Web3 Directory

AAX AAX (Atom Asset Exchange) was a Hong Kong exchange that collapsed in November 2022, just days after the failure of FTX: withdrawals frozen, executives arrested and around two million users left without access to their funds. It is no longer operational. Abdalla Kablan Abdalla Kablan is a Maltese entrepreneur and academic active across fintech, artificial intelligence and distributed ledgers. He now leads DELTA Wealth Partners, a venture capital firm with AI-driven fund management operating in the Gulf region. Adam Back Adam Back is the British cryptographer who invented Hashcash, the proof-of-work system cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper, and CEO of Blockstream. Since 2025 he has also led Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR), a Bitcoin treasury vehicle in the process of listing on the Nasdaq. Adam Cochran Adam Cochran is a Canadian investor, founder and managing partner of the venture capital fund Cinneamhain Ventures (CEHV). He is known in the crypto community for his long public analyses of exchanges, DeFi and market structure. Adam Levy Adam Levy is a web3 media entrepreneur, founder and host of the Mint podcast, dedicated to creators building communities with NFTs, social tokens and DAOs. He went on to found Bello, an onchain analytics startup, and the creator programme Blueprint. Adam Todd Adam Todd is the British former trader who founded Digitex Futures, a "commission-free" Bitcoin futures platform launched with an ICO in 2018. The platform is no longer operational: in 2023 a US federal court, acting on a CFTC lawsuit, ordered him to pay over $15.6 million and banned him from reg… Adam White Adam White was Coinbase's fifth employee and later president and COO of Bakkt, which he left at the end of 2021. Since 2022 he has been a senior advisor to Blackstone on crypto and blockchain investments. Ajit Tripathi Ajit Tripathi is an executive who has spent years bridging traditional finance and crypto, with experience at ConsenSys, Binance UK, Aave (where he led the launch of Aave Arc), Polygon and Avail. Since March 2026 he has been Executive Director of the Eigen Foundation, in the EigenLayer ecosystem. Akon Akon is the Senegalese-American singer and producer who in 2018 launched the Akoin cryptocurrency and the "Akon City" project in Senegal. The city project was officially cancelled by the Senegalese government in 2025 and the token has effectively disappeared from the market. Alameda Research Alameda Research was the trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, which collapsed in November 2022 together with the FTX exchange in one of the largest frauds in crypto history. It is now in liquidation; its founder and former CEO Caroline Ellison have both been convicted. Alejandro Regojo Alejandro Regojo Alejandro Regojo ("Reg0x") is a Spanish economist and entrepreneur, co-founder in 2017 of Bitcoin Gold, the Bitcoin fork designed to bring mining back to GPUs. Active in the Ethereum and Bitcoin ecosystem since 2016, he keeps a low public profile today. Alex Atallah Alex Atallah is the co-founder of OpenSea, the NFT marketplace he led as CTO until 2022. Today he is co-founder and CEO of OpenRouter, a platform for unified access to artificial intelligence models, which Stripe agreed to acquire in August 2026. Alex Batlin Alex Batlin is an institutional finance veteran who moved into blockchain: after the crypto labs of UBS and BNY Mellon he founded Trustology, an institutional custody platform acquired by Bitpanda in 2022 and renamed Bitpanda Custody. Today he holds advisory and non-executive director roles. Alex Krüger Alex Krüger is an Argentine economist and trader trained at Columbia Business School, one of the most followed macro voices in the crypto world on X (@krugermacro). He now leads Asgard, an advisory firm specialising in digital assets. Alex Mashinsky Alex Mashinsky is the founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, the crypto lending platform that collapsed in 2022 with billions of dollars of customer deposits. After pleading guilty to fraud, in May 2025 he was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. Alexander Fazel Alexander "Alex" Fazel is the Chief Partnership Officer of SwissBorg, the Swiss cryptocurrency wealth management platform. He is also the host of Cryptonites, a crypto education YouTube channel built on interviews with the sector's leading figures. Alexander Höptner Alexander Höptner is the CEO of AllUnity, the German joint venture of DWS, Flow Traders and Galaxy that issues EURAU, a euro stablecoin authorised by BaFin and MiCAR-compliant. He previously led Boerse Stuttgart and then BitMEX, which he left in October 2022. Alexandre Kech Alexandre Kech is the CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), the organisation that runs the worldwide system of LEI codes for identifying