Gate.io Review

Gate.io is a popular exchange for good reason. However it does have some issues. Some issues include usability, security, but most especially with customer service.

In this Gate.io review you will get to know all aspects about this popular exchange. We cover fees, previous hacks and security, services, customer support and more.

We do not usually recommend Gate.io because there are much better platforms. However we do recommend it for specific cases. Usually because it supports some cryptocurrencies that cannot be bought in many other places. Check out recommended exchanges here.
6Expert Score
Gate.io Rating

Gate.io is used by millions and a popular exchange globally. They are great because they offer 1000+ cryptos. However it is an exchange that has some issues which need to be addressed. In fact if we were to recommend an exchange we would not recommend this exchange.

Security
4
Ease of use
8
Customer support
5
Value for money
8
Positive
  • Supports 1000+ cryptos
  • Improved their security
  • Supports 14 different languages
  • Have reimbursed stolen client funds
Negatives
  • Customer support needs improvement
  • Interface issues with the site
  • The site has been hacked in the past.

Is Gate.io legit?

Gate.io is not that well known amongst native English speakers. However it is one of the largest and most popular exchanges worldwide.

In fact this exchange supports 14 different languages including English. Clients are attracted to Gate.io partly because of its massive selection of 1000+ cryptocurrencies. It also supports some lesser known cryptos that are new to the market.

Gate.io has 7 million users from 190 different countries. It supports high volumes of trades on a daily basis on its platform which are of around $2 billion. This places Gate.io among the top 20 exchanges based on 24 hour volume alone. According to Be In Crypto, Gate.io is the seventh largest cryptocurrency futures exchange.

Gate.io is a full Know Your Customer (KYC) cryptocurrency exchange that is trying to make its mark. However it is not a regulated exchange and even though it is becoming popular it has its issues.

All of this is covered in this Gate.io review. The most relevant content is highlighted in bold. However you may want to skip directly to the conclusion below for the summary.

Gate.io History

This exchange is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges. It started out in China all the way back in 2013 as Bter.com. In fact it is the oldest Chinese exchange.

Unfortunately the exchange hit a wall when China banned some crypto related services which directly affected Bter.com. As a result they pivoted to provided other crypto related services and rebranded to Gate.io in 2017.

Like this they were able to continue operations. They continued to expand their business and did so globally in 2018. By expanding their services they adjusted and complied with regulations within each country. Their headquarters are currently located in George Town in Grand Cayman.

Gate.io review: transparency

Gate.io have always prioritised their core values of transparency, security and integrity from the start. Most importantly not just because Gate.io wants to bolster their own reputation. However they want the entire crypto industry to become a more transparent and legit.

Gate.io believes strongly in the importance of transparency. So much so that in February 2020 they announced they engaged Armanino LLP. Armanino is a top US accounting and consulting company who have been independently auditing the collateral of Gate.io.

In other words Armanino ensures that Gate.io client funds are 100% backed. They do this by examining Gate.io’s blockchain signature and Merkle Tree.

Additionally clients themselves can verify that their assets are 100% backed by using this same method. This is because each user’s collateral is stored in separate leaf node on the Merkle Tree. The clients hash value is available on request. Otherwise you can check out the audit done by third parties which is available to all users.

The amount of assets on Gate.io’s platform are always equal or higher than the total amount of user assets.

Gate.io was the first crypto exchange to make this move and provide proof of collateral. It was a good move to establish trust. Hence it encouraged potential clients to sign up by providing additional reasons.

All assets are strictly financially audited. Additionally the site provides clients real-time warnings if there specific crypto is not currently available due to supply.  If you are interested you can read more about Gate.io’s 100% proof of collateral here. In that article you can see links to the audits done and other valuable information.

Gate.io review: services

Gate.io have the standard exchange and trading area you would expect from any exchange. However Gate.io continue to develop and expand the services they are able to provide. This includes the ones they offer on the gate.io platform and other websites to cater to the larger crypto community.

In their trading section they offer Spot trading and derivatives trading. Additionally they offer staking, investment plans, crypto loans, liquidity mining and more. They have their own advanced onchain wallet with support for all your coins for individuals. However they have a business solution wallet to cater for enterprises.

