Ethfinex Review: What Happened to This Crypto Exchange and Why It Matters

When you hear Ethfinex, a now-defunct crypto exchange that merged with Poloniex and once ranked among the top 10 global platforms by volume. Also known as Ethfinex Exchange, it was one of the first platforms to blend traditional finance tools with Ethereum-based trading—offering margin, limit orders, and deep liquidity for ERC-20 tokens. Ethfinex wasn’t just another exchange. It was built by the same team behind Poloniex, a major crypto exchange known for its strong institutional trading features and early adoption of altcoins. Also known as Poloniex, it became a go-to for traders who wanted more than just buy/sell buttons. In 2018, they merged under the Poloniex name, shutting down Ethfinex’s standalone platform. No big announcement. No fanfare. Just a quiet fade-out.

Why does this matter now? Because Ethfinex’s collapse wasn’t about bad tech—it was about bad timing. It launched when crypto was still wild west, and regulators hadn’t caught up. It offered advanced trading tools like margin and leverage, but never got a clear license. Meanwhile, competitors like Binance and Kraken moved fast to get compliance, while Ethfinex stayed in legal gray zones. By 2020, user volume dropped. Customer support vanished. The website stopped updating. Today, if you search for Ethfinex, you’ll find old forum posts, archived tweets, and scam sites pretending to be the real thing.

What’s left of Ethfinex lives in the lessons it left behind. First, decentralized exchange, a type of crypto platform that lets users trade directly without holding their funds. Also known as DEX, it’s now the standard for safety—but Ethfinex was a centralized exchange that promised decentralization without the tech. Second, liquidity matters more than features. Ethfinex had deep order books, but when trust vanished, so did the traders. Third, if you’re using a platform that doesn’t clearly say where it’s registered, you’re gambling. The best exchanges today don’t hide their licenses—they display them. Ethfinex didn’t. And that’s why it disappeared.

You’ll find posts here about exchanges that are still alive, those that got shut down, and others that were scams from day one. Some are regulated. Some are dead. Some never existed. The Ethfinex story isn’t just history—it’s a warning. If you’re trading on a platform that doesn’t answer your questions, doesn’t show its legal status, or vanishes without notice, you’re not investing. You’re guessing. The articles below show you what to look for—and what to run from.