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'''Digital currency exchangers''' ('''DCE'''s) or [[Bitcoin]] exchanges are businesses that allow customers to trade [[digital currency|digital currencies]] for other assets, such as conventional [[fiat money]], or different digital currencies.<ref name=investopedia-dce/> They are [[market maker]]s that typically charge fees or take the [[Bid–offer spread|bid/ask spreads]] as transaction commissions for their services.<ref name=investopedia-dce>{{ cite web | title=Digital Currency Exchanger (DCE) Definition | work=Investopedia Dictionary | publisher=Investopedia US, a division of ValueClick, Inc. | url=http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/digital-currency-exchanger-dce.asp | accessdate=11 January 2014 }}</ref>

DCEs may be brick-and-mortar businesses, exchanging traditional payment methods and digital currencies, or strictly online businesses, exchanging electronically transferred money and digital currencies.<ref name=secp>{{ cite journal | title=Draft Report on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing through New Payment Methods | author=Working Group on Typologies | publisher=[[Financial Action Task Force]] | date=18 October 2010 | location=Paris | url=http://www.secp.gov.pk/IACCD/pub_iaccd/AML/MONEY%20LAUNDERING%20&%20TERRORIST%20FINANCING%20VULNERABILITIES%20OF%20COMMERCIAL%20WEBSITES%20AND%20INTERNET%20PAYMENT%20SYSTEMS.pdf | format=PDF }}</ref> Most digital currency exchanges operate outside of Western countries, avoiding regulatory oversight and complicating prosecutions, but DCEs often handle Western fiat currencies, sometimes maintaining bank accounts in several countries to facilitate deposits in various national currencies.<ref name=ndic2008/><ref name=sood2013/> They may accept credit card payments, wire transfers, postal money orders, or other forms of payment in exchange for digital currencies, and many can convert digital currency balances into anonymous prepaid cards which can be used to withdraw funds from [[Automated teller machine|ATM]]s worldwide.<ref name=ndic2008>{{cite web | title=Substantiation – Money laundering in digital currencies (Unclassified) | work=Money Laundering in Digital Currencies | date=June 2008 | publisher=National Drug Intelligence Center, US Department of Justice | url=http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs28/28675/sub.htm | accessdate=11 January 2014}}</ref><ref name=sood2013>{{ cite news | last1=Sood | first1=Aditya K | last2=Enbody | first2=Richard J | last3=Bansal | first3=Rohit | title=Cybercrime: Dissecting the State of Underground Enterprise | year=2013 | work=IEEE Internet Computing | publisher=IEEE Computer Society | pages=60–68 | issue=1 |url=https://web.cse.msu.edu/~soodadit/papers/IEEE_IC_dissecting_the_state_of_underground_ent.pdf | format=PDF }}</ref>

Some digital currencies are backed by real-world commodities such as gold.<ref name="ByrnesMunro2013">{{ cite book | last1=Byrnes | first1=William H. | last2=Munro | first2=Robert J. |title=Money Laundering, Asset Forfeiture and Recovery and Compliance – A Global Guide | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=cVLUdo4JQv4C&pg=PP2802 | date=2 October 2013 | publisher=LexisNexis | isbn=978-0-327-17084-6 | page=2802 }} (Page number assigned by Google Books.)</ref>

Creators of digital currencies are often independent of the DCEs that trade the currency.<ref name=sood2013/> In one type of system, digital currency providers, or DCPs, are businesses that keep and administer accounts for their customers, but generally do not issue digital currency to those customers directly.<ref name=secp/><ref name="Hesterman2013"/> Customers buy or sell digital currency from DCEs, who transfer the digital currency into or out of the customer's DCP account.<ref name="Hesterman2013"/> Some DCEs are subsidiaries of DCP, but many are legally independent businesses.<ref name=secp/> The denomination of funds kept in DCP accounts may be of a real or fictitious currency.<ref name="Hesterman2013"/>

==Regulatory issues==
In 2004 three [[Australia]]n–based digital currency exchange businesses voluntary shut down following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The ASIC viewed the services offered as legally requiring an Australian Financial Services License, which the companies lacked.<ref name=asic2004>{{cite press release | date=9 November 2004 | title=ASIC acts to shut down electronic currency trading websites | publisher=Australian Securities & Investments Commission | url=http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/04-366+ASIC+acts+to+shut+down+electronic+currency+trading+websites?openDocument | accessdate=9 January 2014 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323142630/http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/04-366+ASIC+acts+to+shut+down+electronic+currency+trading+websites?openDocument | archivedate=23 March 2011 }}</ref>

