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CEX.IO is a London, UK-based cryptocurrency exchange that specializes in cross-platform trading. The exchange was originally founded in 2013 by Oleksandr Lutskevych.
CEX.IO is a cryptocurrency exchange platform. What this means is that anyone can sign up for an account, deposit FIAT currencies, such as USD or EUR, and use them to buy cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), alongside any other cryptocurrency available on the platform.
CEX.IO offers a variety of features, including Staking, Spot Trading, Crypto-backed loans, margin trading, and institutional features:
- Staking—this feature allows users to stake their tokens and earn rewards. All they have to do is keep the coins and tokens in their accounts, and as a result, earn on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. In staking, each asset has its own minimum holdings requirements, and the interest rates vary between each asset. Certain cryptocurrencies will have an APY (Annual percentage yield) of 20%
- Spot trading—here, users gain access to more order options for advanced traders.
- Crypto-backed loans—users can take out loans through cryptocurrencies. They can borrow USD or EUR in exchange for Bitcoin or Ethereum. Keep in mind that the user’s account needs to be verified so they can access these crypto-backed loans.
- Margin Trading—here, CEX.IO essentially allows all traders to borrow up to x100 the account balance they have in order to trade even more assets.
- Institutional features—here, users gain access to API tools for automated trading, order execution tools, payment services, and a lot more.
The main way through which CEX.IO makes money today is through its fees. The exchange charges a maker and a taker transaction fee, which is based on the 30-day trading volume of the user for all trading pairs.Maker fees apply to any orders that cannot be executed immediately due to the fact that there are not any matching orders. Taker fees are for orders that instantaneously match with other orders, which makes them immediate.
Traders that place more trades within the span of 30-days can pay less at CEX.IO when it comes to these fees.By default, if the trading volume is less than 5 BTC within the span of 30 days, the taker fee is 0.25%, while the maker fee is 0.16%. However, if the trading volume is over 6000 BTC, the taker fee decreases to 0.10%, and the maker fee decreases to 0.00%.
There are four major currencies supported by the CEX.IO platform, and these are the United States dollar (USD), The Euro (EUR), The British Pound (GBP), and The Russian Ruble (RUB).
Each payment method has its own payment method that is supported; however, the main ones on the platform are VISA, MasterCard, Bank Transfer, ACH, Epay, and Skrill. The deposit fees for these methods are the following:
- For USD, the deposit fee for VISA and MasterCard is 2.99%, for Skrill, 3.99%, and $0 for all other methods.
- For EUR, the deposit fee for VISA and MasterCard is 2.99%, for Skrill, 3.99%, and €0 for all other methods.
- For GBP, the deposit fee for VISA and MasterCard is 2.99%, for Skrill, 3.99%, and £0 for all other methods.
- For RUB, the deposit fee for VISA and MasterCard is 2.99%, for Skrill, 3.99%.
The withdrawal fees and service charges shift based on the method selected.
CEX.IO as a platform has separate mobile applications developed for the Android operating system and the iOS operating system. This allows users the freedom to use all of the services available on the exchange anywhere, at any time. They can buy, sell, earn, and exchange cryptocurrencies through a simplified user interface that is fully usable on the go.
Android users can download the application directly from the Google PlayStore.iOS users can download the application directly from the AppStore.The main benefits that these apps provide are price alerts, order notifications, money management, security, and 24/7 support.
The CEX.IO wallet is available on the website as well as the mobile application and allows users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies with ease. The wallet supports a wide range of top and trending cryptocurrencies and allows users to keep track of their portfolios. CEX.IO claims that to keep your funds secure, they store 98% of the digital funds in an offline cold wallet.
There are multiple institutional services available on CEX.IO, including:
- CEX.IO Prime—a complete institutional-grade digital assets ecosystem from CEX.IO group, with 50+ institutional clients, over $4 billion in trading volume, and over 1 million trades performed.
- CEX.IO Aggregator—a liquidity provider that focuses on delivering efficient order execution specifically tailored towards institutional clients.
Initially, CEX.IO allows users to conduct margin trading on the trading platform directly. In 2019, CEX.IO opened a new dedicated margin trading service called CEX.IO Broker.CEX.IO Broker is a platform for cryptocurrency trading through Contract for Differences (CFDs). A CFD is an agreement between an investor as well as a CFD broker to exchange the difference in the value of a financial product, from the moment in time the contract opens to the moment it closes.
