In brief
- If you open a Bitfinex account outside the US, your contract is with BFXWW Inc., a British Virgin Islands company, under BVI law and binding individual arbitration, while iFinex Inc. operates the site.
- El Salvador’s digital asset regulator (CNAD) lists four Bitfinex-named companies, including BFXWW El Salvador and BFXNA El Salvador since 23 April 2026, but the exchange terms of 12 August 2026 do not name those two companies, so their role for spot customers is not yet verified.
- The terms say customer coins and fiat are not segregated assets held in your name, ESMA’s MiCA register has no Bitfinex, iFinex or BFX row, an FCA Register search for “bitfinex” found nothing, and Bitfinex publishes no proof of reserves.
Reader question: which Bitfinex company do you actually contract with, which regulator has it on record, who is shut out, who holds your coins, and what does it cost to move money and USDt in and out?
Bitfinex is a crypto exchange for spot, margin and derivatives trading, with a peer-to-peer margin funding market and a separate tokenised-securities venue. iFinex Inc. and affiliates own and operate it. A 2021 New York Attorney General record describes Bitfinex and Tether as owned and controlled by the same small group of individuals. Sources below were all read on 1 October 2026. We opened no account and tested no deposit or withdrawal.
What is verified today
Register-verified (1 October 2026): CNAD’s public register of digital asset service providers (PSAD) lists Bitfinex Securities El Salvador (PSAD-0001, 10 November 2023), Bitfinex Derivatives El Salvador (PSAD-0040, 6 January 2025), and BFXNA El Salvador and BFXWW El Salvador (PSAD-0082 and PSAD-0083, both 23 April 2026). An FCA Register firm search for “bitfinex” returned no result (we did not search the BVI company names separately), and ESMA’s interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers has no row matching Bitfinex, iFinex or BFX.
Live, company-reported: the exchange runs under Terms of Service last updated 12 August 2026, and derivatives under separate Derivative Terms last updated 6 April 2026. Since 7 January 2025 derivatives have been provided by Bitfinex Derivatives El Salvador, S.A. de C.V., which took over from a Seychelles company, iFinex Financial Technologies Limited.
Observed activity (public API, 12:31 UTC on 1 October 2026): Bitfinex’s tickers endpoint reported a last BTC/USD trade at $83,958 with volume of about 1,195 BTC, and about 469 BTC on the BTC/USDt pair. Bitfinex’s API documentation describes this field as daily volume over a set period; the figure is venue-reported and not independently checked.
Announced, entity not named: on 12 May 2026 Bitfinex announced a digital asset service provider licence in El Salvador that “adds the core Bitfinex platform” to its licensed operations there. The release does not say which company holds it, and it does not announce any change of contracting party.
Entity and authority
| Entity | Role stated by Bitfinex | Regulator record | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| iFinex Inc. (BVI, company no. 1 774 852) | Owns and operates the site; named copyright holder | BVI FSC: could not be verified (register blocked our client on 1 Oct 2026) | Company-reported; NYAG also called iFinex the operator of Bitfinex in 2021 |
| BFXWW Inc. (BVI, no. 1 871 900) | Exchange counterparty for non-US persons | BVI FSC: could not be verified; no ESMA row; no FCA result | Company-reported (terms 12 Aug 2026) |
| BFXNA Inc. (BVI, no. 1 900848) | Counterparty assigned to US persons, who are prohibited except Eligible Contract Participants at Bitfinex’s discretion | BVI FSC: could not be verified | Company-reported |
| Bitfinex Derivatives El Salvador, S.A. de C.V. | Derivatives provider since 7 Jan 2025 | CNAD PSAD-0040, 6 Jan 2025 | Register-verified; role company-reported |
| BFXWW El Salvador and BFXNA El Salvador, S.A. de C.V. | Not named in the exchange terms | CNAD PSAD-0083 and PSAD-0082, 23 Apr 2026 | Register-verified; customer-facing role not yet verified |
| Bitfinex Securities El Salvador and Bitfinex Securities Ltd (Astana) | Tokenised-securities platform | CNAD PSAD-0001, 10 Nov 2023; Kazakhstan licence company-reported, not register-checked | Partly register-verified |
The CNAD activity lists on all four Bitfinex cards are identical and include custody and operating a trading platform, so they do not show which entity does what. CNAD supervises El Salvador’s digital asset regime (background: how El Salvador’s stablecoin and Bitcoin rules are playing out), but a CNAD registration for an El Salvador company is not evidence that the BVI counterparty in your contract is supervised. The terms are governed by BVI law, and disputes go to confidential individual arbitration rather than class actions.
