How to Create a Bitcoin Exchange Website

Interested in learning how to create a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency exchange website?

Keep reading! In this article, we will discuss the targets you need to meet to make your Bitcoin exchange successful, explore crypto exchange platform security issues, and answer all the most popular questions about Bitcoin exchange website development: How much does it cost to start a Bitcoin exchange development? Is starting a Bitcoin exchange profitable?

You might want to have a look at the Bitcoin price history before making a decision on whether to build a cryptocurrency exchange. You can see in the report that, following the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, the cryptocurrency price reached an all-time high in March 2024.

Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from January 27, 2022, to October 22, 2024 (in U.S. dollars)

During the Gold Rush, most would-be miners lost money, but people who sold them picks, shovels, tents and blue-jeans(Levi Strauss) made a nice profit. — Peter Lynch.

In this article

1. How to Create a Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency Exchange Website
2. Targets you will need to meet to ensure your Bitcoin exchange site grows
3. More on security when you create a Bitcoin exchange website
4. The importance of code review when you build your own Bitcoin exchange
5. Choose the right cloud provider when you create your own Bitcoin exchange website
6. Examples of Cryptocurrency Exchange Software DevTeam.Space Developed
7. Frequently Asked Questions on Creating a Bitcoin Exchange

What is a Bitcoin Exchange Website?

Bitcoin exchange websites or platforms are designed to facilitate the easy, fast, and secure exchange of bitcoins for other assets.

What is a Cryptocurrency Exchange Platform?

A cryptocurrency exchange is an online marketplace where users buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency.

Largest cryptocurrency exchanges based on 24h trade volume in the world on September 25, 2024 (in billion U.S. dollars)

When it comes to creating your own Bitcoin exchange website, you will need to get a clear understanding of your target exchange market before you begin. As with any new software, there is a lot of work to be done before you get anywhere near the programming part.

Another extremely important part of the planning stage is to research the laws in your particular country that may or may not exist governing cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchange businesses. Finally, you will also need to define exactly what kind of digital currency exchange you plan to set up and decide how it will function.

The question “How to build a Bitcoin exchange website?” can be best answered through a series of steps that you need to take. If you prefer using the services of a software development company to create a cryptocurrency exchange, you can contact DevTeam.Space. We will contact you shortly to discuss your project details and provide a preliminary cost estimation.

Now, let’s discuss the steps you must take to build an exchange for digital currencies.

How to Start a Bitcoin Exchange Business in 6 Simple Steps:

1. Brush up on the competition
2. Decide where your business will operate
3. Access your target audience market
4. Define your site
5. Synchronous or Asynchronous?
6. Get coding

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How to Create a Bitcoin Exchange Website/ Cryptocurrency exchange

Now that you know the steps to start your own cryptocurrency exchange business or Bitcoin exchange website, let’s take a closer look.

Step 1: Brush up on the competition

A really great place to start building a cryptocurrency exchange website is to do some research on existing Bitcoin exchanges. Here is a list of the most popular exchanges that handle the vast majority of the entire world’s Bitcoin transactions.

It is advisable to do plenty of research to find out exactly how these exchanges came to be as successful as they are today. Not only is this an extremely interesting bit of cryptocurrency and crypto market history, but it will also give you plenty of great ideas on how to create a Bitcoin exchange website and market it so it becomes a success.

An important bit of advice is not to let any of this information water down your own new and innovative ideas. Right now, the entire cryptocurrency industry is being fueled by innovation.

Fortunately, this new technology is proving just how much innovation and new ideas there are out there.

Because of the threat that this new technology poses, it is being attacked by traditionalists from all different backgrounds. Bitcoin has been repeatedly called a ‘bubble’ by countless bankers and has been dismissed as something that is little more than a valueless fad.

The irony of this statement is that this is exactly the accusation made by people who know about gold trading, which might have for years been made off the back of poor-quality gold or gold reserves that don’t exist at all.

Step 2: Decide where your cryptocurrency business will operate

Do you want your cryptocurrency exchange to do business globally, or will it just be for a few select countries?

This is an extremely important part of planning a new cryptocurrency exchange business. Why? Well, the reason is that while a large global exchange is more likely to earn you lots of money, it also means that your cryptocurrency exchange platform has to conform to the laws in every country in which it operates.

