What are Cryptocurrency Exchanges?

Cryptocurrency Exchange, also known as Digital Currency Exchange, are trading platforms that help you trade cryptocurrencies including digital and fiat currencies. They act as an intermediary between a buyer and a seller. They make money through commissions and transaction fees.

These Cryptocurrency Exchanges send cryptocurrency to a user’s personal cryptocurrency wallet which is secured by a private key. A cryptocurrency exchange can also be called a bricks-and-mortar business which is strictly online. As a bricks-and-mortar business, it exchanges traditional payment methods and digital currencies. As an online business, it trades electronically transferred money and digital currencies.

What are Trading Platforms?

A trading platform is a software that enables the trading of different digital assets. They enable a user to buy and sell digital assets. Digital Assets like stocks, cryptocurrencies, digital art, etc, can be traded online through this software. As a result, these are the tools used to execute market positions.

When deciding which platform to use, traders and investors should consider the features available and the fees charged for trading. There are hundreds of platforms that enable trading cryptocurrencies across the world. They are available from desktop apps to mobile apps irrespective of the operating systems.

Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms in India

There are several trading platforms available in India where one can buy/sell cryptocurrencies. Some of them are listed chronologically:

• Unocoin – 2013
• btcxIndia – 2013
• CoinSecure – 2014
• Belfrics – 2014
• Zebpay – 2015
• bitxoxo – 2016
• BuyUcoin – 2016
• ThroughBit – 2016
• PocketBits – 2017
• Flitpay – 2017
• CoinDelta – 2017
• Koinex – 2017
• CoinSwitch – 2017
• Coinome – 2017
• Redipay – 2017
• WazirX – 2017

Difference between Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Trading Platforms

A cryptocurrency exchange simply matches buyers with sellers like a traditional stock exchange. It is a service for exchanging crypto to fiat and vice versa. Usually, it works like this: customers send money using a bank transfer and exchange is sending them coins for their purchase.

Trading Platforms on the other hand also enable to buy of cryptocurrencies for fiat. However, the main feature that separates it from exchanges is it enables the trade of coins between people. Usually, the trading process is complicated since it requires basic trading knowledge. The buyers and the sellers dictate the price. Also, these platforms provide more features compared to exchanges.