BTCC is one of the oldest crypto exchanges still running. It started in China in June 2011 as BTC China, left the Chinese market in September 2017, and was bought by an unnamed Hong Kong blockchain investment fund in January 2018. Today the user agreement is with BTCC Limited, a Hong Kong company (CR No. 1956541). Its main product is perpetual futures settled in USDT, USDC or coin, plus spot, copy trading, demo trading and TradFi contracts on tokenized stocks, gold and forex. A regular VIP0 user pays 0.055% taker and 0.03% maker on futures; the fee page lists spot at 0.3% taker and 0.2% maker (checked 2026-10-19). Of the three registrations BTCC claims (US FinCEN, Canada FINTRAC and Lithuania), we could confirm only one FinCEN record, for BTCC USA Limited. South Korea blocked BTCC's website on 13 October 2026 as one of 27 unregistered operators.
This review uses BTCC's website, help center, user agreement and public web API, plus regulator registers and major news outlets. It covers the company, licences and regulator actions, products, fees, proof of reserves, security record, restricted regions and who the exchange suits. Fee details are in BTCC fees and futures rules in BTCC futures guide.
BTCC at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 2011 (BTCC "About" page) |
| Contracting entity | BTCC Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong, CR No. 1956541; the privacy policy gives an address in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon |
| Main products | USDT-M, USDC-M and coin-M perpetual futures; spot; futures copy trading; demo trading (100,000 USDT virtual funds); TradFi contracts (metals, commodities, forex, tokenized stocks); Earn |
| VIP0 futures fees | 0.055% taker, 0.03% maker |
| VIP0 spot fees | Fee page shows 0.3% taker, 0.2% maker (same at every VIP level) |
| Liquidation fee | 1% on BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, DOGE and a few other main contracts; 1.2% on the rest |
| Proof of reserves | Merkle tree, published monthly; 2026-10-15 report shows USDT 115%, BTC 147% |
| Risk reserve fund | 25.5 million ("as of July 2026", per BTCC) |
| Accounts per person | One active account per user (user agreement) |
Sources: About BTCC, user agreement (page updated 2026-10-19), VIP and fees page (tier data from the site's public interface), liquidation fee rules, risk reserve fund, checked 2026-10-19.
Company background: from BTC China to a Hong Kong company
BTCC began as BTC China, one of the first bitcoin exchanges in China. It closed its Chinese business in September 2017 as regulators tightened. On 30 January 2018 Bitcoin Magazine reported that a Hong Kong blockchain investment fund had bought BTCC; neither the buyer's name nor the price was disclosed (Bitcoin Magazine). BTCC's About page claims 11 million registered users, four bitcoin halvings and "0 security breaches". Those are BTCC's own figures.
The user agreement is governed by Hong Kong law. Disputes go through a complaints process first, then mediation and arbitration. Some clauses mention arbitration by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Singapore's FAST transfer network, which looks like wording carried over from other templates. How they apply in practice is for BTCC to confirm.
Licences and regulator actions: BTCC's claims vs the registers
BTCC's website says it holds licences from FinCEN in the US and FINTRAC in Canada, and a crypto licence from Lithuania's Registrar of Legal Entities. Here is what the registers showed on 2026-10-19:
| Region | BTCC's claim | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| United States | FinCEN licence | The FinCEN MSB register lists BTCC USA Limited (Aurora, Colorado), registered for money transmission, sale of money orders and foreign exchange, received 2025-04-14. An MSB filing is an anti-money-laundering registration. It is not a state money transmitter licence, and FinCEN does not review the platform's finances |
| Canada | FINTRAC licence | The FINTRAC MSB search page could not be reached during this check, so this is not verified |
| EU | Lithuanian crypto licence | Lithuania's old virtual asset registration regime ended with the MiCA transition. BTCC is not in ESMA's MiCA register, and it is not on the non-compliant entities list either |
| Hong Kong | (contracting entity is in Hong Kong) | Not on the SFC list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms; not on the SFC suspicious platforms alert list |
| South Korea | None | The Financial Intelligence Unit announced on 2026-10-13 that, after review by the Korea Communications Standards Commission on 6 and 7 October, 27 websites of unregistered virtual asset operators would be blocked. BTCC is on the list (Financial News, Seoul Economic Daily) |
| Japan | None | BTCC does not appear among the warning letters on the Japan FSA crypto page |
| Indonesia | None | Not on OJK Satgas PASTI's June 2026 list of 228 entities submitted for blocking |
Seoul Economic Daily reported that about two months after BTCC's exchange app was blocked in Korea, BTCC added trading features to its wallet app, BTCC Wallet, and kept operating. That app was later removed from the Apple and Google stores. Under Korean law, operating without registration can bring up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won, and the penalty falls on the operator.