Falling foul of the law in any country could mean that you end up with massive court fees or, worse, end up in jail. You only need to take a look at another peer-to-peer technology, file sharing, to see the dangers of operating Bitcoin exchange websites that fall foul of the law.

The creators of the file-sharing site, The Pirate Bay, found themselves in jail for their actions while Kim Dot Com was fighting extradition to the United States for similar charges.

You will almost certainly need to get some operator’s license in every country or territory you choose to operate. This will not only require a load of paperwork and address/business registration but will also most likely require expensive lawyers to ensure you comply with all the local laws and regulations.

With nearly 200 countries in the world, this can get expensive.

Keep in mind that due to the fast-changing landscape of the growth of cryptocurrency technology, things such as regulations change from day to day. In May 2023, the European Union adopted the Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCAR), a document that is now considered the most advanced legislation on crypto assets.

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Step 3: Access your target audience market

This is the part of pre-planning that will ultimately determine how successful your cryptocurrency exchange platform will be. Knowing your target market will allow you to create both a product and marketing strategy that will allow your site to flourish.

While the answer might seem obvious in the case of a Bitcoin exchange, believe us, it is a lot more complicated than it might initially appear. People of all ages from all backgrounds are now investing in Bitcoin.

Also, some Bitcoin exchanges operate in numerous countries around the globe and are available in different languages. These are the things you will need to think about before you can define what your cryptocurrency exchange website will be.

Step 4: Define your site

The final step before you get programming is to work out exactly how you want your Bitcoin exchange to look and function. While such websites should look professionally done and secure, these two features are important for any Bitcoin exchange.

If people think that the site looks insecure or find themselves frustrated by slow page loading times or other functionality issues, they simply won’t use it.

The key to your cryptocurrency exchange website’s success will be its security. There have been several high-profile hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges over the last few years, including Mt. Gox which resulted in nearly 1% of all the entire Bitcoin in circulation being stolen.

Another thing you can decide is whether you will allow users to trade in other cryptocurrencies too. This will certainly boost user interest and satisfaction in your crypto exchange as people will be able to conduct their investments entirely under one roof.

The drawback is the logistical challenge of incorporating all these currencies. You can see a list of the most popular cryptocurrencies.

One of the main ways to make the development side of creating your own Bitcoin exchange as smooth and painless as possible is to hire a top blockchain developer or a good dev team.

These individuals will have the expertise and experience to ensure that your project is a complete success. It might cost more money, but the investment is certainly worth it.

Step 5: Synchronous or Asynchronous?

Most cryptocurrency exchanges currently operate the asynchronous model. While synchronous exchanges are the simplest to set up and operate, they don’t allow for much scalability.

Asynchronous online exchanges, on the other hand, allow for large increases in trading volumes as they work by passing requests between the UI and dedicated machines that queue and update the request with the UI after it has been executed.

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Step 6: Get coding

At this stage, there are several options for creating your own Bitcoin exchange website.

1. Download an existing open-source exchange program

Open-source cryptocurrency exchange software has many benefits over developing your own in-house software. Firstly, it is entirely free and saves huge amounts of development time.

You can download a number of existing open-source Bitcoin exchange programs and, therefore, theoretically start a Bitcoin exchange within hours.

If you choose to go down this road, sites like GitHub are a great place to find the software that best suits your needs.

The main drawback to this approach is that what you will end up with is exactly what is already being used by at least one other exchange. Therefore, you will still need a specialist to develop the unique features that you would like to incorporate into it.

Also, should you have problems pertaining to the original code, there is not much in the way of help to fall back on.

2.    White Label Bitcoin Exchange

White label software can be customized to suit your business model and saves from having to do much in the way of software development.

Another hugely important benefit is that the software will already be tried and tested, meaning that the chances of bugs, etc., are greatly reduced. The main drawback is that the options are relatively limited compared to writing the code yourself.

One company that offers a reliable software package that enables you to set up your own Bitcoin exchange is HollaEX. Their package allows individuals and companies to “start your local bitcoin exchange in 45 days.”

