What C-Trade is
C-Trade was a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange launched around 2019, registered in the British Virgin Islands, which offered perpetual contracts on Bitcoin and a few other coins with leverage up to 150x. It never reached the critical mass of the large competitors (Bybit, BitMEX, Deribit) and remained a niche operator. Today it is not operational in its original form: as of October 2026 the domain c-trade.com still serves only a static page (hosted on Amazon S3, with no active trading platform) with the text banner "C-Trade is developing a brand new platform. Stay tuned for the next announcement!". There is no date nor any verifiable relaunch announcement. The leadership team historically listed — Edmund Lee (CEO), Mike Ting (CSO) and Anson Lee (COO) — can no longer be verified for a company that is effectively inactive. (Verified: October 2026)
Regulation and licences
- MiCA: NO. C-Trade does not appear among the CASPs authorised in the ESMA register and never held EU authorisations; the company was registered in the British Virgin Islands, an offshore jurisdiction without equivalent supervision. (Verified: September 2026)
- Since 01/07/2026 a service of this kind could not in any case legally serve EU clients without a MiCA licence — a moot point, given that the platform appears to be offline.
- There is no official closure statement: neither the date nor the circumstances of the suspension of operations have been communicated, and the only public sign is the "new platform under development" banner.
Security
The historic site claimed multi-signature cold wallets and manual authorisation of withdrawals; there are no publicly documented hacks, but for a small, offshore and now inactive operator the absence of news is no guarantee. The concrete risk for users is a different one: a platform that is not operational and not regulated offers no channel of protection. (Verified: September 2026)
Alternatives
For those who were looking for C-Trade's derivatives:
- Bybit — perpetuals and derivatives, Austrian MiCA licence for spot in the EU
- Kraken — full MiCA licence via the Central Bank of Ireland, also offers derivatives
FAQ
- Is C-Trade still active? No, not in its original form: as of October 2026 the site is still a static page with no trading platform, with a notice referring to a "new platform under development" without dates.
- Was C-Trade regulated? No: a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, never authorised in the EU nor elsewhere with significant licences.