It’s most recent venture is its public GateChain blockchain in the DeFi ecosystem. This blockchain is to link all smart chains together. It is geared to enable cross-chain interoperability for Gate.io NFT Magic Box.

Gate.io has a program that provides funding to support high quality projects to be developed on the GateChains ecosystem. So projects will continue to be developed for the blockchain to be a success.

Gate.io review: security

In the past Gate.io was hacked multiple times. Unfortunately for them they didn’t have the best security features in place.

Back in 2014 when they were still Bter, they were hacked for 50 million worth of NXT according to Cointelegraph. Luckily for them and their clients they managed to recover back most of the funds.

Later in 2015 Bter suffered another hack where 1.75 million Bitcoin where stolen according to Cointelegraph. To make matters worse it was from cold storage which should have been safe from hackers.

Bter returned hacked funds following a security partnership as detailed on Coindesk.

Additionally Bter struck a deal with Jua.com a security firm who up till today handle their cold wallet security. They provided a loan of 1,000 Bitcoin in exchange for equity in the exchange. Jua analysed all their security-related code on Bter and completely rebuilt it.

The team at Bter/Gate.io learnt their lesson from the hacks and improved their platforms security.  

2021 PAID network hack

In March 2021 there was an attack on the PAID Network which affected Gate.io clients. Gate.io was not in any way responsible for what happened on the PAID network.

It affected Gate.io traders by over 1,000,000 PAID. The situation was not being handled very well by the PAID network. Gate.io felt that the situation was dragging on far too long. As a result Gate.io decided to reimburse those affected by the hack. Traders could finally give a sigh of relief knowing that the whole ordeal was over.

The hack was not a hugely expensive one for Gate.io, but it still costed the company money. Above all Gate.io wanted their clients to continue to trust that they were going to do right by them. It was the right move on their part.

Additional security

Gate.io have basic security in place for clients; SMS and 2-Factor Authentication. SMS is not a secure method because if you experience a SIM swap attack your account will get compromised.

So we always suggest that you use 2FA. For 2FA you would need to use Google Authenticator. Unfortunately Gate.io do not support security keys which is the best form of security they could enable for their clients.

Similarly to Kraken which is a top exchange, Gate.io have a Bug and Security Suggestions Bounty program. Users that find critical issues that would compromise security are rewarded with USDT tokens for their effort. The more critical the issue the higher the bounty amount you will receive.

This ensures that Gate.io get suggestions from the public to enhance their security.

Hardware wallets

Due to the hacks on Gate.io and other exchanges we suggest you use a hardware wallet to store crypto. Hardware wallet have been around for years and have no history of hacks. They are a way of putting your coins in cold storage and is the recommend best practice in the industry. Hence we recommend either Ledger or Trezor. Read the Ledger review here and the Trezor review here.

Supported countries

The exchange is available to all native English speaking countries. The US is included bar a couple of states which are Washington and New York.

Additionally there are some countries or areas that are not supported. These are Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan and Venezuela.

Supported cryptocurrencies

Gate.io supports 1000+ cryptocurrencies.

Gate.io review: issues

Interface

Most customers seem to be okay with Gate.io. It is a popular exchange. This is not to judge the other languages on the site, but it lacks quality checking on the English version.

On some parts of the site there are symbols used that would not be used in English and spelling mistakes. There are sentences constructed in a way that would not be written in that way by a native speaker. Sometimes they use capital letters sometimes they don’t. Elements and content are misaligned and overall the site looks inconsistent.

Additionally the site suffers from some bugs and user experience issues. The issues could be easily fixed which would be good if they did. It would vastly improve the experience on the site. However the main areas for exchanging and trading work well.

The site is similar to other competitor sites. So if you are familiar with other exchanges or trading platforms then you will find it is easy to navigate.

Customer service

Customer service is available 24/7. However a lot of people complain publicly about support being non-existent.

Their live chat doesn’t even work properly. It is good that their live chat mentions how long you will wait. However the window doesn’t keep updating the amount of time you will wait in real-time. So the time comes and goes and you are left hanging.

