What Is Bitstamp?
Bitstamp is a London-based cryptocurrency exchange platform that has been in operation since 2011. As one of the longest-running cryptocurrency exchange platforms, Bitstamp has developed a reputation of excellence, and has solidified its position as one of the most popular and secure exchanges in current usage.
Bitstamp is one of the few licensed cryptocurrency exchange platforms and is regulated as a payment institution in the European Union. Though its headquarters is in London, Bitstamp also has offices in both Luxembourg and the United States, and maintains an international workforce of over 100 individuals.
The exchange was founded by Nejc Kodrič, an economics and information science graduate, and early cryptocurrency adopter. In collaboration with Damijan Merlak—an experienced software developer, who left his role as director at Bitstamp in November 2018.
Bitstamp offers its services in the great majority of countries. Some notable inclusions are all EU countries, Australia, China, Japan and the United States through its subsidiary Bitstamp USA.
What Does Bitstamp Specialize In?
Compared to some other exchanges, Bitstamp doesn't have the largest selection of digital assets. Instead, it only lists established cryptocurrencies with a significant market presence. Despite this, Bitstamp is uncommon in the fact that each of its assets is paired against a fiat currency. It also includes several crypto to crypto trading pairs.
As of November 2020, Bitstamp supports more than a dozen of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP, and offers trading pairs against the U.S. dollar (USD), pound sterling (GBP), euro (EUR) and several stablecoins.
In total Bitstamp offers close to 50 trading pairs — the vast majority of which have high liquidity.
Although the platform is incredibly easy to use, and is accessible to inexperienced traders, its features lend it best to professional and institutional traders.
Beyond this, the platform offers several useful trading tools to help users execute their trading strategies. These include a range of APIs used for algorithmic trading strategies and data streaming, a simple to use mobile app and an advanced desktop trading interface.
The exchange features both cryptocurrency and fiat deposit/withdrawal options, and is one of just a small handful of exchange platforms that supports Bitcoin deposits via the Lightning Network.
Bitstamp has a security stack that keeps 98% of customer assets in cold storage and employs multi-signature protection on the funds stored on its hot wallet. On top of this, Bitstamp’s cold wallet is backed by multiple insurance plans — protecting user funds against almost any scenario.
What Bonuses Is Bitstamp Known For?
Bitstamp doesn't run a new user bonus and there are generally no coupons or codes that can be used to bring the fees down.
However, like many exchanges, Bitstamp does offer volume-based fee discounts for any user that completes more than $10,000 worth of trades in a 30-day period. This can be used to reduce the fees by as much as 100% —potentially making Bitstamp free to trade at.
The exchange has discontinued its referral scheme, and rarely runs competitions or promotions.