legal entities. He got there after a career spanning BNY Mellon, SWIFT, the crypto custody of Onchain Custodian and the Swiss digital ex… Ali Raheman Ali Raheman is the founder of Autonio, a project launched in 2017 to bring algorithmic trading and market making tools to retail traders through the NIOX token. The project's public activity has thinned out, however, and his current operational role has no recent confirmation. Alistair Milne Alistair Milne is a British entrepreneur and investor, co-founder and CIO of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, one of the first cryptocurrency funds (operating since May 2014). He is a widely followed voice in Bitcoin market commentary, known for the annual predictions he publishes on X. Alysa Xu Alysa Xu is known as Chief Strategy Officer of OKEx (today OKX), where she led the exchange's strategy, business development and public relations. Her public presence has thinned out since 2022 and her current role has no recent confirmation. Amplify Exchange Amplify Exchange was a "commission-free" crypto brokerage project launched at the end of 2019 by Justin Tabb, previously the founder of Substratum. The service is no longer operational and its website today leads to a page offering a domain for sale. Andre Cronje Andre Cronje is the South African developer who created Yearn Finance and led the technical development of Fantom and the Sonic network. Today he is focused on Flying Tulip, a DeFi platform with which he has raised more than 200 million dollars, after leaving the Sonic Labs board in June 2026. Andreas Antonopoulos Andreas M. Antonopoulos is the author of "Mastering Bitcoin" and one of the most widely heard educational voices in Bitcoin's history. In March 2026 he announced he was stopping the production of new content for health reasons: his library of books, videos and workshops remains available. Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is one of the world's largest venture capital firms and among the leading investors in the crypto sector. On 22 October 2026 its a16z crypto division became a16z Frontier and opened its fifth fund, worth 2.2 billion dollars, to AI as well. Andy Cheung Andy Cheung is the former COO of OKEx (today OKX), which he left at the end of 2019 to found the derivatives exchange ACDX, inactive since 2022. Angela Tong Angela Tong is one of the key figures in Chinese crypto media: former editor-in-chief and partner of Jinse Finance, then COO of CoinTime, and today Chief Marketing Officer of the Web3 investment firm Jsquare. Animoca Brands Animoca Brands is the Hong Kong conglomerate that has built the world's largest portfolio of Web3 gaming and digital assets, from The Sandbox to more than 600 holdings. On 22 September 2026 it suspended the merger with Currenc Group that was meant to take it to Nasdaq. Anthony Pompliano Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano is today chairman and CEO of ProCap Financial, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury company (ticker BRR) born of a billion-dollar SPAC merger. His role at Morgan Creek Digital dates from the 2018-2020 period. Anthony Xie Anthony Xie is the founder of HodlBot, the automatic crypto portfolio rebalancing tool, but since 2020 he has moved into product management at major exchanges: today he leads Kraken's onchain product. Anycoin Direct Anycoin Direct was a Dutch crypto broker active since 2013 and shut down in 2025: its EU customers were migrated to the Dutch platform Finst, which took over its business. The domain anycoindirect.eu now redirects to finst.com. Ari Meilich Ari Meilich is the co-founder of Decentraland and the founder of Big Time Studios, the studio behind the action RPG Big Time and the web3 distribution platform Open Loot. Since 2020 he has shifted his centre of gravity from the metaverse to gaming. Ari Paul Ari Paul co-founded BlockTower Capital in 2017, one of the first institutional funds dedicated to cryptocurrencies. After BlockTower's merger with Arca, completed in 2025, he moved to an advisory role and is a venture partner at Strobe Ventures, the spin-out of the venture arm. ARK Invest ARK Invest is the asset management firm founded by Cathie Wood, specialised in active ETFs on disruptive innovation. In 2024 it launched the ARKB spot Bitcoin ETF with 21Shares, which it exits on 22 December 2026; in Europe it operates with UCITS ETFs through ARK Invest Europe. Arthur Breitman Arthur Breitman is the co-creator of Tezos, the proof-of-stake blockchain with on-chain governance launched in 2018. Today he serves as director of Trilitech, the London research and development hub of the Tezos ecosystem, and drives the evolution towards Tezos X and Etherlink. Arthur Cheong Arthur Cheong, known online as "Arthur0x", is founder, CEO and CIO of DeFiance Capital, a Singapore fund among the most recognised in Asia on DeFi and