The market for crypto-trading platforms is changing at an incredible speed. Regulators' pressure, changes in the regulatory environment, cyber-attacks, Bitcoin rate fluctuation, unscrupulous attempts to wind up trading volume to attract ICO, and now IEO-projects, all these contribute to changes in the balance of power in the crypto market.

In this review, we will look into the Bitlish cryptocurrency exchange working model. Name Bitlish is well known to professional traders but doesn’t say much to common users. Notably, Bitlish is included in 30 trading platforms which trading information is accounted into the quote service of the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) operator in New York, and this mere fact means a lot. Bitlish also has a LEI issued by the London stock exchange. The code allows regulators to track all Bitlish financial transactions globally. Many of the largest crypto-trading platforms in the world cannot maintain such transparency.

About Bitlish

Bitlish is a crypto-trading platform which was founded in 2015. It allows both individuals and legal entities to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoin and fiat money. Bitlish supports operations in 13 cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, USDT, HBZ, IOTA, DASH, LTC, XMR, XRP, XDG, ZEC, BCH, BTG. It accepts payments in fiat currencies such as Euro, British Pound, Russian Ruble, Japanese Yen and US Dollar as well. In total, 65 pairs are available for trading at the exchange. At the same time, Bitlish is currently the only of exchanges where all fiat currencies are traded in pairs with USDT token, and quotes of any cryptocurrencies in pairs to Euro, British Pound and USDT are available. All this makes the exchange of any fiat or crypto currency for any one available at the exchange easy and convenient.

The registration process is fast and clear. You should specify your mobile phone number or email, and to verify the identity of the owner - photos of two documents, ID and the proof of address. Without identity confirmation, key services including top-up balance or withdrawal of assets in fiat currencies are not available. This restriction does not apply to transfers in cryptocurrencies. Account security can be enhanced using two-factor authentication, and you can protect both account login and certain actions (for example, confirmation of asset withdrawal). Additionally, clients can access the function of adding an IP address to the white list. In this case the client can only perform transactions in the account only by logging via the specified IPs.

Technically, Bitlish offers a convenient, multifunctional and simple WebSocket API based on the Asyncio module. Security is provided by using SSL encryption of the connection, as well as a distributed system architecture for the maximum fault tolerance. According to the CryptoCompare research, the average response time through an API for a transaction is slightly under 200 milliseconds (less than 0.2 seconds). With this indicator, Bitlish stands at the same level as Poloniex, bitFlyer and CoinCheck. User funds are stored in offline wallets, and fiat funds on segregated accounts in banks. To ensure the security of their customers' transactions, 24-hour anti-fraud monitoring operates at the exchange. The customer support service works 24/7 and communicates in 14 languages.

Traders have access to market, limit and time limit orders via API. Margin trading is not supported.

Liquidity

Bitlish focuses on liquidity trading, and it’s about real liquidity, rather than phantom volumes existing on paper only. According to the latest CryptoCompare research, Bitlish does not use trading volume inflation schemes including trading contests, airdrops and mining at transactions. In comparison, such signals were found in trading data of more famous trading platforms (Bittrex, Binance, OKEx).  It means that withdrawal of assets from Bitlish account is unlikely to be problematic: the company has assets displayed on users’ balance sheet in fact.

Bitlish allows to deposit and withdraw up to 500,000 Euro monthly for individuals and up to 1,000,000 Euro monthly for legal entities.  It also offers more liquidity on request and for over-the-counter deals. The volume of liquidity in the Bitlish order books (trade blotter) is quite high. It amounts to 800 BTC at a time. At the same time, the maximum volume of a single request that a client can submit is practically unlimited and can reach 10,000 BTC.

Balance top-up

Bitlish is included in the register of legal entities in the UK. It holds accounts in German Wirecard Bank AG and Bank Frick, Liechtenstein, and therefore it allows its clients to replenish balances through bank transfers SEPA, SWIFT, as well as through more than 30 international payment systems. Customers’ funds are stored on a segregated account.

A convenient bonus for Bitlish users is the possibility to replenish the balance through VISA and Mastercard, issued by banks of about 100 countries. Transfers are made directly, rather than via third-party providers. It’s possible because Bitlish provides legal opinions on each originating jurisdiction to these international payment systems. In addition, like any other organization which receives and processes bank card data, Bitlish has to apply the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) data security standard developed by Visa and MasterCard systems. Bitlish has the highest level of PCI DSS certification, Level 1, which allows to process more than 6 million transactions a year. To obtain the certification, a company has to undergo an independent audit  of its informational infrastructure.

Privacy policy 

The UK requires that legal entities strictly adhere to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), entered into force in the European Union in May 2018 and implemented into British law in an updated version of the Data Protection Act.

In order to comply with the Data Protection Act, Bitlish registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Fees

The system of Bitlish trading fees is designed to stimulate trading operations: zero fees for those who place bids (the maker) and thus add liquidity to the Bitlish order book, and taker fees from 0.2% (for verified individuals) to 0.3% (for anonymous) for those who take liquidity from the order book of the exchange. For the verified legal entities, the maker fees are also not charged, but the taker fees are slightly higher than for individuals, 0.5%.

Top-up fees range from one Euro for a SEPA bank transfer to about 4% for a VISA or Mastercard transaction. Withdrawals of funds from the balance are subject to a lower commission which is slightly over 2% for withdrawing to VISA or Mastercard and the same one Euro for a SEPA bank transfer. In any case, the user should carefully examine the fees for deposit and withdrawal of funds and choose the best option.