bitFlyer Review – Exchange Gone Rogue? Must Read!!

BitFlyer, which is hosted at BitFlyer.com, is known as a reputable cryptocurrency exchange that is available in Japan, Europe and the United States. bitFlyer is the number 1 Bitcoin exchange operating from Japan. Recently this platform gained licenses to operate in Europe and US. As a leading player, they have some of the highest recorded trading volume as well. The charting platform provided by them is web based and has a slight learning curve. If you are an experienced trader, then you will be glad to know that, they provide leverage of 1:15 and allow margin trading. There are a few shortfalls which comes along with indulging with them, but it mainly depends upon your trading preferences. If you are trying to decide whether or not this exchange is for you, then read our review to find out the answers. Due to the surfacing of recent consumer feedback on review portals such as Reddit, the once long-standing reputation of BitFlyer has fallen under public scrutiny. The aim of this unbiased review is to provide you with the insight needed so that you can make an educated decision on whether or not this cryptocurrency exchange is right for you. To see what users in the cryptocurrency arena are saying, we invite you to continue reading onward.

What is BitFlyer?

BitFlyer asserts their platform is the world’s largest bitcoin exchange. Launched in 2014, BitFlyer has allegedly received regulatory approval from both the Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA) and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). To the extent of our knowledge, BitFlyer has not become a victim to any cyber hacking or security threats that we know of. According to research, BitFlyer allegedly had transacted over $100 billion of volume on a global scale in 2017, which has been noted as the highest trading volume out of all Japan based exchanges. Supported Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin
• Litecoin
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Ethereum Classic

Supported Fiat Currencies

• USD
• EUR
• JPY

It should be made known that Bitcoin appears to be the only supported cryptocurrency that can be purchased or sold on BitFlyer within the United States. Depending upon which type of account an investor enrolls with will dictate that users transfer limits. Unlike other trading platforms or exchanges that incentivize their platform by offering more features with higher deposits, BitFlyer takes a different approach to adding value to their platform. Below are the 3 account types currently supported at BitFlyer:

Trade Lite Account

Deposit Limit: $2,000/day Withdrawal Limit: $2,000/day Single Transaction Limit: $3,000 What Is Required: Provide name, date of birth, phone number, and home address.

Normal Trade Account

Deposit Limit: $50,000/day Withdrawal Limit: $50,000/day Single Transaction Limit: Unlimited What Is Required: Submit ID Verification

Trade Pro Status

Deposit Limit: Unlimited Withdrawal Limit: Unlimited Single Transaction Limit: Unlimited What Is Required: Complete a thorough due diligence questionnaire As you may have gathered from above, BitFlyer offers more lee-way with their platform and higher limitations to their investors who take the time to conduct the simply transparency-building measures.

Who is Behind BitFlyer?

BitFlyer is owned and operated by bitFlyer, Inc. According to a Bloomgberg report, bitFlyer, Inc was founded in 2014 and reflects the following office address: Midtown Tower 8F, 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato, 107-6208. Yuzo Kano is listed as the Chief Executive Office while Takafumi Komiyama is disclosed as the Chief Technology Officer.

Regulation, Licenses and Customer Support

Regulation is an important aspect when it comes to choosing a reliable exchange. After all, being safe is better than sorry. Nowadays there are a ton of options when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Sadly, for every legit exchange or operations, there are over thousand scams. Note that, while regulation ensures the safety of your funds, it does not guarantee you that hacks will not take place. This exchange was founded on January 9th 2014 by Yuzo Kano who is a former Goldman Sachs trader. They have several offices in Tokyo, San Francisco and Luxembourg. Moreover, they are regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Agency as well. Being a well established firm which has stood the test of time, it is easy to recommend them to our readers. As of writing this review, the only way to contact the support team of this platform is via email. At certain times, the lack of telephone assistance might make things seem frustration. However, given their credibility, that type of scenario is unlikely to occur.

Charting Solution, Asset Class and Leverage

bitFlyer exchange offers a web based platform for all the clients. The platform can be accessed through most devices which have an active internet connection. Indicators present on the custom platform is basic and gets the work done for most traders. However, if you want to use custom indicators or set of parameters, then you have to purchase or go for other charting solutions. At this point, we do not know whether automated trading is supported or not, but do not keep your hopes high on this matter. The asset class offered by this exchange is all tied by against the Japanese Yen. So, you might need a forex trading account just to hedge the currency risk, but apart from this aspect, there is nothing to complain about. The leverage is capped at 1:15, while this number might seem low, the volatility of the cryptocurrency makes them a worthwhile figure. However, do note that, to avail margin trading the investors have to get their account verified. If you are just beginning to explore the crypto sphere, then do not seek higher leverage as it is a double edged sword.