crypto gaming. A survivor of the 3AC and FTX collapses, he still leads the fund today and is a strategic advisor to OpenEden. Ascensive Assets Ascensive Assets is a private investment firm founded in 2019 and dedicated exclusively to digital assets, known for its early-stage bets on DeFi and web3 gaming. The last publicly known deal dates back to mid-2024: the firm's current activity is undocumented. Atul Ajoy Atul Ajoy founded the micro-fund Horseshoe Capital at the age of 20, while a student at USC, to finance early-stage web3 startups. Today he leads Horseshoe, a private holding company that invests "at the intersection of technology and the real economy", after a stint as an institutional investor … Bakkt Bakkt, created in 2018 by Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE), is no longer the consumer platform of its early days: after selling its loyalty arm (October 2025) it is a digital asset infrastructure company led by CEO Akshay Naheta. It is not an exchange for retail users in the EU. Balaji Srinivasan Balaji Srinivasan is the former CTO of Coinbase and the theorist of the "network state", today founder and CEO of the Network School. After the closure of the Malaysian campus in July 2026, the project signed an agreement with Kazakhstan. Barry Silbert Barry Silbert is founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, the holding company behind Grayscale, Foundry and Luno, and since 2024 he also leads Yuma, the subsidiary dedicated to decentralised AI. The collapse of subsidiary Genesis (2023) left him with litigation that is still open. BaseFEX BaseFEX was a crypto derivatives exchange launched in late 2018, with perpetual contracts at up to 100x leverage and no identity verification. It is most likely no longer operating: its website has been frozen since March 2022 and its trading servers do not respond. Ben Delo Ben Delo is the British mathematician who in 2014 co-founded the derivatives exchange BitMEX, becoming the United Kingdom's youngest self-made billionaire. Convicted in the US for anti-money-laundering violations and pardoned by Trump in 2025, today he devotes himself mainly to philanthropy. BestChange BestChange, active since 2007, compares the rates of hundreds of online exchangers and is widely used in Russian-speaking countries. It is operating but does not carry out exchanges or hold funds: these take place on the chosen exchanger's site, which is solely liable for them. BigONE BigONE is a crypto exchange launched in 2017, hit in July 2025 by a supply-chain attack worth around 27 million dollars, which it said it covered in full. It is not MiCA-authorised: it is not an EU-regulated option. Binance Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, but it has no MiCA licence: since 1 July 2026 it has suspended registrations and restricted services for residents of the European Union. As of October 2026 no authorisation is on record. Bit.com Bit.com was the crypto derivatives exchange launched in 2020 by the Matrixport group, a spin-off of Bitmain, and it ceased operations on 31 March 2026. Since 20 March 2026 the bit.com domain has hosted BIT, Matrixport's new name: a different service, not aimed at the EU. Bitbuy Bitbuy is one of Canada's longest-standing regulated exchanges, the first crypto marketplace registered with the Ontario Securities Commission (2021). Since June 2026 it has been part of Robinhood, which bought parent company WonderFi and plans to move customers to its own app. BitCoke BitCoke was a crypto derivatives exchange specialising in "quanto swap" contracts, with stated headquarters in the Cayman Islands and operations in Hong Kong. It suspended withdrawals on 13 November 2022 and its website has been unreachable ever since. Bitfinex Bitfinex is one of the sector's longest-lived exchanges (2012), tightly bound to Tether, and remains a traders' platform with margin trading and peer-to-peer funding. It has no MiCA licence: as of October 2026 it does not appear in the ESMA register of authorised CASPs. bitFlyer bitFlyer is a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2014 and based in Tokyo, also active in the US and Europe. Since 26 June 2026 bitFlyer Europe has held a MiCA licence from Luxembourg's CSSF, valid across the EU; in the US it serves 49 of the 50 states. Bithumb Bithumb is one of South Korea's largest exchanges, the country's second by volume behind Upbit, and operates only in the Korean market with real-name bank accounts. In 2025 it split into two companies ahead of a stock market listing, now targeted for 2028. BitMEX BitMEX, the exchange that invented the perpetual swap with 100x leverage in 2016, closed on 23 September 2026 after eleven years of operation. Access and withdrawals remain possible, but BitMEX charges periodic fees on balances left in accounts. Bitspark Bitspark was a Hong Kong startup that pioneered cryptocurrency