Bitstamp Review 2025: Features, Security, and Alternatives

Marina Avramovikj

Verified by Tsvetomir Koychev

Last updated

December 3, 2025 01:39 EST

20min read

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Bitstamp is one of the oldest crypto exchanges that was recently acquired by Robinhood, which put it right back in the headlines. This is why we decided to create an extensive Bitstamp review to find out if this platform is still as competitive as it once was.

With that in mind, in this review, we’ll discuss its trading and security features, fees, payment methods, and availability. We’ll also compare Bitstamp with other crypto exchanges to highlight its main advantages and disadvantages. Plus, you’ll learn how to open an account on this platform.

Our methodology included testing its features, checking its regulatory licenses, and reading user reviews, which helped us create a more accurate review. Here are our findings.

What is Bitstamp?

Bitstamp is one of the oldest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, founded in 2011 by Nejc Kodrič and Damjan Merlak. The idea behind it was to become a European alternative to exchanges like Mt. Gox. Bitstamp is based in Luxembourg. However, it has legal entities in the UK, the US, Slovenia, Singapore, and the British Virgin Islands.

As of 2025, Bitstamp has over 5 million users and is currently ranked 18th on CoinMarketCap’s list of the largest crypto exchanges. In June 2025, a well-known brokerage firm, Robinhood, acquired Bitstamp for $200 million, which increased its transparency and competitiveness on the crypto market.

Bitstamp is available in more than 100 countries, including the US (except Hawaii and Nevada), the UK, and EU countries, like Spain, Germany, and Italy.

Bitstamp Exchange Overview:

Before you take a closer look at our review of Bitstamp, here’s a sneak peek at what this exchange offers:

Bitstamp Supported Coins and Trading Pairs

Bitstamp supports 100+ cryptocurrencies. On that note, you can trade popular cryptocurrencies, like BTC, ETH, XRP, and DOGE, DeFi coins, like LINK, UNI, and AAVE, and gaming tokens, like SAND, GALA, and MANA.

You’ll also get to trade 12 stablecoins, such as USDT, USDC, DAI, and PYUSD, as well as hot Solana-based meme coins, like PENGU, BONK, and WIF. However, we noticed that Bitstamp doesn’t support BNB, MATIC, and TRX, which is somewhat disappointing.

On a positive note, the platform supports over 230 crypto pairs, including USD pairs, stablecoins, and euro-denominated pairs, such as BTC/USD, USDT/EUR, and BTC/EURCV. However, US residents won’t be able to trade BTC/EURCV, ETH/EURCV, BTC/EURC, and ETH/EURC pairs.

Bitstamp Trading and Investing

As mentioned at the beginning of our Bitstamp crypto exchange review, this CEX supports spot and futures trading, staking, and lending, which we’ll discuss in more detail in the following segment.

Spot Trading

Bitstamp supports crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat spot trading pairs, such as LTC/BTC, XRP/BTC, BTC/USD, and BTC/EUR. The maker and taker fees depend on your 30-day trading volume. On that note, the base fee starts from 0.30% for makers and 0.40% for takers. You’ll also get to set up market, limit, and stop limit orders.

However, the platform recently removed stop market buy orders and all trailing stop orders. Moreover, Bitstamp doesn’t support spot margin trading, which means that if you want to trade crypto using borrowed funds, you should opt for another margin trading platform.

Futures Trading

Bitstamp supports trading perpetual futures contracts. You can trade BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP. All contract types are linear, and they come with a maximum leverage of 5x. Moreover, you can use three currencies as collateral – USD, EUR, and BTC. The fees for all derivatives contracts stand at -0.005% for makers and 0.015% for takers, while the liquidation fee amounts to 0.05%.

However, if you want to use more leverage, we suggest you opt for the best crypto leverage trading platforms to find the exchange that will suit your trading needs most.

Bitstamp Earn

Bitstamp will enable you to earn passive income by staking Ethereum (3.10% APY) and Cardano (1.00% APY). Both options come with a flexible staking period, while rewards are distributed on a monthly (for ETH) and weekly basis (for ADA). Keep in mind that the platform will charge a 15% and a 25% commission on all staking rewards. What’s more, Bitstamp’s Earn service is not available to customers from the US, Singapore, or Japan.

Bitstamp Lending

You can earn up to 4.40% APY by lending over 10+ coins, such as BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, PEPE, and DOGE, to reputable borrowing institutions vetted by Tesseract. Borrowers are categorized into five tiers, based on their credit rating. For example, large institutions with strong financial performance are placed in Tier 1, while borrowers with weak credit ratings are placed in Tier 5.