Product scope, availability and eligibility
Bitfinex offers margin financing up to 10:1 and Non-trading Borrowing capped at $250,000 per recipient; derivatives can be traded with leverage without owning the token. It lists four Tether tokens (USDt, CNHt, XAUt, MXNt) across more than 11 blockchains.
Who is excluded
- Exchange: US persons (exception for Eligible Contract Participants at Bitfinex’s discretion), Canadian persons, Japanese and UK residents not assessed as exempt, and the Government of Venezuela.
- Prohibited jurisdictions: Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Crimea and the self-proclaimed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia “People’s Republics”.
- Derivatives also exclude persons from South Africa, Spain and the British Virgin Islands.
- New York: the 2021 NYAG settlement required iFinex and Tether to stop trading with New Yorkers.
- EEA: not listed as prohibited, yet no Bitfinex entity is on ESMA’s register; how EEA residents are served is not publicly disclosed.
Who holds your money, and what moving it costs
Custody. The terms say customer fiat and tokens are not segregated assets held in your name, balances exist only in Bitfinex’s books and records, there is no government protection or insurance, and any insurance Bitfinex carries is for its own benefit. Bitfinex may freeze accounts or funds in the circumstances the terms list, such as sanctions exposure or an investigation. It says about 99.5% of user funds sit in an offline multisignature cold wallet needing three of five hardware security modules to move, and around 0.5% in the hot wallet. No proof-of-reserves page or attestation was found, so these shares cannot be checked against liabilities. Crypto withdrawals need 2FA and email confirmation, and fiat, stablecoin and larger withdrawals need a higher verification level.
| Route | In | Out |
|---|---|---|
| Crypto and stablecoins | Free | A fixed network fee per coin, updated with network activity and shown in-app; the public API fee map lists BTC 0.00006, ETH 0.001, USDC 2.1484 (network not stated) and USDt on Solana 0.5, which is our reading of an undocumented format (not yet verified) |
| USDt on Ethereum or Tron | Free | Not in the public fee map; shown only in the app (not publicly disclosed) |
| Bank wire (manual) | 0.1%, minimum fee 60 USD/EUR; minimum transfer 10,000 USD/EUR/GBP | 0.1%, minimum fee 100 USD/EUR; express within 24 business hours 1%, minimum 125 |
| OpenPayd EUR (SEPA) and GBP (Faster Payments) | 5 EUR/GBP per transfer up to 10,000, then 0.1%; no minimum amount | 5 EUR/GBP per transfer up to 10,000; above that not publicly disclosed |
| OpenPayd USD (SWIFT, Full verification) | 0.1%, minimum $30; minimum deposit $10,000 | USD withdrawal fee via OpenPayd not listed separately (not publicly disclosed) |
| Card purchase (USD, EUR, GBP) | Cost not on the fee schedule (not publicly disclosed) | Not applicable |
| Transfer to another Bitfinex user | Free | |
Spot, margin and derivatives trades carry 0% maker and taker fees. On the lending side, margin funding providers pay 15% of the interest their contracts generate, 18% on hidden offers.
Dependencies
OpenPayd provides wire services for accounts verified Intermediate or above. Which banks hold customer fiat is not publicly disclosed in the terms or the OpenPayd article.