Community Feedback

When investigating into the legitimacy of bitFlyer you will notice how the general community consensus appears to be positive. However, if you search “BitFlyer Scam,” into a search engine you may be surprised at what you find. While it’s true that some positive reviews will float near the top of the search query, with a little bit of extra digging you can unravel community feedback which can be found at Reddit. According to one Reddit user, they have lost over 100 bitcoins to the bitFlyer platform and that was allegedly between 2 to 3 months ago.

“It’s almost 3 months now since Bitflyer decided to hold my funds (worth 100+ BTC) hostage indefinitely. Several other users reported the same and there is absolutely no progress. So I am preparing a lawsuit against them.”

Another thread can be found at Reddit that goes on to reflect other users who also claim to be experiencing similar issues with getting their funds out of bitFlyer.

“Experiencing the same thing. Using bitFlyer JP. Already submitted passport and other required documents around a year ago. Now they request the same things again.” “Having exactly the same issue. Looking to contact laywer and JFSA to get my funds out of it, it’s been 4 month without any luck so far.”

While the authenticity of these user reviews are still under investigation, our advice would be to tread with caution. Until bitFlyer actively reaches out and openly resolves these issues our advice on the matter would be to conduct external research prior to committing with their virtual exchange. However, to be fair, these were really the only legitimate appearing complaints that we found against bitFlyer, which bear in mind their platform supports hundreds of thousands of investors.

Payment Methods

Depending upon where you reside will determine which payment methods are currently available to you. Japanese users for instance have quite a few more options than US biyFlyer users which include Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, ETC, LTC, MONA, LISK along with several other payment methods. BitFlyer users who reside within the United States however will be narrowed down to Bitcoin and wire transfers for the time being.

Fees

During the time of writing this review, bitFlyer’s transaction fees for withdrawals were set at 0.0004BTC. For users who are trading Bitcoin, a transaction fee ranging from 0.15% to 0.01% are applied while users who withdrawal USD are charged a $10 fee.

Deposit, Withdrawals and Fees

The minimum deposit and withdrawal amount is not mentioned anywhere on their website. Usually, exchanges like these need $250 to begin with, but if you want to know the exact figure, then you have to contact their support team. While the deposits are not tangled with any sort of fees, withdrawals do have them. The fees charged may go upto 0.20%. However, there might be certain exceptions based on the amount of volume an individual or corporate entity may trade. The lack of major online solutions like Paypal, Skrill and Neteller is a major reason which might cause a lot of people to stay away from them.

Domain Insight

BitFlyer.com was a privately acquired domain that was registered on May 29th, 2013 through the GoDaddy registrar. According to SimilarWeb, bitFlyer appears to be a popular virtual cryptocurrency exchange that reflects a global rank of 52,647 with a Japan rank of 3,561 as of November 26th, 2018. As of last month, bitFlyer supported over 1.13 million visitors while 91.32% of their traffic was derived from users who reside within Japan and an additional 4.33% originated from US visitors.

Is BitFlyer.com a Scam?

While some of the community feedback surfacing bitFlyer does raise some suspicions, the authenticity of those complaints are still under investigation while the majority of the cryptocurrency community as a whole appear to believe bitFlyer to be a legitimate exchange. With this in mind, we do not for the time being believe bitFlyer to be a scam exchange.

bitFlyer Review Conclusion

bitFlyer is a regulated and reputable trading exchange. They have huge client base and are trying their best to penetrate other markets too. If you are okay with the fact that, you have to keep a forex account to hedge your risk, then this exchange brings a lot of value to you. On the other hand, before making any decision, do check out the other exchanges which have relatively less fees on the transactions. Finding a dependable cryptocurrency exchange is becoming increasingly difficult as the demand for cryptocurrencies become more and more pronounced. This is due to the fact that many scammers have realized that most investors lack the general knowledge to make educated decisions regarding cryptocurrency investing, which has resorted in con-artists launching illicit and unlicensed exchanges nearly at will. With these facts in mind, we believe your best bet would be to only conduct business with exchanges that reflect an overly abundant sum of positive reviews and that are regulated within your local jurisdiction.

Verdict: BitFlyer should be used at your OWN risk!

Exchange: bitFlyer

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