allocating more bandwidth. Exchanges are very stingy when it comes to investing in more bandwidth, and Coinbase fits in that category as well, and that while they are by far the wealthiest crypto related business in this market. Bitstamp thus far has been working exceptionally well for me, even in periods where the volatility was reaching its boiling point.