Cryptocurrencies aren’t just a “Darkweb currency” anymore, they’ve gained massive mainstream attention and recognition, and so has Crypto Trading. There are thousands of trading platforms out there, and one such platform we’ll talk about today is Bitfinex in this detailed Bitfinex review.
The reason we’ve compiled these dozens of Trading Exchange reviews here is that trading is a real-life career to many, and a lot of you may be considering it. It’s hard-earned money you’re depositing on an exchange, hence naturally there are certain factors which need to be paid attention to.
Although note, this Bitfinex review is completely and 100% honest, unbiased and transparent. We do not make or lose a single buck depending on your decision of going or not going with the exchange.
Do not proceed on this Bitfinex review without reading, and agreeing 100% to our Disclaimer.
Bitfinex Quick Overview
It seemed unfair comparing Bitfinex to “thousands of other trading platforms out there” in the first paragraph of this review, hence let me correct the statement.
Bitfinex is one of the oldest trading exchanges in the industry, founded in 2012 and with time has gained tremendous repute and trust from users. Pertaining to the same, its current 24 hour volume is an impressive USD $119,121,209! 
- Primary URL: https://www.Bitfinex.com/
- KYC: No for Crypto, Mandatory for Fiats.
- Centralized: Yes
- Supported trading pairs: 300+ Cryptos
- Payment Methods: Fiats + Cryptocurrencies.
- Fee: 0.1% – 0.2% Trading fee.
- Security: 2FA, Withdrawal Locks, IP-Locks, E-mail Verifications, PGP.
- Margin /Leverage Trading: Yes
- Mobile App: Yes
- Live Chat: No
Create Your Account with BitFinex
Does Bitfinex Require KYC?
Bitfinex in many regards is alike Binance, it does have a “KYC” requirement although it’s optional.
Meaning Unlike Coinbase Pro which doesn’t let users trade at all without KYC verifications, Bitfinex does; although obviously there are limitations.
For e.g. non-KYC users aren’t allowed to deposit/withdraw or trade in Fiat currencies, and rather they’re limited to Cryptocurrencies.
Trading, as well as depositing/withdrawing Cryptocurrencies is possible without any verifications at all.
What’s unique with Bitfinex is that while most other companies such as LocalBitcoins and others have a “multi-stage KYC”, as in KYC-1, KYC-2, KYC-3, Bitfinex functions on a single verification.
The verification process on Bitfinex requires the following:
- Answering a Questionnaire.
This questionnaire has basic questions about the country of residence of the user, as well as the reasons why they’d like to get their accounts verified.
- Document Verification
Document verification is broken down into 3 phases, which are Identity verification, Financial-account verification, and finally Address verification.
Identity verification requires 2 govt-issued Identity cards, which may be Passports, Employment Card, Driving Licenses etc.
Financial verification requires a Bank statement with the users’ name clearly visible.
And finally the address-verification can be completed with Utility bills, govt-issued documents verifying a users’ residential address.
- Video-call Verification (Optional)
This is only for those users who do not have 2 govt-issued ID cards for their Identity verification and only have 1.
In such a case, 1 ID-proof too is accepted while a Skype or Google-hangout call is setup for additional identity verification.
Apart from the above verifications, the platform also requires a form to be downloaded, signed and then re-uploaded before the verification can be completed.
The standard (official) verification time is 1-2 weeks, however the actual time may be a lot longer depending on the verification-queue at the time.
Verification also reduces the “no. of confirmation required” for the users. So, 3 BTC/100 ETH/6 LTC/15 ZCash confirmations are required for the respective coins, however only 2BTC/ 50 ETH/5 LTC and 8 ZCash confirmations required for verified users.
Which Deposit/Withdrawal Modes does Bitfinex Support?
I personally prefer a platform which supports both Fiat as well as Cryptocurrencies as its deposit modes.
Fortunately, Bitfinex is one of those platforms and allows deposits/withdrawals not just via Crypto but also via Fiat currencies.
Although, it only supports “Bank Wire” deposit and withdraws for now. Cards don’t seem to be supported yet.
The fiat deposit-currencies supported so far are JPY, EUR, GBP and USD.
Also as mentioned in the KYC section of this Bitfinex review, fiat transactions are only available for Verified users.
What are Bitfinex Fee and Limits?
The three primary fee and platform levies are its Trading fee, Deposit Fee and Withdrawal fee.
There’s an additional fee on Bitfinex called the “Token Recovery” fee which we will discuss shortly.
Trading Fee
For now, let’s start with the fact that alike almost all other exchanges out there Bitfinex uses a “Maker-Taker” model for its Trading-fee.
Although this fee isn’t “static” and rather changes based on a users’ trade-volume. Any new user has to pay a 0.1% fee if they’re the maker and 0.2% fee if they’re the taker.