An anti-money-laundering registration (MSB, FINTRAC) is different from a full operating licence. It mainly requires the firm to run KYC and report suspicious transactions; it does not mean a regulator has checked its capital or how it holds client assets. See crypto exchange licences by country for other exchanges.
Products: mainly futures, plus TradFi and copy trading
- Perpetual futures: USDT-M, USDC-M and coin-M. The Trust Center page mentions 400+ perpetual pairs. Maximum leverage is stated differently across the site (the homepage says up to 500x on BTC and ETH USDT perpetuals, other pages say 250x); go by what the order form allows.
- Unusual liquidation rules: BTCC's standard perpetuals check liquidation against the platform's two-way quotes (longs against the best bid, shorts against the best ask). An account is liquidated when its balance falls below used margin × 40%, and there is no maintenance margin rate. Details in the BTCC futures guide.
- TradFi: contracts on gold, oil, forex and tokenized stocks, advertised with 0 trading fees. Positions held past the daily settlement pay a rollover fee; crypto futures do not.
- Copy trading: futures copy trading, not available in some regions (see below).
- Demo trading: USDT-M and coin-M futures with 100,000 USDT in virtual funds.
- Spot and Convert: spot trading and instant conversion are available, on a smaller scale than futures.
- Earn: the menu advertises "Principal & Interest Guaranteed" and high APRs; terms are on each product page. Exchange earn products are not bank deposits and have no deposit insurance if the platform fails.
Fees in brief
BTCC updates VIP levels daily at 17:00 UTC. You qualify by total assets, 30-day futures volume or 30-day spot volume, and any one of them is enough. VIP1 needs 200 USDT in assets, or 500,000 USDT of 30-day futures volume, or 100,000 USDT of 30-day spot volume.
| Level | Futures taker / maker | Spot taker / maker | Fees coverable by coupons | Withdrawal fee discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIP0 | 0.055% / 0.03% | 0.3% / 0.2% | None | None |
| VIP1 | 0.05% / 0.025% | 0.3% / 0.2% | 10% | 10% |
| VIP3 | 0.04% / 0.02% | 0.3% / 0.2% | 15% | 20% |
| VIP7 | 0.015% / 0.01% | 0.3% / 0.2% | 35% | 60% |
Source: BTCC VIP and fees page, checked 2026-10-19. All nine levels, thresholds and withdrawal fees are in BTCC fees.
BTCC's VIP0 futures taker fee of 0.055% matches Bybit and is a little above the 0.05% at Binance, OKX and Gate. The 0.3% / 0.2% in the spot column is two to three times the usual 0.1%, so check the order form before buying spot. The 1% to 1.2% liquidation fee is also higher than at most exchanges, so factor it into the cost of a liquidation.
Proof of reserves and the risk reserve fund
BTCC publishes proof of reserves every month, using a Merkle tree so users can check their own balance is included. The site's public interface shows these ratios for the 2026-10-15 report: BTC 147%, ADA 160%, XRP 136%, ETH 123%, USDT 115%, USDC 111% (BTCC proof of reserves). BTCC's pages do not name a third-party accountant or auditor. The CertiK work mentioned on the Trust Center page is penetration testing, not a reserve audit. Verification steps and limits are in BTCC proof of reserves.
