We develop decentralized and centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, P2P platforms, and instant exchange services with modern design and flexible interface. We take into account the specifics of your business. We provide full-cycle development services, from evaluation to implementation and post-launch maintenance.
We listen and hear our customers, meet deadlines, as well as offer optimal solutions for the tasks and goals set.
We've been helping businesses achieve their goals for over 10 years. We create profitable services.
Technical literacy
We thoroughly analyze and develop requirements before starting work.
Deadlines
We develop MVPs in the shortest possible time, with the ability to scale.
Quality and safety
We take into account current security patterns that help create secure and reliable services.
30+
cryptocurrency exchanges implemented by our team
200+
satisfied clients who contacted our company
5+
cryptocurrency exchanges developed this year
30+
qualified specialists in the team
What’s Included in the Cost of Cryptocurrency Exchange Development?
We offer several options for cooperation : Basic , Essentials and Ultimate.
Customize the interface to suit your style, personal account + 2FA
Wallets, acceptance and withdrawal of cryptocurrencies
Trading terminal, order book, fast exchange
Administrative interface, trading volume bots
KYC (Know Your Customer), KYT (Know Your Transaction)
Fiat gateway integration
Liquidity bots
Completed projects
GigaEx Case Study
Fintech Application Development
Development of a centralized GigaEx exchange with the ability to replenish with fiat currencies and support for its own exchange token for use in specialized sections of the exchange.
Fill out the feedback form or write to us on Telegram.
2. Tell us about the project
Briefly describe the idea, goals and objectives you want to solve.
3. Let's discuss the details
We'll schedule a call to discuss your project in more detail and see how we can help.
4. Signing the contract
If we are a good fit, we sign a contract and move on to the next step.
5. Discovery phase
At this stage, we collect requirements and create a set of design documentation describing the future product.
6. Delivery phase
We develop the product according to the agreed-upon specifications. The work process is typically divided into 3-4 stages, each with clear completion indicators.
Feedback from our clients
As a client of Polygant, I would like to express my sincere joy and satisfaction with the cooperation in the development of a cryptocurrency exchange. They exceeded all our expectations. From the very first contact, we listened carefully to our needs and ensured careful planning of each stage of development, making an exchange that combines security, intuitiveness and high performance. Your team is living up to its reputation as cool professionals in the field of fintech development.
Joe Scholes
GigaEx
Feel Free to Contact Us
Table of Contents
About Cryptocurrency Exchange Development
With the spread of the first cryptocurrencies, the need arose to freely exchange them among each other and with fiat currencies. The first crypto exchanges emerged, making it easy to trade Bitcoin for altcoins and even for fiat, as well as to deposit and withdraw funds via electronic money, bank cards, and accounts. This provided a powerful stimulus for the development of cryptocurrencies, leading to a sharp increase in both prices and the number of trading platforms.
Over the years, cryptocurrency exchanges have evolved into highly sophisticated platforms, offering a wide range of trading pairs, advanced charting tools, and secure wallets to cater to both retail and institutional investors. The increasing demand for fast, reliable, and user-friendly trading solutions has pushed developers to implement cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain integration, multi-signature wallets, real-time order matching engines, and automated risk management systems.
Today, cryptocurrency exchanges are not only a gateway for trading digital assets but also a hub for investment, lending, staking, and other financial services within the rapidly expanding crypto ecosystem. The continuous growth of this sector highlights the importance of professional exchange development, ensuring compliance with global regulations, seamless transaction processing, and robust security measures to build trust among users and investors alike.
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What a crypto exchange is
A crypto exchange is a trading platform where various cryptocurrencies can be bought, sold, or exchanged. Similar to Forex, a crypto exchange connects buyers and sellers of a currency—in this case, digital assets — ensuring the reliability and security of transactions. Like any exchange, it operates on a trading engine, where the accuracy and speed of operations depend on the optimisation of the underlying code. The engine verifies placed orders for sufficient asset backing, maintains records in the database, and prepares data for display in a web or mobile application, or a trading terminal.
The first crypto exchanges were centralized and only allowed cryptocurrencies to be traded. As the market developed, the following classification emerged:
Bitcoin exchanges or altcoin exchanges, where only cryptocurrencies are traded, mainly in pairs with bitcoin and popular altcoins.
Cryptocurrency exchanges with fiat support, where cryptocurrencies are traded both in pairs with themselves and with fiat currencies.
Cryptocurrency derivative exchanges, where users trade contracts on the future prices of cryptocurrencies by placing orders for a short or long position.
Cryptocurrency exchanges with margin trading that provide leverage.
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) of registered companies that set the rules for trading, usually operate under a licence, and are subject to regulatory authorities.