3.    In-house software

Should you feel that you want to create an entirely new Bitcoin exchange from the ground up, then you can enlist the help of several freelance programmers or a dedicated development team to do the hard work for you.

While this route is certainly the most expensive, it can also be the most rewarding.

Because of the detailed planning, time to write and debug the code, and time to test the exchange, this route is also by far the most time-consuming. Typically, creating a cryptocurrency exchange from scratch will take around a year, though a large dev team can accomplish the task in a shorter time. If you plan to create a mobile app to complement your cryptocurrency exchange website, web developers and mobile developers can work on the web app and its mobile version in parallel to speed up the process.

Step 4: Find a bank or other payment processor

In order to operate a cryptocurrency exchange, you will need a bank or other payment processor to process fiat money. This will give your customers access to digital money exchange and the possibility to buy and sell bitcoin.

You will need to keep in mind that, at the current time, not all banks support Bitcoin transactions. Finding one that will allow you to open an account for your Bitcoin exchange website might be more difficult than you expected. You can have a look at this list of crypto-friendly banks that you can consider when you’re ready to start a cryptocurrency exchange.

Since the aim of your cryptocurrency exchange is to eventually process a high volume of Bitcoin transactions, you will need to make sure that the account you plan to open is suitable for such use. If you try to use a personal account, for example, it will most certainly get shut down within a week.

Another extremely important tip when choosing a bank is to find one that offers fast payment processing. While the average time banks take to process these sorts of transactions is 2 days, some banks do manage to do it faster.

Step 5: Fire up your marketing strategy

You should have already put in motion your marketing strategy before you launched your Bitcoin exchange. Setting up a user account with all the social media sites and writing posts/articles to inform your target audience of the impending launch of your site is just one of the important steps.

Try to use the unique features of your Bitcoin exchange website to create a ‘buzz’ about the launch. Recent research has shown that the growth of cryptocurrencies is very similar to the pattern created when social media first emerged.

This indicates that word of mouth is essential to spreading the news about cryptocurrencies and exchanges. Try to tap into this the best you can. The great news is that it is entirely free!

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Targets you will need to meet to ensure your Bitcoin exchange site grows

User growth

Even if you have done plenty of work before launching your site, people are not guaranteed to jump on board immediately. Setting realistic growth targets will help keep the motivation you need to make your exchange a success. Hard work is essential, as is a can-do attitude combined with a never-give-up approach.

One area in which you can help things along is by utilizing the help of the Market Maker service to simulate liquidity. This service will create virtual transactions to generate activity on your Bitcoin exchange website. Since the price of Bitcoin never remains the same, this service will create the impression of a healthy exchange.

Security/ website sequrity

Security is a vital part of your ongoing Bitcoin exchange website development. Any security weakness or breach should be dealt with immediately and with extreme seriousness. Even if it means you stay in the office the entire weekend, making sure your site is secure is of the utmost importance.

Hackers will almost certainly target your exchange at some point, so be prepared.

Since your site will hold sensitive information such as credit card details, you should have a series of procedures in place to cope with any breaches of data. While past breaches have sought to steal users’ bitcoins, hackers might choose to steal credit card information and other personal data, too.

Keep in mind you also need to protect this data from internal staff members. For more information on the security risks related to Bitcoin exchanges, you can read this helpful article.

Maximize site uptime and page load speeds

People will be using your site to trade their hard-earned money, so your site should always seem like it is bulletproof. Slow page loading times not only frustrate users but also cost them money when it comes to buying and selling currencies. For the same reason, rapid server response to users is also vital.

As users prefer to buy using a set price feature, a delay in processing the transaction will mean a deviation in the buy/sell price from the one the user originally agreed to. While some exchanges make up the difference themselves, others use their terms and conditions to notify users of potential discrepancies.

If your site has anything less than a 99.99% uptime, it will likely result in users turning away from the site, believing it to be unsafe. If you ever have to take your site offline, ensure that you issue a press release as quickly as possible explaining the causes.

Coinbase has managed to maintain its reputation and client base thanks to good communication.

Make sure your customers are happy

Your users won’t ever get much of a chance to interact with the human face of your site, provided it has been well-designed and managed. When things do go wrong, you should make sure that you have a dedicated and friendly team of customer support agents ready to help out.