While Bitstamp doesn’t impose minimum lending requirements, the platform will take between 15.50% and 27.27% of your rewards, depending on the coin. We also noticed that the lending service is not available to customers in the UK, the US, Singapore, or Japan.

Bitstamp Pro Review

Bitstamp Pro is a platform that’s specialized for professional traders. Its dashboard includes an advanced order book, 105 indicators, TradingView integration, real-time charts, and a wide range of analytical tools. For example, you’ll get to track, manage, and rebalance your assets, leverage real-time market data, and identify new crypto opportunities.

You’ll also get to use multiple order types, from market and limit to stop, trailing stop, and conditional orders, and gain access to REST, WebSocket, and FIX APIs.

Bitstamp for Institutions

As already mentioned in our Bitstamp exchange review, this platform holds over 50 licenses and registrations globally, which makes it a good option for institutional investors.

It also supports OTC RFQ (Request for Quote) trading, which provides instant quotes and allows trades between $100,000 and $2 million per transaction. OTC RFQ supports 15+ assets, from BTC, ETH, and XRP to USDC, USDT, USD, and EUR. On the downside, this service is not available to US and UK customers.

Institutional traders can take advantage of the Bitstamp as a Service white-label solution that enables them to launch their own cryptocurrency trading platform. Likewise, they’ll get to integrate Bitstamp’s infrastructure with their platforms and apps and gain access to its NASDAQ matching engine, which matches orders 1250 times faster.

Bitstamp Payment Methods

Bitstamp supports multiple payment methods, including bank transfers, credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, or Maestro), ACH, SEPA, Apple Pay/Google Pay, and PayPal (available to all US and EU residents, except for Croatia, Hungary, and Iceland). Additionally, you can use both crypto and fiat currencies to make a deposit (USD, EUR, or GBP).

PayPal transactions come with a limit of 2,500 USD/EUR/GBP per day and 20,000 USD/EUR/GBP per month. PayPal transactions are also limited to 5 per day, i.e., 25 per month. The limits for purchasing crypto with a credit/debit card stand at 2,500 USD/EUR/GBP per day and 20,000 USD/EUR/GBP per month, while the minimum purchase amount is 25 USD/EUR/GBP.

You can cash out crypto using SEPA (1–2 business days), international wire payments (3–5 business days), domestic USD payments (1–2 business days), ACH (1–2 business days), and FPS. ACH withdrawals come with a 50,000 USD limit per transaction, while the upper limit for FPS payments stands at 250,000 GBP.

At the time of writing, Bitstamp doesn’t support PayPal withdrawals.

Bitstamp Fees

In this segment of our Bitstamp review, we’ll discuss its trading fees. Bitstamp charges competitive trading fees, which puts it side by side with some of the lowest fee crypto exchanges. On that note, this platform uses a maker-taker fee model that will be based on your 30-day trading volume. The standard maker and taker fees for spot trading start at 0.30% and 0.40%, respectively, while derivatives contracts come with a -0.005% maker and a 0.015% taker fee.

For example, if your 30-day trading volume is over $500,000, your maker and taker fees will be 0.08% and 0.18%, respectively. On the other hand, traders whose 30-day trading volume exceeds $1,000,000,000 will pay a 0.00% (maker) and a 0.03% (taker) fee. In other words, the more you trade, the lower your fees will be, which makes Bitstamp suitable for frequent traders.

The staking commission stands at 15% for ETH and 25% for ADA, while the lending fees range between 15.50% and 27.27%, depending on the coin. For example, the lending fee for SOL and AVAX is 15.50%, while for BTC and ETH, this figure stands at 27.27% and 23.08%, respectively.

All crypto deposits are free, with the exception of international wire deposits that come with a 0.1% fee. You’ll also pay a 4% fee if you use the instant purchase feature. On the other hand, the withdrawal fee will depend on the payment method. For example, the withdrawal fees stand at 3.00 EUR for SEPA, 2.00 GBP for FPS payments, and 0.1% for wire transactions, while ACH withdrawals are free.

Where is Bitstamp Available?

Bitstamp is available in over 100 countries, including the US, the UK, and most EU countries (Spain, Germany, Denmark, Italy, France, etc.). However, due to regulatory restrictions, this exchange is not available in countries like Canada, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Cuba, as well as US states like Hawaii and Nevada.