remittances, the first of its kind in the world (2014). It shut down all operations on 4 March 2020, after a failed internal restructuring, the Hong Kong protests and the arrival of the pandemic. Bitstamp Bitstamp is the oldest cryptocurrency exchange still in operation (2011) and since June 2025 has been part of Robinhood, which acquired it for 200 million dollars. It holds a Luxembourg MiCA licence and operates in Europe as "Bitstamp by Robinhood". Bittrex Bittrex is no longer active: the American exchange closed in 2023 after the SEC's charges — bankruptcy in the US in May, Bittrex Global shutting down in December. The two Bittrex Global companies have been in liquidation since 2024. Bity Bity is a Swiss crypto intermediary from Neuchâtel active since 2014. Today it operates as a private trading desk acting on client instructions, only for transactions above 100,000 Swiss francs: it is no longer a self-service platform and holds no MiCA licence. Bloccelerate Bloccelerate VC is a Seattle venture capital fund specialising in blockchain and Web3 startups, led by founder Kate (Mitselmakher) Laurence. It is still active; its Fund II, launched in 2022, had by then raised 20 million dollars of the 100 million planned. Blockchain Capital Blockchain Capital, founded in 2013 by brothers Bart and Brad Stephens, is one of the oldest venture capital firms dedicated to blockchain, with roughly 2 billion dollars under management. Its early investments include Coinbase, Kraken and Ripple. BlockVC BlockVC was a Chinese blockchain investment firm founded in 2016 by Kevin Hsu, very active between 2018 and 2020. Today it shows no recent public activity and its historic domain is up for sale. Brad Garlinghouse Brad Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple, the payments company linked to XRP, which he steered through the SEC lawsuit definitively closed in 2025. Today he is driving Ripple's expansion across the RLUSD stablecoin, the Hidden Road acquisition and an application for a US federal banking charter. Brad Yasar Brad Yasar is an entrepreneur and angel investor active in blockchain since the mid-2010s, founder of the advisory firm Beyond Enterprizes and CEO of the CeDeFi banking platform EQIFi. He is also co-founder of the Blockchain Investors Consortium. Brendan Eich Brendan Eich is the creator of JavaScript, a co-founder of Mozilla and today co-founder and CEO of Brave Software, the company behind the Brave browser and the Basic Attention Token (BAT). He is one of the few figures who connects the history of the web to that of cryptocurrency. Brett Harrison Brett Harrison is the former president of FTX US, a role he left in September 2022, two months before the group's collapse. Today he is founder and CEO of Architect Financial Technologies, an institutional trading infrastructure company that launched the perpetual futures exchange AX at the end o… Brian Armstrong Brian Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange and the first crypto stock to enter the S&P 500 (May 2025). Since 2025 Coinbase has served the entire EU under a MiCA licence issued in Luxembourg. Brian Fu Brian Fu is the co-founder of zkLend, the lending protocol on Starknet that shut down in June 2025 after a hack of around 9.6 million dollars. Before Web3 he had built a fifteen-year career across investment banking and private equity. Brian Kelly Brian Kelly is the founder and CEO of BKCM LLC, an investment firm specialising in digital assets, and a long-standing face of cryptocurrency on CNBC, where he appears regularly on Fast Money. In 2014 he wrote one of the first books on Bitcoin, "The Bitcoin Big Bang". Brock Pierce Brock Pierce is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, co-founder of Tether and Blockchain Capital and chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation. In recent years his activity has centred on speaking, investments and a series of legal disputes tied to his ventures in Puerto Rico. BTSE BTSE is a crypto exchange founded in 2018, today led by CEO Henry Liu and with its corporate base in the British Virgin Islands. It does not appear among the MiCA-authorised CASPs: it is not an EU-regulated option. BW.com BW.com started out in China in 2014 as a Bitcoin mining pool and later became a cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange linked to the ZB group. It has been unreachable since 2024 and there is no record of any official closure announcement. Bybit Bybit is among the world's largest exchanges and since May 2025 has held a MiCA licence issued by Austria, with its European headquarters in Vienna. After the mega-hack of February 2025, fully reimbursed, it has bet everything on regulation and transparency. BYDFi (formerly Bityard) Bityard, a crypto and derivatives exchange launched in 2020, has been called BYDFi since January 2023. It has no MiCA authorisation in the EU