Another way to keep them happy is not to play around with the user interface too much and not to fill your cryptocurrency exchange website with ads. While ads are a good way to fill space and generate additional income, most people these days don’t like sites filled with ads.

Always seek innovative new ways to keep your site ahead

It‘s not enough to build your own Bitcoin exchange website. You shouldn‘t forget that innovation is king when it comes to any industry. Always keeping up to date with changes as well as trying to build new ways to keep your customers happy, will help your cryptocurrency exchange website to thrive.

As I mentioned earlier, allowing users to buy and sell multiple cryptocurrencies is one way to attract new users. Users have cited their frustration at sites such as Coinbase, which still only offers access to a limited number of cryptocurrencies.

Allowing users to automate buying and selling currencies is another increasingly valued service. Users can set prices at which they wish to buy and sell currencies as well as automate buy/sell volumes without needing to authorize the transition each time.

These are a few of the current changes taking place within cryptocurrency exchanges. For those crypto exchanges that can introduce new ways to make buying and selling Bitcoin easier and more user-friendly, users will inevitably flock to them in droves.

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More on security when you create a Bitcoin exchange website

We discussed the importance of security. However, we need to dive deeper. This is especially important when you develop your cryptocurrency exchange website from scratch.

How do you secure Bitcoin exchanges? Take the following steps:

• Proactively mitigate key application security vulnerabilities like injection, broken authentication, XML external interface (XXE), etc.
• Include security and compliance testing in your CI/CD pipeline, and don’t leave them as the last task in your project.
• Consider using a private cloud to run workloads that deal with sensitive information.
• Use tools and techniques like multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption, real-time threat intelligence, next-generation firewalls, and antivirus solutions.
• Secure the APIs you develop. Use authentication tokens, encryption, digital signature, secure gateways, quotas, and throttling for this.

Need help with securing your Bitcoin exchange? Check out our guide “How to secure your Fintech app.”

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The importance of code review when you build your own Bitcoin exchange

If you are creating your own Bitcoin exchange website from scratch, you must plan for a thorough code review. Indeed, you will test your cryptocurrency exchange website thoroughly. However, testing alone doesn’t unearth all defects.

Code review is especially important for security. Only experienced code reviewers can find some application security vulnerabilities.

You could find it hard to onboard experienced code reviewers. DevTeam.Space can help, as we have explained in “Why choosing DevTeam.Space to review your code can ensure your software product is a success”.

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Choose the right cloud provider when you create your own Bitcoin exchange website

You already know the importance of site uptime, fast page loading time, and scalability for your Bitcoin exchange, don’t you? How do you achieve these?

While you must use the right technology stack and follow coding best practices, these aren’t enough! You also need to choose the right cloud provider. I recommend that you use AWS, which has excellent cloud capabilities. AWS has an excellent track record vis-à-vis availability, resilience, scalability, security, and performance.

If you as a business CTO are planning to build a competent blockchain development team, DevTeam.Space can help you with its expert software developers community experienced in all the latest technologies.

Simply, write to us your Bitcoin exchange website development specifications via this form, and one of our technical managers will get back to you instantly to further discuss project development details.

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Examples of Cryptocurrency Exchange Software DevTeam.Space Developed

1. Cryptocurrency Exchange and Secure Wallet

Our development team has been central to creating all components of this cryptocurrency exchange. We’re providing ongoing support, maintenance, and improvement of the system.

2. Cryptocurrency Exchange

Our blockchain development team has been engaged in developing a cryptocurrency wallet and exchange platform. With this product, users can create crypto wallets to buy and sell fiat currency and crypto tokens.

3. DDKoin

We conducted the code audit for one of Asia’s biggest blockchain networks, DDKoin. We also adapted the ElectrumX wallet and developed smart contracts, and built the DDK cryptocurrency and blockchain network for the Asian market.

4. Algo Trading Solution

This is an algorithmic trading solution that uses four major crypto exchanges, custom order building, and technical indicators. The project that we developed from scratch included creating an admin panel to control user roles, trading accounts, and settings, as well as integration with cryptocurrency exchanges.

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Frequently Asked Questions on Creating a Bitcoin Exchange

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