Moreover, Bitstamp’s Earn service is not available in the US, Singapore, and Japan, and the same applies to its lending service, which is unavailable in the UK, the US, Singapore, and Japan.

Does Bitstamp Require Kyc?

Opening an account on Bitstamp requires a KYC verification. This means that you’ll have to upload documents that prove your identity, such as a photo of your ID, passport, or driver’s license, and proof of residency (e.g., utility bill, bank account statement, or a government-issued document). The verification process takes between one and two days.

Best Bitstamp Alternatives

As you could see from the above, Bitstamp comes with a few limitations that make it unsuitable for certain types of traders. This is why we decided to compare Bitstamp with well-known exchanges, like CoinFutures, OKX, Coinbase, and Binance, to provide a solid alternative. Here’s what makes these platforms good alternatives to Bitstamp.

Bitstamp Vs Coinbase

As already mentioned in our Bitstamp review, this CEX is most suitable for advanced and institutional traders. In contrast, all types of traders will benefit from using Coinbase, from beginners to advanced and institutional users. On that note, Coinbase offers three distinctive services – Coinbase One, Coinbase Advanced, and Coinbase Prime.

Coinbase One will enable you to trade crypto for zero fees and earn rewards by holding USDC. Coinbase Advanced will allow you to trade 550+ spot pairs and 150+ perpetuals and futures contracts, and earn 12% USDC rewards on your perpetuals portfolio. Coinbase Prime is tailored for institutional investors and large-scale traders, and it offers integrated trading, financing, and custody solutions.

Bitstamp Vs Binance

Binance is a better option for day traders than Bitstamp because this CEX supports more cryptocurrencies (500+). Plus, it charges lower maker/taker fees that start at 0.10%, while Bitstamp’s maker and taker fees start at 0.30% and 0.40%, respectively. Moreover, BNB token holders will get a 25% trading fee discount.

Binance will also enable you to diversify your portfolio by investing in new crypto projects via its Binance Alpha platform, which is integrated into the Binance wallet. At the time of writing, Binance Alpha supports tokens on BNB Chain, Solana, Ethereum, Sui, Base, and Sonic Chain.

Bitstamp Vs OKX

OKX is a centralized exchange that supports spot, futures, options, and copy trading, as well as staking and lending. Unlike Bitstamp, which offers only two tokens for staking and 10+ coins for lending, OKX will allow you to stake over 100 coins, like BTC, ETH, SOL, USDT, and USDC, and use more than 100 cryptocurrencies as collateral to borrow digital assets.

Moreover, OKX’s staking service offers higher APYs. For example, staking ADA and ETH on OKX comes with an APY that varies from 1% to 1.64% for Cardano and from 1.63% to 5% for Ethereum. In comparison, staking ADA and ETH on Bitstamp comes with a 1.00% and a 3.10% APY, respectively.

Bitstamp Vs Coinfutures

Bitstamp supports perpetual futures contracts with up to 5x leverage, which is good for beginners since lower leverage equals lower risk. However, if you want to use higher leverage, you won’t go wrong with CoinFutures. This exchange will enable you to trade simulated crypto futures that mimic real crypto volatility with up to 1000x leverage. Plus, you won’t have to go through KYC verification, and you’ll get to cash out your positions at any time.

Moreover, the minimum trade requirement on CoinFutures stands at just $1, while on Bitstamp, the minimum order size is $10.

Bitstamp Customer Support and User Reviews

You can reach Bitstamp’s customer support via email, social media channels, and phone, which is available 24/7. You can also find basic information on its FAQs page and Learn Center, where you’ll find various tutorials. Regarding response time, you’ll have to wait between 24 and 72 hours to get an email response, while phone support agents respond in less than 10 minutes. We had no issue with its support team, which was very helpful and professional.

However, after going through other users’ reviews, we noticed that most of them complain about blocked withdrawals and problems with KYC verification. For example, after checking Bitstamp’s official subreddit channel, we found out that its ACH withdrawals were recently temporarily paused.

Bitstamp also has an unflattering rating on Trustpilot, 1.7 out of 5, based on 986 reviews. While 23% of users are satisfied with its support team, 67% of them report having issues with locked accounts, KYC verification, and withdrawals.

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Marina Avramovikj

Crypto Content Writer

Marina is a content writer with over 5 years of experience in the cryptocurrency space. Her specialty is writing reviews and guides for centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges and crypto wallets, with a focus on security, usability, and user experience. She regularly tests crypto platforms and wallets to provide readers with clear, unbiased, and useful information through practical guides and comparative analyses.

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