Bitcoin / Crypto OTC Trading Desks
5 min readAug 25, 2018
There are a number of firms that now provide over-the-counter (OTC) exchange or liquidity services in Bitcoin and other digital assets for their customers.
This is simply a list of links. Last update was on 18 June 2023. Feedback welcome. As always, do YOUR OWN due diligence.
[Update: Many market makers and OTC desks were negatively impacted by the Luna/3AC/FTX/??? scams of 2022. There are several in this list that may no longer be operating. Your additions and corrections are welcome!]
OTC Desks / Prime Brokers / Block Liquidity Providers
- Kraken ←Acquired Circle Trade (San Francisco, CA, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #5]
- Watchdog HODL, from Watchdog Capital (Alpharetta, GA, US) [Announcement, FINRA/SIPC]
- DRW / Cumberland (Chicago, IL, US)
- Galaxy Digital (New York, NY, US, and other locations)
- QCP Capital (Singapore, SG)
- Unchained Capital (Austin, TX, US, Offers multisig custody)
- Swan Private (Calabasas, CA, US)
- itBit by Paxos (New York, NY, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #6]
- DV Chain / DV Trading (Chicago, IL, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #8]
- Digital Mint (Chicago, IL, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #16]
- RockWallet (Wilmington, DE, US)
- RockitCoin (Chicago, IL, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #20]
- Gemini Clearing, Gemini Institutions ← Access to daily cross auction as well (New York, NY, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #21]
- Yellow Card OTC (Atlanta, GA) [Nomics OTC Rank #23]
- BlockFills (Chicago, IL, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #29]
- XBTO Trading (New York, NY, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #25]
- XBTO International (Bermuda) [Nomics OTC Rank #25]
- Coinchange (Canada) [Nomics OTC Rank #24]
- B2C2 (London, UK) [Nomics OTC Rank #3]
- HiveEx.com (Sydney, NSW, Australia) [Nomics OTC Rank #4]
- DAMEx (Gibralter) [Nomics OTC Rank #28]
- HitBTC (Hong Kong, HK) [Nomics OTC Rank #11]
- Kaiserex (Vilnius, Lithuania) [Nomics OTC Rank #7]
- Coinhako (Singapore, SG) [Nomics OTC Rank #18]
- Bitstamp (London, UK) [Nomics OTC Rank #19]
- Huobi OTC (Seychelles) [Nomics OTC Rank #20]
- Huobi OTC DMCC [Announcement]
- Bity (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) [Nomics OTC Rank #17]
- GSR Markets (Hong Kong, HK) [Nomics OTC Rank #25]
- Binance OTC (Malta, OTC Basics) [Nomics OTC Rank #9]
- Binance.US OTC (San Francisco, CA, US)
- Coinbase Prime (San Francisco, CA, US) [Nomics OTC Rank #2]
- BitGo Prime [Nomics Prime Rank #1]
- BEQUANT Pro (London, UK) [Nomics Prime Rank #3]
- Troy Trade [Nomics Prime Rank #5]
- FalconX (San Mateo, CA, US) [Nomics Prime Rank #6]
- BCB Group (London, UK) [Nomics Prime Rank #7]
- Quantreq [Nomics Prime Rank #8]
- Jump Trading (Chicago, IL, US)
- Akuna Capital (Chicago, IL, US)
- SFOX (El Segundo, CA, US)
- RoundBlock Capital (US)
- Shift Markets (New York, NY, US)
- CMT Digital (Chicago, IL, US)
- National Bitcoin ATM (US)
- Neutral ATM (Houston, TX, US, Announcement)
- Bitcoin Well Infinite (Edmonton, AB, Canada)
- ValeoX (Canada)
- SatStreet (Toronto, ON, Canada)
- Bitbuy (Toronto, ON, Canada)
- VirgoCX (Toronto, ON, Canada)
- Secure Digital Markets (Toronto, ON, Canada)
- PayTrie (Calgary, AB, Canada)
- xSats (London, UK)
- Trusted Volumes OTC (London, UK)
- CCOTC (London, UK)
- Coindirect (UK, and South Africa)
- Bit2ME OTC (Alicante, Spain)
- Relai Private (Zurich, Switzerland)
- Bitcoin Suisse (Zug, Switzerland)
- Mt Pelerin (Genève, Switzerland)
- Nexo (Zug, Switzerland, Announcement)
- BitMEX Link (Zug, Switzerland)
- BloomX (Singapore, SG)
- OSL (Hong Kong, HK)
- CoinCola (Hong Kong, HK)
- CoinUnited.io (Hong Kong, HK)
- Bering Waters (Hong Kong, HK)
- Luno Indonesia (Indonesia, Announcement)
- The Jing Trading
- CoinCheck (Japan)
- Chain Partners (Seoul, Republic of Korea)
- OVEX (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Muda Deal Room (Uganda) [Announcement]
- BitcoinVN (Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam) (up to $20K on ⚡)
- Caleb and Brown (Melbourne, VIC, Australia)
- Independent Reserve (Sydney, NSW, Australia)
- ZebPay (Docklands, VIC, Australia)
- Bitaroo (Australia)
- Rain (Manama, Bahrain)
- IBC Group (Dubai, UAE)
- 14 Bitcoin OTC brokers you need to know by SFOX
- Paradigm (New York, NY, US, list of liquidity providers)
- Additional brokers and block liquidity providers by CME Group
Physical Stores and Trading spaces — (In-person buy/sell)
- BitKonan’s Bitcoin Store Split and Zagreb, Croatia
- House of Nakamoto Vienna, Austria
- And many more throughout the world.