In 2006, US-based digital currency exchange business [[Gold Age|GoldAge Inc.]], a New York state business, was shut down by the US Secret Service after operating since 2002.<ref>{{cite news | title=Secret service raids Gold-Age | last=McCullagh | first=Declan | date=30 March 2001 | work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | publisher=[[Condé Nast]] | url=http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/03/42745 | accessdate=9 January 2014 }}</ref> Business operators Arthur Budovsky and Vladimir Kats were indicted "on charges of operating an illegal digital currency exchange and money transmittal business" from their apartments, transmitting more than $30 million to digital currency accounts.<ref name="Hesterman2013"/> Customers provided limited identity documentation, and could transfer funds to anyone worldwide, with fees sometimes exceeding $100,000.<ref name="Hesterman2013">{{cite book|last=Hesterman|first=Jennifer L|title=The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus: An Alliance of International Drug Cartels, Organized Crime, and Terror Groups|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pX5uOpcXkdgC&pg=PA218|date=17 April 2013|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4665-5761-1|page=218}}</ref> Budovsky and Kats were sentenced in 2007 to five years in prison "for engaging in the business of [[Money transmitter|transmitting money without a license]], a felony violation of state banking law", ultimately receiving sentences of five years probation.<ref name=boddiger2013>{{cite news | last1=Boddiger | first1=David | last2=Arias | first2=L | date=24 May 2013 | work=The Tico Times | location=San José, Costa Rica | title=Millions of dollars in limbo after shuttering of digital currency site Liberty Reserve | url=http://www.ticotimes.net/More-news/News-Briefs/Millions-of-dollars-in-limbo-after-shuttering-of-digital-currency-site-Liberty-Reserve-_Saturday-May-25-2013 | accessdate=9 January 2014 }}</ref>

In April 2007, the US government ordered [[E-Gold|E-gold]] administration to lock/block approximately 58 E-Gold accounts owned and used by The Bullion Exchange, AnyGoldNow, [[IceGold]], GitGold, The Denver Gold Exchange, GoldPouch Express, [[1MDC]] (a Digital Gold Currency, based on e-gold) and others, forcing G&SR (owner of OmniPay) to liquidate the seized assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omnipay.com/opa2007.asp|title=www.omnipay.com is offline|publisher=|accessdate=24 February 2015}}</ref> A few weeks later, E-Gold faced four indictments. Here is the DoJ release <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/April/07_crm_301.html |title=#07-301: 04-27-07 Digital Currency Business E-Gold Indicted for Money Laundering and Illegal Money Transmitting |publisher=Usdoj.gov |date=2007-04-24 |accessdate=2013-12-11}}</ref> and here is the rebuttal by Douglas Jackson, CEO.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.e-gold.com/letter3.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090604032807/http://www.e-gold.com/letter3.html|title=e-goldÂ® Founder Denies ...|archivedate=4 June 2009|publisher=|accessdate=24 February 2015}}</ref>

In July 2008, [[Webmoney]] changed its rules, affecting many exchangers. Since that time it became prohibited to exchange [[Webmoney]] to most popular e-currencies like E-gold, Liberty Reserve and others.<ref>https://newsblog.wmtransfer.com/asp/messages.asp?date=2008-7-23&blogID=6</ref>

Also in July 2008 E-gold's three directors accepted a bargain with the prosecutors and plead guilty to one count of "conspiracy to engage in money laundering" and one count of the "operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business".<ref name="guilty">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/22/internet-currency-firm-pleads-guilty-money-laundering|title=IDG News Service Internet currency firm pleads guilty to money laundering|author=Grant Gross|date=2007-07-22|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090414185759/http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/22/internet-currency-firm-pleads-guilty-money-laundering|archivedate=2009-04-14}}</ref> E-gold ceased operations in 2009.