and drew a warning from Spain's CNMV in 2022, relayed by CONSOB (Italy's securities regulator), and one from Ontario's regulator in 2025. C-Trade C-Trade was a small crypto derivatives exchange with perpetuals up to 150x, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Today the trading platform is not operational: the site is a static page with a notice that "a brand new platform" is under development. ChangeNOW ChangeNOW is an instant exchange service active since 2017: swaps between more than 1,000 assets straight from your own wallet. Since September 2026 it has required identity verification from residents of the European Union, and it is not a MiCA-authorised CASP. Charles Hoskinson Charles Hoskinson is the founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output (IOG), as well as a co-founder of Ethereum. After Cardano's governance passed to the community in 2024, he is leading the development of the privacy sidechain Midnight. Charlie Lee Charlie Lee is the computer scientist who created Litecoin in 2011 and today leads the Litecoin Foundation. In 2025 Litecoin obtained the first spot ETF in the United States and Lee joined the board of the first listed company with an LTC treasury. Charlie Shrem Charlie Shrem is one of Bitcoin's pioneers: founder of BitInstant and co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, he served a sentence linked to Silk Road in 2015-2016. Today he is a podcaster (The Charlie Shrem Show) and an early-stage investor with Druid Ventures. CME Group Chicago-based CME Group runs the CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX derivatives markets, supervised by the CFTC, where futures and options are traded, not bitcoin. It has listed bitcoin futures since 2017; since 29 May 2026 crypto derivatives have traded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CoinGecko CoinGecko is one of the leading independent cryptocurrency data aggregators, founded in Singapore in 2014 by TM Lee and Bobby Ong. Since August 2025 the CEO has been Bobby Ong, and in 2026 the company confirmed it is weighing "strategic opportunities" including a possible sale. CoinList CoinList is the US token sale platform founded in 2017 (Filecoin, Solana). With the shift announced in November 2025 it has become non-custodial and onchain: it no longer holds funds, has closed staking and offers token sales and tokenised assets. Craig Cobb Craig Cobb, known as TraderCobb, is an Australian trader and educator who became popular with his cryptocurrency trading podcast. His course platform tradercobb.com shut down abruptly in early 2023, amid complaints from paying customers. Craig Wright Craig Wright is the Australian computer scientist who claimed for years to be Satoshi Nakamoto: in March 2024 the British High Court ruled that he is not. Today he has a contempt of court sentence suspended until December 2026 and a ban on starting new cases on the matter in the United Kingdom. Crypto.com Crypto.com is among the world's largest crypto ecosystems — exchange, app, Visa card and the CRO token — and was among the first major global operators to obtain a full MiCA licence, from Malta in January 2025. Its headquarters is in Singapore, no longer Hong Kong. CryptoAltum CryptoAltum was an online broker of CFDs on cryptocurrencies, currencies and indices, run by Techcraft Ltd, with an address in the Marshall Islands. The website has been offline since spring 2024 and today the domain hosts a travel website unrelated to the broker. CryptoLocally CryptoLocally was a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies between individuals (P2P), active between 2019 and 2022. In 2025 a new app with the same name appeared on its domain, but there is no evidence of real trades or of who runs it. Currency.com Currency.com is a crypto trading platform launched in 2019 in the Belarusian orbit and today based in Gibraltar, sold in 2024 by the Capital.com group to investors represented by CXNEST and led by Konstantin Anissimov. It does not appear to be authorised under MiCA. Dae Yu Dae Yu is a US entrepreneur and investor with more than 25 years in telecommunications, co-founder of the Windshield Time podcast and an angel investor with Yellow Umbrella Ventures. The podcast, devoted to Bitcoin and finance in non-technical language, published 109 episodes between 2019 and 2023. Dan Held Dan Held is one of the most followed Bitcoin communicators, co-founder of ZeroBlock and former head of growth marketing at Kraken, a role he left in 2022. Today he invests in Bitcoin DeFi as a General Partner at Asymmetric and advises projects such as Trust Machines and Taproot Wizards. Decoin Decoin was an exchange founded in 2017 around the revenue-sharing token DTEP, with a company registered in the Seychelles and an Israeli team. The platform has ceased operating: anyone searching for "Decoin" today finds only the domain