Direct crypto
Crypto exchanges: what to check before you deposit
A seven-point checklist for evaluating a crypto exchange — verifiable licensing, maker-taker fee tiers, withdrawal policy, custody disclosure — plus the red flags worth walking away from.
We are not going to publish a ranked list of exchanges. Those lists are almost always paid, they go stale within months, and the ranking rarely reflects what matters to any individual buyer.
What is more useful is a checklist you can apply yourself, to any venue, in about fifteen minutes — and which relies on facts you can independently verify rather than claims on a homepage.
The seven-point checklist
| Check | What you want to see | How to verify it |
|---|---|---|
| Federal registration | Registered with FinCEN as a money services business | Search FinCEN's own MSB registrant list |
| State licensing | Money transmitter licences covering your state | Check the NMLS registry by company or licence number |
| On-chain withdrawal | You can move the asset off the platform | Read the withdrawal page for your specific asset before depositing |
| Fee schedule clarity | Published maker and taker tiers, not a single vague number | Find the fee page. If it is hard to find, that is information |
| Custody disclosure | Stated policy on cold storage and segregation of client assets | Look for a security or legal page, not a marketing claim |
| Two-factor options | Authenticator app support, not SMS only | Check the security settings before funding |
| Asset coverage | The assets you actually want, with real order-book depth | Look at the order book, not the listing count |
Every item in the right-hand column is something you can confirm from a third party or a published document. None of it requires trusting the exchange's own marketing.
How to verify licensing, properly
In the US, crypto exchanges and custodial wallet providers are classified as money transmitters. That triggers registration with FinCEN as a money services business — a federal requirement separate from, and in addition to, state money transmitter licences.
Registration is not a rubber stamp. A registered business must maintain a written AML programme with four mandatory elements — internal controls, a designated compliance officer, employee training and independent testing — plus a customer identification programme, customer due diligence for beneficial ownership of legal entity customers, suspicious activity reporting on transactions above $5,000 that appear suspicious, and Travel Rule compliance for transmittals at or above $3,000.
Both layers are checkable. FinCEN publishes a searchable MSB registrant list. State money transmitter licences appear in the NMLS registry, searchable by company name or NMLS ID. If a venue claims to be licensed and you cannot find it in either place, that is your answer.
Reading a fee schedule
A single headline percentage tells you very little. What you want is the tier table, and specifically the split between maker and taker pricing.
| Item | Typical range | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Taker fee | 0.1% – 0.5% | What you pay when you cross the spread. The default for a market order. |
| Maker fee | 0% – 0.2% | What you pay for a limit order that rests on the book. Often half the taker fee or less. |
| Volume tiers | Declining with 30-day volume | Irrelevant for most retail buyers; relevant if you trade regularly. |
| Deposit fees | Free for ACH, $15–30 wire, highest for cards | Card funding is the most expensive route by a wide margin. |
| Withdrawal fees | Network fee, sometimes a flat markup | A venue that marks this up heavily is discouraging self-custody. |
| Spread on "simple" buy flows | Often wider than the order-book spread | Convenience interfaces frequently price worse than the exchange itself. |
The last row catches a lot of people. Many exchanges run a simplified buy widget alongside a full order book, and the widget is usually the more expensive door into the same venue.
Custody and withdrawal: the question that decides everything
If you are buying crypto rather than a fund, the whole point is that you can hold the asset. So the most important thing to establish about any venue is whether it will let you.
Check the withdrawal page for the specific asset you want, before depositing. Some platforms — including several broker-integrated crypto services — sell crypto without supporting on-chain withdrawal. That is a legitimate product, and it is closer to an ETF with different tax paperwork than to owning bitcoin. Buying it while believing otherwise is the mistake to avoid.
Beyond withdrawal, look for a published custody policy: what proportion is held in cold storage, whether client assets are segregated from company assets, and whether there is any third-party attestation. Compare the language to how ETF custodians describe their arrangements in custody explained — the standards a fund custodian is held to are a reasonable benchmark.
Security claims worth testing yourself
- Authenticator-app two-factor authentication, not SMS only. SIM-swap attacks specifically target crypto accounts.
- Withdrawal address allowlisting, so funds can only leave to addresses you have pre-approved.
- A withdrawal delay or confirmation on new addresses. Friction is a feature here.
- Separate login and withdrawal credentials or approvals.
- Session and device management, so you can see and revoke active logins.
You can verify all of these by opening the security settings before funding the account. If the options are thin, that tells you more about the platform than any security page will.
Check the registrations, then decide
CEX.IO is registered with FinCEN as a money services business, holds money transmitter licences across US states under NMLS ID 1804170, and is authorised by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission as a DLT provider under authorisation FSC0686FSA — a regime covering secondary market venue operation, brokerage, custody, escrow and staking. It is also registered as a virtual asset service provider in Lithuania.
Exchange types, and which you need
Centralised exchanges run an order book, hold client assets and accept bank transfers. If you are converting dollars into crypto, you need one — a decentralised protocol cannot accept an ACH payment.
Decentralised exchanges match trades through smart contracts without custodying assets. Useful once you already hold crypto and want to swap between assets, and not a fiat on-ramp. They also place all the security responsibility on you.
Peer-to-peer marketplaces match you with individual sellers, with escrow holding the crypto while you pay. Platform fees are often zero, but sellers quote price premiums of 1% to 8% to compensate for payment risk — so it is usually the most expensive route where a licensed exchange is available. See buying crypto directly.
OTC desks quote a single price for a whole block, typically from $100,000 though the range is wide. Covered in crypto OTC desks.
Red flags
- No identity verification. A US venue skipping this is not complying with rules that apply to it.
- No findable fee schedule. Opacity about price is a choice.
- Withdrawal unsupported or heavily marked up. The platform does not want you holding the asset.
- Guaranteed returns or yield programmes. Nobody can guarantee a return on a volatile asset.
- Registration claims you cannot verify. Both FinCEN and NMLS are public. Check.
- Pressure to move the conversation off-platform. On P2P especially, this is where nearly all fraud starts.
Our take from the desk
The most underrated item on this page is the withdrawal check, and the most overrated is the number of listed assets. A venue with four hundred tokens and no on-chain withdrawal is worse for almost every purpose than one with twenty and a working withdrawal flow — because the second lets you leave, and leaving is the only real protection any customer has.