In 2013, Jean-Loup Richet, a research fellow at [[ESSEC]] ISIS, surveyed new money laundering techniques that cybercriminals were using in a report written for the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]].<ref name="Jean-Loup Richet">{{cite web |url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.2368 |title=Laundering Money Online: a review of cybercriminals methods |publisher=arXiv |date=June 2013 |accessdate=20 October 2013 |author=Richet, Jean-Loup}}</ref> A common approach to cyber money laundering was to use a digital currency exchanger service which converted dollars into [[Liberty Reserve]] and could be sent and received anonymously. The receiver could convert the Liberty Reserve currency back into cash for a small fee. In May 2013, digital currency exchanger Liberty Reserve was shut down after the alleged founder, Arthur Budovsky Belanchuk, and four others were arrested in Costa Rica, Spain, and New York "under charges for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business."<ref name=dhs2013/> Budovsky, a former U.S. citizen and naturalized Costa Rican, was convicted in connection with the 2006 Gold Age raid.<ref name=boddiger2013/><ref name=matonis2013>{{cite news | title=U.S. Shuts Currency Exchange Allegedly Tied To $6B In Money Laundering | work=Forbes | date=28 May 2013 | first=Jon | last=Matonis | publisher=Forbes.com LLC | url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/05/28/u-s-authorities-close-another-digital-currency-exchange/ | accessdate=11 January 2014}}</ref> A U.S. indictment said the case "is believed to be the largest international money laundering prosecution in history."<ref name=matonis2013/> More than $40 million in assets were placed under restraint pending forfeiture, and more than 30 Liberty Reserve exchanger [[domain name]]s were seized.<ref name=dhs2013/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/26/liberty-reserve-shut-down/ |title=Digital currency biz Liberty Reserve shut down, founder arrested &#124; VentureBeat &#124; Security &#124; by Sean Ludwig |publisher=VentureBeat |date= |accessdate=2013-12-11}}</ref> The company was estimated to have laundered $6 billion in criminal proceeds.<ref name=dhs2013>{{cite web | title=Written testimony of U.S. Secret Service for a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government  Affairs hearing titled "Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies" | date=18 November 2013 | publisher=United States Department of Homeland Security | url=http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/11/18/written-testimony-us-secret-service-senate-committee-homeland-security-and | accessdate=11 January 2014}}</ref>