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) that create markets algorithmically and control them via a protocol, operate upon the basis of smart contracts and an automated market maker, and aren’t regulated by anyone.
Many crypto exchanges combine features from multiple categories, and large CEXs often launch subsidiary DEXs to expand their offerings.
Popular Cryptocurrency Exchanges
There are over 700 cryptocurrency exchanges currently operating on the market, all verified and listed on CoinMarketCap. Each platform aims to provide users with unique features and competitive conditions.
When creating a cryptocurrency exchange, it’s important to keep in mind that traders typically pay attention to the following characteristics:
Range of listed coins and tokens, available currency pairs
Commission for trading, margin, deposit, withdrawal
Methods of depositing and withdrawing funds
Liquidity, daily trading volume
Protection of user accounts and exchange wallets.
Spot centralized exchanges (CEXs) remain the most popular. According to CoinMarketCap, the top three are Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken.
Binance
Binance was launched in Hong Kong in 2017 and moved to Malta in 2018. In just a couple of years, it has grown from an ordinary exchange to an entire ecosystem where 12 projects are operating today. Binance offers 8 services for regular trading, 7 for derivative trading, 10 for earning and investing.
Specifics of Binance:
Centralized, registered with AMF (France), FIU (Lithuania), FSA (Sweden), OAM (Italy), the Bank of Spain.
Native coin BNB and stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), bringing benefits to holders.
The company Coinbase was established in California, USA in 2012. The initial version of its exchange was called GDAX, while the Coinbase Pro version was launched in 2018. Coinbase offers 13 services to private users, 9 services to institutional investors, 10 tools to developers.
Specifics of Coinbase:
Centralized, registered with FinCEN (US) and FCA (UK).
Native stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).
246 available cryptocurrencies.
3 fiat currencies: EUR, GBP, USD.
527 trading pairs.
Support for derivatives.
exchange.coinbase.com
Kraken
The company Payward was established in California, USA in 2011. It launched an exchange named Kraken in 2013. Kraken periodically absorbs other exchanges and acquires services, for example: the exchanges Cavirtex, CleverCoin, Coinsetter, Crypto Facilities; the services Glidera and Cryptowatch.
Specifics of Kraken:
Centralized, registered with FinCEN (US), FINTRAC (Canada), FCA (UK).
229 available cryptocurrencies.
7 fiat currencies: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD.
729 trading pairs.
Support for derivatives and margin trading.
www.kraken.com
Revenue of popular exchanges
Cryptocurrency exchanges earn on commissions for trading and withdrawing crypto/fiat from the account. Trades are taxed at a minimum if a user pays for a fee with native exchange tokens, as well as trades in very large volumes monthly. Therefore, examples of fees in the table below start at 0%.
As a rule, exchanges don’t charge a deposit fee. The fee for withdrawing cryptocurrencies almost completely goes to pay miners or stakers of the network via which the transaction is carried out. Considering that each network has its own tariffs, we only indicated the fees for withdrawal of BTC and ETH for reference.
Crypto exchange
Trading fee for makers, %
Trading fee for takers, %
Withdrawal fee
Trade volume per day, $
Binance
0.10%
0.10%
Varies by asset
$5.663 billion
Coinbase
0.00–0.40%
0.05–0.60%
Varies by asset
$693 million
Kraken
0.00–0.16%
0.10–0.26%
Varies by asset
$520 million
The last column, with volumes in September 2025, will help you calculate the approximate daily revenue from spot trading only. Take the average of fees for makers and takers and multiply by volume to get the average revenue of a popular exchange.
Who Needs a Crypto Exchange Development?
Crypto exchange development is essential for startups, fintech companies, investment platforms, and blockchain projects looking to enter the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. Companies aiming to deliver seamless, secure, and scalable trading experiences for users rely on robust infrastructure, multi-signature wallets, API integrations, and advanced fraud detection mechanisms to ensure trust and transparency.
By building a crypto exchange, businesses can optimize trading operations, enhance user experience, and integrate advanced functionalities such as smart contracts, NFTs, decentralized applications (dApps), and cross-platform interfaces. The platform enables companies to manage liquidity, execute secure transactions, track user activity, and scale operations globally, making it a strategic tool for growth, competitive advantage, and long-term success in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
What a P2P platform is
A P2P platform is a service that enables users to buy and sell cryptocurrency directly with one another. Buyers and sellers interact without the involvement of a third party, while the P2P platform simply assists by listing ads, pre-checking and evaluating their creators, and providing escrow accounts for cryptocurrencies.