The fee decreases as the user trades more and more on the platform. The lowest fee possible is 0.00% (free) for the maker and 0.055% for the Taker if they reach a trade-volume of USD $30,000,000,000.00.
Here’s a better breakdown of the fee-discount:
Deposit Fee
As for the “Deposit fee”, it’s slightly different than what we see on other platforms. Depositing Cryptocurrencies is “technically” free. But then again, it’s free only on Deposits equal to, or more than USD $1000 (equivalent in the Cryptocurrency you’re depositing).
Else, a “Small Deposit fee” is levied, which varies for every single currency. For BTC it’s 0.0004 BTC. ETH is charged at 0.00135 ETH, XMR costs 0.0001 XMR and so on. The fee is displayed for each currency on the Deposit Page.
A suitable miner-fee too is suggested for the transaction, this isn’t mandatory however when paid speeds up the transaction.
Depositing Fiat currencies is charged at a 0.1% of the transaction, or USD/EUR 60.00 whichever is greater.
Withdrawal Fee
While some Cryptocurrencies offer free withdrawal (EOS, NEO, ADD, ONE, WLO etc). most others are charged.
The price is dependent on the currency being withdrawn. Although note that the Deposit and Withdrawal fee charged by the platform are the same for each currency.
Hence it’s 0.0004BTC for Bitcoin, 0.00135ETH for Ethereum, 0.0001XMR for Monero and so on.
Withdrawing Fiat is charged at 0.1% or USD/EUR 60.00 (whichever is higher) via Bank wire. However Express Bank wires (24 –hour withdrawals) cost 1% (min. USD/EUR 60.00).
Token Recovery Fee
The platform offers a token-recovery feature, which helps users recover their lost tokens which were lost due to their own mistakes. There’s an additional USD $150.00 fee associated with this recovery-process.
Is Bitfinex Secure?
Is Bitfinex secure as a trading exchange? That’s what we’ll discuss in this Bitfinex review section.
For starters, Bitfinex keeps majority of its funds in a “Cold Storage”, and only 0.5% of them are kept online. It also has automated backups everyday, and claims to be secure against DDoS attacks.
Apart from that, here are the account-security /anti-hacker features available:
- 2-FA
- Multiple Withdrawal-Locks (Whitelists, Secret Phrase).
- E-mail Encryption
- Auto Session-Logout.
- IP-Address Whitelist.
- Login History etc.
2-FA can be enabled via Google Authenticator, or a physical-key. Once set, 2-FA controls the logins, password changes, withdrawals, security changes and even creation of the API keys.
Auto-Session logout can be set which when enabled automatically logs users out after a 30-minute of inactivity.
The platform also lets users enable an E-mail notification, which notifies users on each login and provides a “freeze account” link in each E-mail.
Session-Hijacking too is prevented as a user is automatically logged out in case the IP address changes for any reason.
The IP-Address whitelist lets users add an IP address (or a range of them). Only these IP addresses are then allowed to access the account.
It also shows the login history for a user account, these can be checked periodically to ensure no unauthorized access was made.
Then, users have the ability to add “Whitelisted addresses”, for each individual Cryptocurrency. This makes sure that in case the account is compromised, no funds can be transferred to a foreign address.
Withdrawals can also be locked with a secret phrase which act as additional 2-factor authenticators. Or, an IP-Lock can be enabled which prevents new IP-addresses from withdrawing funds for the first 24-hours of their login.
These are just some of the preventive measures that the platform offers, but so far I’m impressed. Although note that Bitfinex has been hacked multiple times.
Which Trading Pairs are Available on Bitfinex?
When it comes to Trading Pairs, the exchange disappoints not! There are 146 individual Cryptocurrencies which can be deposited directly on the platform.
Each of those can be traded with a number of other coins, at times upto 11! Hence I’d take a guess and say the total trading pair is atleast 300, although the actual numbers probably will be a lot higher.
Which Countries are Supported by Bitfinex?
Is Bitfinex available Globally? Or does it have restrictions on its presence? Well, due to regulatory and compliance requirements, the latter is true.
i.e. Bitfinex isn’t available globally. Even though it is available in most countries, persons from the following cities/countries may either have no access or limited access to the platform:
New York, Iran, Pakistan, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Crimea.
Final Words:
Summing up this Bitfinex review, we can all probably agree that the company has an acceptable KYC policy (as it’s not mandatory). The trading fee too isn’t bizarre or unprecedented, although the USD $1000 min. deposit requirement for “free crypto deposits” is something not very exciting.
It does seem extremely secure and without doubt has an established reputation. So I’d probably say it’s worth a try and doesn’t have any major NAYs.
But hey, don’t let my interrupt your thought-train. Do drop your two cents on this Bitfinex review.