Bitfinex and Tether: what the records say
Dated third-party records, not a current disclosure. In February 2021 the New York Attorney General described Bitfinex and Tether as owned and controlled by the same small group of individuals, alleged they hid about $850 million in losses, and settled for $18.5 million plus reporting on asset transfers between them. In October 2021 the CFTC settled with iFinex, BFXNA and BFXWW for a $1.5 million civil penalty; in the same release Tether paid $41 million over claims that USDT was fully backed by US dollars. Whether the ownership overlap continues in 2026 is not publicly disclosed by either company in the documents we read. Tether’s El Salvador entity is on the same CNAD register (PSAD-0028); see our Tether company profile for its reserves and issuer structure.
Alternatives
| Point | Bitfinex | Coinbase | Robinhood |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who holds coins | Bitfinex; balances only in its books, not segregated in your name | Coinbase, as custodial assets for your benefit; title stays with you (US) | Robinhood Crypto, LLC in omnibus wallets for customers; you keep title (US) |
| ESMA MiCA register | No row | Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. (CSSF) | Robinhood Europe UAB (Bank of Lithuania) |
| US customers | Prohibited, except Eligible Contract Participants | Served; NY BitLicense 122466 company-reported | Served via Robinhood Crypto, LLC |
| Stablecoin withdrawal | USDt on Solana 0.5 USDt per API fee map (not yet verified); Ethereum and Tron not public | USDT: 0.01%, max 20 USDT, plus network fee | Network fee applies |
Bitfinex cells describe its non-US offer; the Coinbase and Robinhood custody and withdrawal cells come from their US customer documents, so they show what each firm discloses, not who is cheaper. We left out trading fees because the three publish different products (Bitfinex maker/taker, Coinbase’s retail purchase fee, Robinhood’s routing tiers). All read on 1 October 2026; for another exchange’s entity map, see our Kraken company profile. The difference that matters: Coinbase’s and Robinhood’s US agreements say you keep title to your coins, while Bitfinex’s terms make your balance a book entry with a BVI company that is on no EU or UK register. In return Bitfinex lists 0% maker and taker fees and four Tether tokens, for non-US users who accept BVI law and arbitration.
Limitations and unknowns
- Which entity is your counterparty after the April 2026 CNAD registrations and the May 2026 announcement (not yet verified: the registrations and the BVI-named terms can coexist, and no source says which company serves spot customers; checked terms, privacy statement, CNAD register, blog, help centre).
- BVI FSC status of iFinex, BFXWW and BFXNA (not yet verified; bvifsc.vg returned a captcha to curl and a Cloudflare block to a fresh headless browser on 1 October 2026; not bypassed).
- Proof of reserves, fiat banks, USDt Ethereum and Tron withdrawal fees, card on-ramp cost, JPY route (not publicly disclosed; checked fee pages, help centre, API maps).
- Bitfinex Securities’ Kazakhstan licence (not yet verified; AFSA register not checked).
- BFXNA’s eligibility criteria in the terms did not render in our capture (not yet verified).
- No DOJ or SEC search was made; the enforcement records above are historical.
Key facts (as of 1 October 2026)
- CEO: JL van der Velde (about page).
- Privacy statement last updated 22 September 2025.
- CNAD registrations: four Bitfinex-named companies, PSAD-0001, -0040, -0082, -0083.
- Cold storage share: about 99.5% of user funds (company-reported, unaudited).
Sources
- CNAD, public register of digital asset service providers, read 1 October 2026.
- Bitfinex legal and fee pages: Exchange Terms of Service, Derivative Terms, privacy statement, fee schedule, security features.
- Bitfinex, El Salvador licence announcement, 12 May 2026.
- New York Attorney General, press release of 23 February 2021.
- CFTC press release 8450-21 (15 October 2021).
Last updated: 1 October 2026. Next recheck triggered by: a revised Exchange Terms of Service (especially a counterparty change to the El Salvador companies), a fee schedule change, any CNAD, ESMA, FCA or BVI FSC record change, a proof-of-reserves publication, or a new CFTC, NYAG or DOJ action.
