CEX.IO review
Long-running venue with the deepest verifiable US licensing footprint. CEX.IO has operated continuously since 2013, which by the standards of this industry makes it ancient.
CEX.IO is not accepting new retail clients in your region, so we are not linking to it here. See which exchanges do serve you, or .
What it does well
- FinCEN-registered MSB with money transmitter licences filed under NMLS ID 1804170
- Operating since 2013 — through three Bitcoin halvings and two full cycles
- Fiat rails for USD, EUR and GBP rather than stablecoins only
- Licence register is public and independently verifiable
Where it falls short
- Base trading fee of 0.25% is higher than the offshore venues
- No perpetual futures — margin tops out at 10×
- Fewer listed assets than the large offshore exchanges
- Not accepting new UK retail clients
What CEX.IO is for
CEX.IO has operated continuously since 2013, which by the standards of this industry makes it ancient. Its distinguishing feature is not fees or product breadth but paperwork: it is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business and holds state money transmitter licences filed under a single NMLS record, which anyone can look up.
Founded in 2013, based in United Kingdom / United States, it lists 160+ assets and supports USD, EUR, GBP for fiat funding. Margin trading up to 10× on a limited set of pairs; no perpetual futures
Fees in practice
The headline rate is 0.25% maker / 0.25% taker at the base tier. Tiered down to roughly 0.10% at high volume.
The number that actually costs people money is rarely the headline one. Instant buy/sell carries a wider built-in spread than the trading interface — that is the single most common way retail traders overpay, and it applies on almost every exchange that runs a "simple" and an "advanced" interface on the same account. If you take one thing from this page: find the trading interface, not the buy button.
Who can use it
More than 200 countries and territories, and the US states where it holds a licence. Restrictions we are aware of as of 2026-09-15: Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, United Kingdom (new retail clients).
Two things to understand about these lists. First, they change — sometimes with very little notice, as several exchanges' exits from Canada and the Netherlands demonstrated. Second, account access and product access are different things: plenty of jurisdictions allow spot trading while blocking derivatives entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Is CEX.IO safe to use?
CEX.IO has operated continuously since 2013, which by the standards of this industry makes it ancient. Its distinguishing feature is not fees or product breadth but paperwork: it is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business and holds state money transmitter licences filed under a single NMLS record, which anyone can look up.
No exchange is risk-free. The questions worth asking are whether it holds licences you can verify, how long it has operated, and whether it has ever lost customer funds. The answers are above, with links to the primary sources so you can check them rather than take our word for it.
What are CEX.IO's trading fees?
Spot trading starts at 0.25% maker and 0.25% taker at the base tier. Tiered down to roughly 0.10% at high volume. Instant buy/sell carries a wider built-in spread than the trading interface
Work out what a specific trade costs with our exchange fee calculator. Fee schedules change — this was checked on 2026-09-15.
Which countries can use CEX.IO?
More than 200 countries and territories, and the US states where it holds a licence. Known restrictions include Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Afghanistan, Algeria and others.
Country lists move constantly, and product-level restrictions are usually stricter than account-level ones — an exchange may let you open an account but not trade derivatives. Always check the exchange's own restricted-jurisdictions page before depositing.
Does CEX.IO require KYC?
Full KYC required before trading. Tiered deposit limits start low and rise with verification level.
Does CEX.IO offer futures or margin trading?
Margin trading up to 10× on a limited set of pairs; no perpetual futures
If you trade leveraged products, the liquidation heatmap and funding rates dashboards show where the rest of the market is positioned and what it is paying to stay there.