reused for generic content. Deribit Deribit is the leading exchange for Bitcoin and Ethereum options, founded in 2016 in the Netherlands and headquartered in Dubai since 2024. Since August 2025 it has been part of Coinbase, which acquired it in a 2.9 billion dollar deal. Dolomite Dolomite is a non-custodial DeFi lending and trading protocol born as a DEX on Loopring, relaunched on Arbitrum and Berachain and today active mainly on Ethereum. In April 2025 it launched the DOLO token, also distributed through a Binance HODLer airdrop. Dune Dune is one of the on-chain data analytics platforms most used by analysts and journalists: it queries data from over 100 blockchains with SQL and turns it into public dashboards. Founded in Oslo in 2018, in 2026 it reorganised to focus on AI agents and institutional clients. Exolix Exolix is an instant cryptocurrency exchange service usable without opening an account, active since at least 2019. It is operating but not MiCA-authorised, and its anti-money-laundering policy provides for possible checks on the source of funds and blocked transactions. FTX FTX no longer exists as an exchange: it collapsed in November 2022 in the largest fraud in crypto history, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried is serving 25 years in prison. Since 2025 the FTX Recovery Trust has been repaying creditors, in some classes over 100% of their claims. Gemini Gemini is the digital asset exchange and custodian founded in 2014 by the Winklevoss twins, listed on Nasdaq (ticker GEMI) since September 2025. It no longer operates in Europe: on 6 April 2026 it closed customer accounts in the European Economic Area, the UK and Australia. Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs is one of the world's largest investment banks (New York, 1869) and among the most active in digital assets: crypto trading for institutions and the GS DAP tokenisation platform, whose spin-off it has announced. It offers no crypto services to private individuals. Guy Turner Guy Turner is the face and co-founder of Coin Bureau, the world's most followed crypto education YouTube channel with around 2.7 million subscribers. Since 2019 he has presented videos of analysis and explanation on cryptocurrencies, regulation and macroeconomics. HitBTC HitBTC is a crypto exchange active since 2013, still operating and without a MiCA licence; its terms exclude Italy. Authorities in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands warn that the stated operators are not registered or authorised there. HTX (formerly Huobi Global) Huobi no longer exists under that name: since September 2023 the exchange has been called HTX and sits in Justin Sun's orbit. In 2026 it was sanctioned in the UK (from 26 May) and the EU, which has banned all transactions with the platform since 23 August. It has no MiCA licence. Ivan Liljeqvist Ivan Liljeqvist, known as "Ivan on Tech", is a Swedish blockchain educator and the CEO of Moralis, a Web3 API and data platform for developers. His YouTube channel, launched in 2017, made blockchain programming popular with hundreds of thousands of viewers. Jacob Canfield Jacob Canfield is a US trader and entrepreneur, co-founder of the Signal Profits trading community and a widely followed voice in crypto technical analysis on X. In 2020 he admitted to having doctored some screenshots of his own profits, a precedent worth knowing when assessing his content. Kraken Kraken is one of the world's longest-running exchanges (2011) and among the first with a full MiCA licence in Europe, granted by the Central Bank of Ireland in June 2025. Spot, derivatives and staking for retail and institutional users; parent company Payward is not yet listed. Ledger Ledger, founded in France in 2014, is the leading maker of hardware wallets, which keep private keys offline in a secure chip. It reports more than eight million devices sold; in 2025 it launched the Nano Gen5 and, according to press reports, is considering a New York listing. LetsExchange LetsExchange was an instant crypto-to-crypto exchange service, active from 2021 and run by the Seychelles company CryptoLightHouse Ltd. It ceased operations on 1 October 2026; support is answering open requests until 30 November 2026. LocalBitcoins For more than ten years LocalBitcoins was one of the longest-running peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplaces, based in Helsinki. It closed its trading service in February 2023: today the site serves only to withdraw remaining balances, subject to identity verification. MetaMask MetaMask is the most popular self-custody wallet for Ethereum and compatible chains, born at Consensys: since September 2026 its developer has been called MetaMask. It launched the mUSD stablecoin (2025) and the Money Account (June 2026); the MASK token is announced but undated. MeterQubes MeterQubes was a decentralised exchange