Publicly Traded — ETF/Futures/Options/Swaps/etc. (regulated)
- CME Bitcoin Futures
- Bakkt (ICE Futures USA)
- LedgerX
- Grayscale/Bitcoin Investment Trust: $GBTC
- XBT Provider
- Bitcoin Tracker One (Nasdaq Stockholm) ETN: $CXBTF (trades in USA on Fidelity)
- 3iQ: Global Cryptoasset Fund
- Amun Crypto (Swiss SIX) ETP $HODL5
- Hanetf BTCE (BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto) ← Choose Ireland, for example. then paste the URL again for details on BTCE.
Trading markets — Futures/Options/Swaps (Unregulated or smaller)
- BitMEX
- Deribit
- ByBit
- bitFlyer
- OKEx
- CoinFloor UK
- Crypto Facilities Ltd.
- eToro
- Binance Futures
- Huobi Global
- BTSE
- GMO Japan
- AMarkets
- NordFX
- FXOpen
- FXCM
- IC Markets
- And more …
Leveraged Buying / Selling on Traditional bitcoin Exchanges
- ExchangeWar ← See the “Features” column to the right for leverage levels.
Custodial / Escrow and Legal Services
- BitGo [Nomics Custody Rank #1]
- Anchorage Digital [Nomics Custody Rank #3]
- Kingdom Trust [Nomics Custody Rank #4]
- OSL [Nomics Custody Rank #5]
- Tangany [Nomics Custody Rank #6]
- Finoa [Nomics Custody Rank #7]
- Gemini Custody [Nomics Custody Rank #8]
- itBit by Paxos [Nomics Custody Rank #9]
- Hex Trust [Nomics Custody Rank #11]
- Aegis Custody [Nomics Custody Rank #13]
- BANKEX [Nomics Custody Rank #14]
- Onyze [Nomics Custody Rank #16]
- Copper [Nomics Custody Rank #17]
- Bitcoin Suise [Nomics Custody Rank #18]
- Kn0x [Nomics Custody Rank #19]
- Dentons
- Wilmington Trust
- Fidelity Digital Assets
- LMAX Digital
- Etana Custody
- Standard Kepler
- Legacy Trust
- Mdoreh
- GTES
Person-to-Person (P2P) OTC
There are well over a couple dozen P2P OTC exchanges, including Bisq, HodlHodl, LocalCoinSwap, RoboSats, AgoraDesk, Paxful, and more.
Related organizations / services / institutional software / tools
- FalconX (San Mateo, CA, US)
- TradeZero
- Ark Investment Management
- United Traders
- RoundBlock Capital
- Silverway (OTC data for crypto markets)
- Caspian
- Blockstream Liquid
- Fireblocks
- OTCBoss (Telegram group only, until alpha software released)
- GlassNode: Chart: Total OTC Desks Balance
- Bitcoinity Combined USD order book/liquidity
Related articles
- https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/btc-otc-trading
- https://hackernoon.com/otc-crypto-deals-part-1-traps-scams-and-potential-risks-3dbd295e415a
- https://hackernoon.com/otc-crypto-deals-part-2-minimize-your-risks-ad4d6a717620
- https://staging.iterative.capital/how-to-trade-cryptocurrency-over-the-counter/
- https://medium.com/circle-research/how-does-crypto-otc-actually-work-e2215c4bb13
- https://www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com/bitcoin-brokers
- https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/kb/buy-large-amounts-of-bitcoin
- https://99bitcoins.com/how-to-buy-large-amounts-of-bitcoin
- https://themerkle.com/top-4-bitcoin-otc-trading-platforms
- https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/new-data-from-otc-trading-desks-reveals-millions-of-dollars-in-bitcoin-traded-off-public-markets-1446481247
- https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/02/over-the-counter-cryptocurrency-market-moves-over-100-million-daily-via-messaging-apps
- https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1104979240309665793.html
- https://www.bitdeal.net/public/index.php/bitcoin-otc-trading
- https://vinnylingham.com/the-1-dont-use-bitcoin-exchanges-ff019774d886
- https://news.bitcoin.com/otc-trading-whales-bitcoin
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/leslieankney/2019/03/18/your-money-where-the-funds-go-on-crypto-exchanges-and-otc-desks
- https://caspian.tech/the-changing-role-of-otc-desks-in-crypto-trading
- https://blog.sfox.com/13-bitcoin-otc-brokers-you-need-to-know-67755a1d4ccc
- https://medium.com/@whalecalls/why-do-crypt-otc-desks-fail-faster-than-regular-markets-6f8b08333be2
- https://qjawe.medium.com/how-does-crypto-otc-actually-work-f5b230f49fe4
- https://medium.com/moveblock/otc-desk-a-better-way-to-buy-large-amounts-of-crypto-83bb9cf00231
Learn. It’s a journey, not a sprint.
This post includes entries from industry sources as well as from lists on the topic from the CME Group and from SFOX.
Reminder, once again. Do YOUR OWN due diligence.
Additions, corrections, and other feedback welcome and can be submitted via e-mail.