==List of Bitcoin exchanges==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Country !! Fiat money !! Bitcoin !! Altcoins !! Commodity !! Trade Fee !! Decentralized !! Website !! Notes
|-
| 247exchange.com || {{flag|Belize}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No|| n/a || No || https://www.247exchange.com/ || Instant fixed-rate exchange service provided by  InterMoney Exchange™, licensed International Money Exchange operator.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifsc.gov.bz/licensed-service-providers/list-m/ |title=List of Belize-based financial compalies, holding International Money Exchange license at the local regulators IFSC website}}</ref> Supports 6 fiat currencies and a number of deposit/withdrawal methods: credit/debit cards, SEPA, international bank transfers, local bank transfers and cash deposits in Australia, Europe.
|-
| ANX || {{flag|Hong Kong}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0% || No || https://anxbtc.com/ || Supports 10 fiat currencies. Offers debit card. It charges fees on withdrawal.
|-
| BIT-X.com || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes - GH/s Mining|| 0.2% || No || https://bit-x.com/ || Supported Currencies: USD, EUR, GBP & LTC, BTC, GH/s (provided by BitFury). Trade and Mine GH/s (Mining Capacities). Multi-signature addresses & transactions and 2 factor authentication. BIT-X.com is a trademark of XBIT Ltd., a licensed Forex participant (#70 http://www.ifsc.gov.bz/licensed-service-providers/list-f/)
|-
| [[bitcoin.de]] || {{flag|Germany}} || Yes || Yes || No || Yes, Gold || 0.5% || Yes || https://bitcoin.de/ || Decentralized: Transfers are made person to person.
|-
| [[BitBay.net]] || {{flag|Poland}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.25% - 0.43% || No || https://bitbay.net || Supports PLN, USD, EUR. Offers express deposits (Cashbill - PLN; OKPay - USD, EUR), withdrawals (Bluecash - PLN; SEPA and OKPay - EUR; OKPay - USD). Supports Polish and English language.
|-
| [[BitPesa]] ||{{flag|Kenya}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 3% || No || https://www.bitpesa.co/ || n/a
|-
| [[Bitstamp|BitStamp]] || {{flag|UK}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.2 - 0.5% || No || https://www.bitstamp.net/ || n/a 
|-
| [[Bleutrade]] || {{flag|Brazil}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.25% || No || https://bleutrade.com/ || • Trade Crypto2Crypto • Trade 65 cryptocurrencies • Possibility to trade 2080 pairs • Supports English and Portuguese.
|-
| [[BTC-E|BTC-e]] || {{flag|Bulgaria}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.2% || No || https://btc-e.com/ || Supports English, Russian and Chinese language. [[MetaTrader 4|МetaTrader 4]] platform for live trading of the BTC/USD currency pair.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://btc-e.com/news/183 |title=The long awaited MetaTrader 4 platform is ready for live trading of the BTC/USD... |accessdate=1 November 2013}}</ref>
|-
| [[Btc.sx]] || {{flag|UK}} / {{flag|Singapore}} || No || Yes || No || No || 0.5% || No || https://btc.sx/ || Allows Leveraged Trading.
|-
| [[BTC China|BTCChina]] || {{flag|China}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0% || No || https://btcchina.com/ || n/a
|-
| [[Buttercoin]] || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0% || No || https://buttercoin.com/ || US bank transfers and wires for deposits and withdrawals. US residents only.
|-
| CEX.IO || {{flag|UK}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes, GHS || 0.2% || No || https://cex.io/ || Also a cloud mining provider.
|-
| Circle || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || n/a || No || https://www.circle.com/ || Links credit card to account.
|-
| [[CleverCoin]] || {{flag|NLD}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.3% || No || https://www.clevercoin.com/ || n/a
|-
| [[Coinfloor]] || {{flag|UK}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.08 - 0.55% || No || https://www.coinfloor.co.uk/ || n/a
|-
| [[Coinbase]] || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 1% || No || https://coinbase.com/ || n/a
|-
| [[CoinMama]] || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No|| n/a || No || https://www.coinmama.com/ || Buy bitcoins with credit/debit card or cash - Worldwide service including the US.
|-
| CoinMate.io || {{flag|UK}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.2% || No || https://coinmate.io/ || BTC/USD trading. SEPA, CZK, PLN bank transfer, EgoPay, OKPay.
|-
| [[CoinGateway]] ||{{flag|UK}} || No || Yes || Yes || No || 0.5% || No || https://www.coingateway.net/ || Instant Exchange, No account required.
|-
| Cryptsy || {{flag|USA}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.2 - 0.3% || No || https://www.cryptsy.com/ || n/a
|-
|-
| Cubits || {{flag|UK}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.9% || No || https://cubits.com/ || SEPA/SWIFT/SOFORT/OKPAY/OBT
|-
| Gatecoin || {{flag|Hong Kong}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0% for 15 days, from 0.05% to 0.6% then  || No || https://gatecoin.com/ || Supported currencies: USD, HKD, EUR, BTC.
|-
| [[itBit]] || {{flag|Singapore}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.35 - 0.50% || No || https://www.itbit.com/ || n/a
|-
| [[LocalBitcoins]] || {{flag|Finland}} || Yes  || Yes || No || No || 1% || Yes || https://localbitcoins.com || All countries and currencies, p2p Bitcoin marketplace for optional escrow
|-
| [[LakeBTC]] || {{flag|China}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0 - 0.2% || No || https://www.lakebtc.com/ || Support USD, SEK and CNY.
|-
| [[Multigateway]] || {{flag|None}} || No || Yes || Yes || No || none || Yes || https://multigateway.com/ || Decentralized. Based on [[Nxt]]'s Asset Exchange.
|-
| [[Mycelium]] || {{flag|Austria}} || Yes || Yes || No || No || 0.2% || Yes || https://mycelium.com/localtrader || Android wallet and trader. All countries and currencies, p2p Bitcoin marketplace for optional escrow
|-
| [[Mt. Gox]] || {{flag|Japan}} || Yes  || Yes || No || No || n/a || No || n/a || Shutdown in 2014
|-
| [[Unocoin]] || {{flag|India}} || Yes  || Yes || No || No || 0.7 - 1.0% || No || https://www.unocoin.com || n/a
|-
| [[UseCryptos]] || {{flag|Brazil}} || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || 0.25% || No || https://usecryptos.com/ || • Trading, Wallets and Payments Processor
|-
|}

==See also==
* [[Digital currency]]
* [[Bureau de Change]]
* [[Digital gold currency]]
* [[Gold as an investment]]
* [[Cryptocurrency]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Dmoz|Science/Social_Sciences/Economics/Financial_Economics/Currency_and_Money/Alternative_Monetary_Systems/Bitcoin/Exchanges}}
* [http://dgcmagazine.com/ Digital Gold Currency Online Magazine]
* [http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/list/ List of Bitcoin exchanges] sorted by fiat currency

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}

{{Cryptocurrencies}}

[[Category:Private currencies]]
[[Category:Digital currency exchangers| ]]