project based in Amsterdam, launched with an IEO in 2019 and never taking off. The project is no longer operational: the official domain today redirects to a site unrelated to the crypto world. MEXC (formerly MXC Exchange) MXC Exchange has been called MEXC since 8 June 2021: a cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange without MiCA authorisation in the EU. Dutch and German authorities have warned consumers, and CONSOB (Italy's securities regulator) has relayed warnings from five foreign authorities. Nash Nash is a European non-custodial fintech founded in 2017 (formerly Neon Exchange): the user always keeps control of their own funds. After years with a Liechtenstein registration, it now operates from the Netherlands, where its MiCA licence application is under review by the AFM. NSBroker NSBroker is the forex and CFD trading brand (MetaTrader 5) of the Maltese company NSFX Ltd, authorised by the MFSA since 2012. The website is online but does not accept new registrations; the company, now Crestmark Trading Ltd, operates in the EU under the Alchemy Markets brand. Okcoin (now OKX) Okcoin, the exchange founded in 2013 by Star Xu, was replaced by the OKX brand between 2023 and 2025, in Europe and the United States. Its Maltese company, now called OKX Europe Limited, has held MiCA authorisation since 27 January 2025. OKX OKX is among the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges and since January 2025 has held one of the broadest MiCA licences in Europe, issued by the Maltese authority MFSA. In 2025 it closed its dispute with the US justice system over unlicensed operations with a mega-penalty. Overbit Overbit was a margin trading platform for Bitcoin, forex and commodities, with leverage up to 100x on cryptocurrencies. It suspended all activity in November 2023 and today its site is no longer reachable: the platform is no longer operational. Pantera Capital Pantera Capital is the oldest US investment firm dedicated exclusively to blockchain and digital assets: in 2013 it launched the first US crypto fund, with Bitcoin at 65 dollars. According to its own estimates, in March 2026 it managed around 3.5 billion dollars. Phemex Phemex is a cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange founded in Singapore in 2019 by former Morgan Stanley professionals. In January 2025 it suffered a hack of around 70 million dollars; without a MiCA licence, since July 2026 it cannot legally serve EU clients. Poloniex Poloniex is one of the oldest exchanges still active (2014), today controlled by Justin Sun and operating from an offshore jurisdiction. In November 2023 it suffered a hack of over 100 million dollars; it has no MiCA licence and since July 2026 cannot legally serve EU clients. PrimeBit PrimeBit was a platform for cryptocurrency perpetual contracts, run by PrimeBit Ltd of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It closed on 31 December 2024; its former domain now hosts a casino website unrelated to the service. PrimeXBT PrimeXBT is an offshore platform for leveraged trading in cryptocurrencies and CFDs, active since 2018 and without a MiCA licence. In December 2021 CONSOB (Italy's securities regulator) ordered it to stop operating in Italy and had its website blocked. Rain Rain is a Bahraini cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017, authorised by the Central Bank of Bahrain since 2019 and also licensed in Abu Dhabi and, since October 2026, in Dubai. It has no MiCA licence and in 2024 suffered a theft estimated at between 14.8 and 16 million dollars. Reflective Ventures Reflective Venture Partners was a Seattle venture capital firm created in 2018 out of a partnership with RChain Cooperative, to invest more than 190 million dollars in blockchain startups. The RChain cooperative is now dissolved and the fund is no longer active. Revolut Revolut is the European fintech with more than 80 million customers that pairs banking services with cryptocurrency buying and selling. Since November 2025 it has operated in crypto with a MiCA licence issued by Cyprus's CySEC, valid in almost the entire European Economic Area. rhino.fi rhino.fi, born as DeversiFi out of a Bitfinex spin-off and renamed in 2022, is no longer an exchange: today it offers businesses only an API infrastructure to accept, convert and settle stablecoin payments across more than 30 blockchains. Riccardo Curatolo Riccardo Curatolo is an economist and digital entrepreneur, founder and editorial director of SpazioCrypto, an information platform on cryptocurrencies and Web3 active in nine languages. He is also the creator of the Sicily Crypto Summit. ShapeShift ShapeShift, launched in 2014 as an instant cryptocurrency conversion service, has since July 2021 been an open-source, non-custodial platform governed by the ShapeShift DAO. Founder Erik Voorhees now leads the artificial intelligence startup Venice