Instead of live chat you can submit a ticket with your issue.

Unfortunately customer service do not seem to follow up with all customers. Gate.io do not follow up in the public domain. Which makes it overall look unprofessional.

Gate.io review: deposits and withdrawals

Gate.io is not transparent when it comes to outlining all the fees associated with transactions. They list a bunch of fees associated with crypto, but neglect to disclose fees associated with fiat. 

In the past Gate.io used to only support crypto to crypto exchange. However it is now supporting fiat to crypto exchanges. You are able to deposit fiat by bank transfer or use your credit card.

They accept USD / EUR / GBP / HKD / SGD / AUD / CHF / MXN.

Gate.io does not mention certain transaction fees on their site. However as is standard across exchanges there are usually additional fees when you chose to use a credit card. Bank transfer is your cheapest option with no additional fees.

If you chose to deposit cryptocurrency there are no fees. However there are fees when you go to withdraw your funds. They vary depending on the crypto you are looking to withdraw. It is usually a flat rate. With for example Bitcoin you have a flat fees of 0.001BTC.

There are also daily withdrawal limits. Like for example for Bitcoin its 100BTC per day. If you exceed these limits you will need split you transactions over a couple of days or a few days. Alternatively you can get in touch with customer support to increase your limit. However you will need to provide more documents for KYC purposes.

Gate.io review conclusion

To sum up this Gate.io review, Gate.io is a large and popular exchange. Even though it is not that well known by native English speakers.

It is a good exchange in the sense that it supports a bucket load of cryptocurrencies. Including cryptocurrencies that are not generally supported by other exchanges.

They have done great strides in trying to build a complete ecosystem for Gate.io with all sorts of services. As a result they will appeal to a wider audience and continue to grow their brand.

Their security has been improved overall on the site. However they still need to do more work and continue to improve it. Offering SMS authentication is not good security and 2-Factor Authentication should include the option of security keys.  

Gate.io aim to be transparent and have compensated clients for lost funds. This is a great thing to do for credibility and trust. They even compensated users for a hack which was no fault of their own. Kudos to them.

However they need to do more when it comes to communication. Some basic information on the site for clients is sparse at times and needs to be made available. Additionally customer support is inefficient and inadequate.

Although by far they are not the only large exchange that has issues with support, it is not an excuse. Early adopters of crypto are okay with bugs and issues. However for mainstream adopters these issues are not going to fly.

Gate.io needs to place more focus on fixing bugs which hamper users, security and customer service. When it does make some notable progress we will happily review and update its overall score on our site.

Alternatives to Gate.io

There are other exchanges that you may want to consider if the issues outlined put you off Gate.io. If you want an overall great exchange Kraken is the best. Kraken offers competitive fees if you use the Kraken terminal. Additionally their website works well, their customers service is prompt and effective and they have great security.

They are a professional team that have had no breaches in security. In other words their site has never been hacked. If you would like to check out Kraken here or check out the Kraken review. If you would like to have some other options you can have a look at our recommended exchanges list.

FAQs

What is Gate.io?

Gate.io is a cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform. You can buy and sell over 1000 cryptocurrencies on Gate.io which is a large range. Gate.io has been around since 2013, but has a tainted past since it was hacked. Millions use the exchange. However we recommend other exchanges as it has several issues that need to be addressed.

Is Gate.io legal?

Yes Gate.io is legal and operational in most countries around the world. However some clients do not have access to their full services. This would depend on their country of residence. As a result some people might have a smaller selection of cryptos they can buy and sell. Additionally they may not have access to lending or margin trading and some other services.

Where is Gate.io located?

Gate.io are currently located in George Town, Grand Cayman in the Caribbean as mentioned on their LinkedIn page.

Is Gate.io a good crypto exchange?

Gate.io is used by millions of people around the world and is a popular exchange. They have done good by their customers in the past to compensate clients of stolen funds. Many people have not had problems using this exchange. However the exchange needs to improve their transparency on fees, security, interface and usability and customer service. We recommend other exchanges over Gate.io.
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