What Bitfinex is
Founded in 2012 and operated by iFinex Inc. (registered in the British Virgin Islands), Bitfinex is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges still in operation. It is a trader-oriented platform: historically among the most liquid order books, margin trading, a peer-to-peer funding market (those who lend liquidity earn interest from those trading on leverage), OTC and a highly customisable interface. It shares ownership and management with Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin: a link that has marked its history, between synergies and controversies. Its best-known episode — the 2016 hack — ended with users being fully reimbursed and, years later, with the stolen funds recovered by US authorities.
Regulation and licences
- MiCA: NO (Verified: September 2026). At the end of the transitional regime (1 July 2026) Bitfinex does not appear in the ESMA register of authorised CASPs and no public authorisation application is on record: unlike Binance, there has been neither an exit announcement nor a known refusal — only silence on its EU plans.
- For users in the EU: without CASP authorisation, from 1 July 2026 Bitfinex cannot legally offer services to EU clients. Those with funds on the platform can withdraw them.
- Tether context: USDT does not comply with MiCA's stablecoin requirements and the main European exchanges delisted it for EU clients during 2025.
- US precedents: in 2021 iFinex/Tether settled the cases brought by the New York Attorney General ($18.5m) and by the CFTC over the reserves affair.
Security
- August 2016 hack: 119,756 BTC stolen. Bitfinex socialised the losses (a 36% haircut across all accounts) by issuing BFX debt tokens, fully redeemed by April 2017. In 2022 the US DoJ seized roughly 94,000 BTC of the stolen funds, arresting Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, who were sentenced in November 2024 (5 years and 18 months respectively). The process of returning the recovered assets is under way, with no public update on the stage it has reached.
- The handling of the 2016 hack — losses declared, debt issued and repaid within eight months — is considered a significant precedent for how an exchange can survive a serious breach.
Alternatives
For EU users, profiles of MiCA-authorised exchanges:
- Kraken — full MiCA licence via the Central Bank of Ireland, trader-oriented profile with Kraken Pro.
- Bybit — Austrian MiCA licence (FMA, May 2025), strong on derivatives.
- Bitstamp — long-standing European exchange (2011).
FAQ
Is Bitfinex legal in the EU? As verified in September 2026, Bitfinex does not appear in the ESMA register of MiCA-authorised CASPs: from 1 July 2026 it therefore cannot legally offer services to EU clients. It has not publicly communicated its European plans.
What is the relationship between Bitfinex and Tether? They share ownership and management under the iFinex group: Paolo Ardoino is CTO of Bitfinex and CEO of Tether, and Giancarlo Devasini has historically been the financial face of both. They are, however, distinct entities and products.
Were victims of the 2016 hack reimbursed? Yes, in full by April 2017 through the BFX debt tokens. Most of the stolen bitcoin was later recovered by US authorities in 2022 and those responsible were sentenced in 2024.
Verified sources
- https://casptracker.eu/
- https://www.bleap.finance/en-us/blog/bitfinex-alternatives-mica-licensed-crypto-accounts
- https://www.theblock.co/post/332986/tethers-general-counsel-retires-in-wake-of-mica-stable
- https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/tether-names-devasini-as-chairman-hires-n
TEAM MEMBERS
LEADERSHIP
HQ OF BITFINEX
Taiwan
BITFINEX CONTACTS
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