AI. ShortHop ShortHop was a US exchange aggregator launched in 2019 by Velocity Markets, promising zero fees by routing orders across multiple platforms. The service has been discontinued: today the shorthop.com domain is up for sale and the parent company is listed as closed. SIBEX SIBEX was a Zug start-up developing a peer-to-peer OTC platform for trading bitcoin and ERC-20 tokens via atomic swaps. The company was dissolved in 2022 and struck off the Swiss commercial register in November 2025. SmartFi SmartFi was a Utah crypto lending and trading platform built around the SMTF token, with the promise of a "buyback guarantee". As of October 2026 the smartfi.com domain is up for sale and the token does not appear listed on the main aggregators. SwapSpace SwapSpace is an aggregator of instant cryptocurrency exchange services, active since 2019: it compares the offers of more than 40 providers, which carry out the exchange. It is operating, but has no MiCA licence and does not guarantee anonymity: identity checks may be triggered. Swapzone Swapzone is an aggregator of instant cryptocurrency exchanges, launched in 2019 and run by a Georgian company. It is operating: it compares the offers of partner services, which carry out the exchange, but neither Swapzone nor its main partners have a MiCA licence. SwissBorg SwissBorg is the Swiss crypto wealth management app with more than 900,000 verified users and around 1.2 billion dollars in assets. Since March 2026 it has served Europe under a MiCA licence issued by France's AMF to its subsidiary BlockNodes SAS. Switchere Switchere is a website for buying and selling cryptocurrencies by card, active since at least 2019. It no longer provides crypto services itself: run by Lithuania's SH Europe UAB, it gives access to Paybis, whose European company has held a Latvian MiCA licence since 12 May 2026. Uniswap Uniswap is the largest decentralised exchange: a protocol on Ethereum and dozens of other networks for swapping tokens without intermediaries, through liquidity pools. Since December 2025 part of the fees burns UNI; in 2025 the SEC closed its investigation without action. Upbit Upbit is South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, run by Dunamu since 2017; the brand is also present in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. It has no MiCA licence and does not operate in the EU; Dunamu's merger with Naver Financial has been announced but not completed. Velo Trust Velo Trust presented itself as a London-based instant swap platform with more than 100 cryptocurrencies, born as an OTC and escrow desk. The service is no longer operating: the velotrust.com domain, registered again in 2025, has expired and as of October 2026 does not respond. WazirX WazirX, long India's largest exchange, returned to operation on 24 October 2025 after more than a year of standstill following the $234 million hack of July 2024, under a restructuring plan sanctioned in Singapore. It is not authorised to operate in the EU. WhaleFin (now Amber Premium) WhaleFin was the crypto-asset app launched by Amber Group in December 2021: according to the company, it has been called Amber Premium since 30 April 2025. Since 31 August 2026 the listed group using that brand has presented itself as AMBR, focusing on AI agents. Worthpad Worthpad was an IDO launchpad project with the WORTH token, on BNB Chain: the token sale, between December 2021 and January 2022, raised around 369,000 dollars against a target of 7 million. It has been inactive since April 2022 and its old website is no longer reachable. XBTPro XBTPro was a small cryptocurrency exchange with a postal address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and its own token, NEXBT. The website has not responded since at least July 2024 and there are no official closure announcements on record. ZB.com ZB.com, founded in China in 2013 as CHBTC, was one of the longest-running crypto exchanges. On 2 August 2022 it suspended deposits and withdrawals, while around 4.8 million dollars left its hot wallet; today the website is no longer reachable. ZBG ZBG was a cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2018 by the ZB.com group, with stated headquarters in Hong Kong. The website has been unreachable since 2024 and there is no record of any official closure announcement. ZBX ZBX is a Maltese cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 in St Julian's, among the very first to obtain a MiCA licence from the MFSA. Today it presents itself as a regulated crypto services platform for corporate and private clients, with euro fiat channels. ZebPay ZebPay is India's longest-standing cryptocurrency exchange (2014), registered with FIU-India and led by CEO Rahul Pagidipati. It is not authorised as a CASP in the European Union: it is a platform designed for the Indian market, with crypto-INR pairs and accumulation plans.