CEX.IO Broker features a variety of different order types, technical analysis instruments, as well as advanced trading tools that the most experienced traders can utilize. It allows users to leverage their position, which increases the option they have, depending on their risk appetite.
The main point of appeal for the CEX.IO Broker platform, which is still in its BETA form, is that it has tight spreads, no fees through commission-free trading, quick performance, and a liquid order book. The CEX.IO Broker Beta even offers an instant DEMO account for free without any required registration. This means that users are given the opportunity to test out all of the tools on the platform in a simulated environment that reflects market conditions.
CEX.IO has a dedicated customer support team that can be contacted through a variety of different channels:
- There is a Frequently Asked Questions page, where you can find access to answers to some of the most asked questions out there.
- The support team can be reached through their email at support@cex.io for any account-related issues as well as cardholder correspondence.
- CEX.IO also has a support phone number (+44 20 3966 1272) which can be used if you are the type of user that likes to talk in person.
- Users can send any complaints to complaint@cex.io and Business inquiries at partnerships@cex.io.
CEX.IO Ltd. Is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). CEX.IO also received a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license issued by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC).
Because CEX.IO is so heavily regulated as a cryptocurrency exchange, users have to verify their accounts through completing the identity verification process in order to comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies.
With that in mind, there are four account limits in total:
- Identity—users can deposit up to $3,000.00 and withdraw up to $10,000.00 on a daily basis.
- Address—users unlock bank transfers and get advanced daily limits, with deposits up to $10,000.00 and withdrawals up to $10,000.00.
- Enhanced—users benefit from unlimited deposits and withdrawals to their accounts with high turnover.
- Corporate—by using a corporate account, users can enjoy custom conditions.
Every time a user conducts a transaction on the platform, they have to go through several security steps. These include two-step verification and Google Verification. Additionally, users can set security questions, which makes it a lot more difficult for hackers or bad actors to get into their accounts.
This UK-based project was initially launched in 2013. However, it was originally a cloud mining service known as GHash.IO. After a year, the platform's mining pool was comprised of many Bitcoin owners and even contributed to upwards of 51% of the entire Bitcoin mining power. This essentially allowed its clients to use CEX as a solid tool when it comes to cashing out BTC tokens. That said, in 2016, all of the mining processes ended up getting suspended.
Cloud mining is a process of mining for cryptocurrencies in the form of a group, or a pool, where users essentially share processing power in the cloud and, as such, do not need to purchase or own their own hardware. By doing so, they are paid out a share of every block reward which the pool earns.
Since 2014, the service has been implementing exchange functions, which increased the overall number of users.
GHash.IO was founded and owned by CEX.IO, which is a cryptocurrency exchange that continues to operate to this very day. Alongside hosting a multipool for mining altcoins, it hosted separate pools for mining Litecoin, Dogecoin, and others.
The synergy here occurred when traders on CEX.IO could buy shares of GHash.IO mining hardware with the goal of operating a mining pool. GHash.IO closed in 2016, which led the way to CEX.IO to continue operation initially as a Bitcoin exchange.
GHash.IO plays a major role in the history of CEX.IO. However, it did have its flaws. Due to its popularity, many people within the Bitcoin community had worries about the possibility of a 51% attack. Remember, at this point in time, GHash.IO did indeed have this much BTC. This is a type of attack that can happen when a single mining pool is able to mine multiple Bitcoin block rewards in a row, which could be problematic for the entirety of the Bitcoin network due to the fact that it would allow the mining pool to double-spend or counterfeit BTC tokens.
In July of 2014, GHash.io did indeed briefly exceed the 51% threshold and forced the community to find a solution. Mainly, the pool developing the majority of tokens ended up resulting in Bitcoin developer Peter Todd selling half of his holdings.Temporary measures were implemented, in which GHash.io released a voluntary statement that they would not exceed 40% of the overall bitcoin hash rate.Additionally, they stated that a new committee would be created to act as a watchdog against the 51% issue, which would include representatives of the mining pools, Bitcoin businesses as well as other specialists. However, in 2015, GHash.IO’s pool fell to 1.99% of the total hashrate and closed in 2016.This meant that while the GHash.io mining pool was terminated, CEX.IO lived on solely as a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