The risk reserve fund is funded by BTCC: it started with 1 million USDT and receives 5% of platform fee income. It covers negative balances after liquidation and compensation for system failures. BTCC says it does not socialize losses, so profits are not clawed back from other users when an account goes bankrupt.
Security record
BTCC claims "0 security breaches" and no customer losses to hacks. We found no report in major outlets of a BTCC hack that cost users money, though that only means we found no public record. Measures BTCC lists: multi-signature cold storage, 1:1 storage of customer assets that are not lent out, AML screening through Sumsub, deposit and withdrawal monitoring through Chainalysis, two-factor authentication and an automatic lock after repeated failed logins. Changing your login password, fund password, phone or email pauses withdrawals for 24 hours.
Restricted regions
BTCC's user agreement has no full list of banned countries. It only excludes sanctioned persons, people living in sanctioned jurisdictions and anyone barred by local law, and the website shows a "service unavailable in your region" notice based on IP. The help center's copy trading FAQ lists regions where copy trading is not available: Zimbabwe, Jordan, Iran, Somalia, the Cayman Islands, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Bermuda, Haiti, Cuba, Syria, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mainland China (BTCC copy trading FAQ, updated 2026-10-15).
- United States: not on the copy trading list. The KYC guide says fiat withdrawal is "currently not supported for U.S. users".
- Mainland China: on the copy trading list; BTCC left the Chinese market in 2017.
- Hong Kong: the contracting company is in Hong Kong, but it is not SFC-licensed.
- Indonesia: copy trading not available; BTCC is not on OJK's June 2026 blocking list.
- South Korea: website and app blocked (see above).
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Running since 2011; BTCC says it has never been hacked | Of the licences claimed, only one FinCEN MSB registration could be confirmed; not in the SFC or EU MiCA registers |
| Futures, TradFi, copy trading and demo trading in one account | South Korea blocked the website in October 2026 and the app was pulled |
| Monthly proof of reserves, all main coins above 100% | No third-party auditor named on the proof of reserves |
| Low VIP1 threshold (200 USDT in assets) | 1% to 1.2% liquidation fee; 0.3% / 0.2% in the spot fee column |
| Risk reserve covers negative balances; no socialized losses | Liquidation uses two-way quotes, so it can trigger before the chart price reaches your level |
Who BTCC suits
It suits traders who mainly use USDT perpetuals, want gold or tokenized stock contracts in the same account, and use stop-losses to size positions. VIP1 only needs 200 USDT in assets, so small accounts can reach 0.05% / 0.025% on futures.
It suits spot-focused users less (the spot fee column is high), and it is not for people in South Korea or the copy trading restricted regions, or anyone who needs a locally licensed platform. Before using BTCC, check that you may legally use it where you live, and don't keep large balances on the exchange.
Risks
Futures can wipe out your margin very quickly, and BTCC's liquidation fee is higher than most. Licences, reserve ratios and security records change; this review is a snapshot from 2026-10-19. Keep only the money you are actively trading on an exchange and move long-term holdings to your own wallet.
FAQ
Which country is BTCC based in?
The user agreement is with BTCC Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong (CR No. 1956541). BTCC started in China in 2011 as BTC China and left the Chinese market in 2017.
Is BTCC licensed?
BTCC says it is registered with FinCEN in the US and FINTRAC in Canada and licensed in Lithuania. We confirmed an MSB registration for BTCC USA Limited on the FinCEN register. FINTRAC could not be checked, and BTCC is not in ESMA's MiCA register or on the Hong Kong SFC licensed list.
Is BTCC safe? Has it been hacked?
BTCC says it has never been hacked, and we found no major-outlet report of user funds lost to a BTCC hack. The 2026-10-15 proof of reserves shows a 115% USDT ratio, but no third-party auditor is named.
What are BTCC's fees?
VIP0 futures: 0.055% taker, 0.03% maker. The fee page's spot column says 0.3% taker, 0.2% maker. Liquidation fee: 1% or 1.2%.
How many BTCC accounts can one person have?
One. The user agreement allows one active account per user, and one identity can only be verified on one account.
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