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) usually enforce strict rules and requirements, including mandatory identity verification. In contrast, P2P platforms are generally more user-friendly. To find the best offer in just a few seconds, users only need to complete a few fields in the search form.
How P2P platforms operate
P2P platforms are similar to crypto exchanges in that they match buyers and sellers, facilitating trades for those who need to quickly buy or sell cryptocurrencies. However, they operate quite differently from both CEXs and DEXs:
Trades are conducted directly by users, rather than through the execution of orders.
Users select the best offer based on the cryptocurrency, amount, and payment terms.
A wider variety of payment methods is available, including bank cards and accounts, SWIFT and SEPA transfers, and electronic payment systems.
There are no commission fees, since transactions are made directly between users.
Sellers’ cryptocurrencies are stored in escrow accounts, which protects both them and buyers from violating the terms of the deal.
Most platforms have a user rating system to improve the quality and security of deals.
The seller and the buyer can discuss deals in a chat window.
If the parties have problems like a dispute, they can file an appeal through their personal account.
When developing a P2P platform, consider the following factors that users care about:
Interface: It should be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing users to quickly create or find ads and complete trades effortlessly.
Security: Essential measures include two-factor authentication, encryption, and withdrawal confirmation via SMS or email.
Reputation: A strong, trustworthy reputation is critical, as users carefully evaluate crypto services due to the prevalence of scams.
Customer support, which should instantly process appeals and solve problems.
Users additionally pay attention to available payment methods, the number of ads (liquidity), and the absence of scammers on the platform.
Do you need a P2P platform? Polygant develops them from scratch and also implements a P2P service on existing trading platforms. Contact us on Telegram, and after a detailed discussion, we will get started on your project right away!
What Is an Instant Exchange Service
A crypto instant exchange service is a website without a trading engine and an order book. It itself acts as the second party in trading, that is, it sells and buys cryptocurrency. In this way, it more resembles an offline currency exchange point.
Unlike crypto exchanges, where prices depend on the balance of supply and demand, on an instant exchange service, the owner sets the exchange rates themselves. On the one hand, this is an advantage of instant exchange services because they don’t allow users to practise ‘pump’ and ‘dump’ schemes. On the other hand, this is their disadvantage because the prices on crypto exchanges are more favourable.
It’s more profitable to create an instant exchange service than a crypto exchange: development costs half as much and pricing depends on the owner, not traders. While administrators often look at market prices on exchanges, many buy and sell at significantly different exchange rates. And their customers can’t choose an acceptable selling or buying price for themselves, or specify their own, unlike orders on exchanges.
When creating an instant exchange service, keep in mind that users pay attention to the following characteristics:
Opening hours
Efficiency of customer support
Variety of currency pairs with popular coins and tokens
Slight difference with market prices
Low commissions
User interface convenience
Smooth operation.
How to Create a Crypto Exchange
There are two practical approaches: creating a cryptocurrency exchange from scratch or purchasing a ready-made software solution.
Developing a crypto exchange from scratch
A difficult but competent approach that allows you to get to know the crypto market better by coming through all stages of creating the future service, from concept design to final release. In a basic version, a crypto exchange consists of a trading engine, admin panel, database, user interface, account management centre, and web wallets.
Advantages:
Confidence in security
Getting a custom product
Opportunity to refine and improve an exchange.
Disadvantages:
Launching ultimately takes longer than installing a ready-made solution
Turnkey crypto exchange is more expensive as a result.
Polyx as an example of creating a crypto exchange from scratch
We were given the task: to develop a cryptocurrency exchange so that it would be an ‘all-in-one’ service. Its clients were to be not only professional traders and investors, but also ordinary users who could buy cryptocurrency just like any digital product. Therefore, we added various useful services to the basic version to expand audience reach.
Today, Polyx.net platform consists of 11 components:
Crypto exchange.
Instant exchange service (based on the exchange).
Web wallet for cryptocurrencies.
Portfolio for crypto assets.
Referral program.
Blog with cryptocurrency news.
Mobile wallet (separate apps for iOS and Android).
Native token, PLX, with staking option.
Launchpad for crypto projects.
P2P marketplace.
DEX on a subdomain.
We didn’t implement them all at once, but gradually, in stages. For most customers, this is more convenient: you can control work progress, plan a budget, suggest new ideas during the development process, as well as order additional sections and functions gradually. Creating a turnkey crypto exchange took us 3 months (in 2019); the first 6 components were included. In 2021, we added components 7, 8, and 9, and in 2022, a couple more actual components.
We at Polygant always start with the development of the terms of reference. Without this, it is impossible to estimate the time and cost of creating a turnkey cryptocurrency exchange. The TOR costs ~$5000 and takes 100+ working hours.
White label solution
White label is the adaptation of an already developed product to your brand. A crypto exchange powered by a ready-made engine can be a fill-in alternative or additional service that you would like to offer to your audience. Typically, the main activity of someone who purchases a white label solution is not related to cryptocurrencies, but is quite close in subject matter. In such a case, an affiliated crypto exchange would help meet the demand for related services or attract new customers.
Advantages:
Quick setup and launch
Low start-up costs.
Disadvantages:
No access to the source code, no certainty that it is secure
Difficulty of custom modification, which will cost more than the engine itself
Constant dependence on a developer who owns the software.
Financial and legal matters
It may seem that the key thing when ordering a cryptocurrency exchange is to solve technological issues, but in practice it is different. According to our estimations, solving financial and legal matters takes more than half of the time. Let’s list what needs to be done.
Legal entity registration
You should choose a jurisdiction that is loyal to cryptocurrency services. It’s not so easy as cryptocurrencies are still not widely recognized and approved by the governments of most countries. Here are the states that welcome cryptocurrencies: Estonia, Malta, Netherlands, Switzerland, the USA.
Obtaining licences
In many countries, activities related to trading and storing cryptocurrencies require separate licensing. For example, in Estonia, it is necessary to obtain two licences: one for storing cryptocurrencies (for wallets), the other for exchanging cryptocurrencies for fiat (for trading platforms).
KYC, KYT, AML compliance
Financial system participants must comply with anti-money laundering laws (AML). The 5th AML Directive, in force in the European Union since 10 January 2020, imposes strict requirements on the procedures to verify customers and their transactions.
KYC — Know Your Customer. This is a requirement by regulatory authorities to verify identities and residential addresses of users. Of course, you can still collect documents from users, carry out verification, and check data against various databases (PEP, sanction lists, etc.) yourself. But it is easier to turn to services that help implement the necessary verifications easily and inexpensively:
Sum and Substance from the UK (sumsub.com)
Trulioo from Canada (trulioo.com)
Veriff from Estonia (veriff.com).
KYT — Know Your Transaction. This is a requirement by regulatory authorities to verify the cryptocurrencies coming from users and block those received from ‘dirty’ sources. This will prevent coins used in criminal activities, drug trafficking, and financing of terrorism from getting into circulation. Various services that allow you to verify transactions via API will also be of help here.
AML compliance. A crypto exchange should employ a certified AML officer who will track suspicious transactions, file SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports), and send them to financial monitoring services. This officer must have a background in finance and a certificate from a recognized world community, such as:
International Compliance Association (int-comp.org)
Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (acams.org).
Make certain you meet the requirements before moving on to opening a bank account. You are unlikely to be able to open an account without this.
Opening a bank account
This is the most difficult task when launching a turnkey crypto exchange or instant exchange service. Banks consider cryptocurrency activities to be high-risk, so with a 99% probability they will likely refuse to open an account in Europe, even if your company has obtained the necessary licences and complies with AML laws.
The only way to get a current account is to open one in an electronic money institution. The way they work is that when you transfer fiat currencies to them, they are automatically exchanged for electronic money. And when you withdraw fiat currencies from the account, this electronic money is redeemed. It’s a bit confusing, but can be used. Strict requirements are also involved there, but they can actually be fulfilled.
Here are the financial institutions that open IBANs for cryptocurrency services:
Name (website)
Opening cost (€)
Monthly fee (€)
PayDo (paydo.com)
500
100
Vialet (vialet.eu)
800
45
Bankera (bankera.com)
900
200
Bilderlings (bilderlings.com)
1000
100
Cashaa (cashaa.com)
2000
1000
Clearjunction (clearjunction.com)
2000
1000
How Much Does a Cryptocurrency Exchange Cost?
Developers aren’t used to specifying the cost for an unknown amount of work. Without holding negotiations with the customer, it is difficult to make calculations because different customers have different requests. Nonetheless, everyone wants to know in advance how much it costs to create a cryptocurrency exchange.
For a preliminary estimate, companies conduct market research and provide a range of service costs so that customers can be guided when planning a budget. We did that too and found out that rates have come down somewhat this year. Today, development services are provided at the following rates:
The cost of a made-to-order crypto exchange
In Europe
€60,000–270,000
In North America
$65,000–300,000
The cost of a made-to-order P2P platform
In Europe
€45,000–190,000
In North America
$50,000–210,000
The cost of a made-to-order instant exchange service
In Europe
€35,000–140,000
In North America
$40,000–155,000
If you still have questions, ask them via the form. We will explain everything in detail and work out a strategy for developing and promoting your cryptocurrency exchange!