CrossTower Crypto Exchange Review: What Happened and Why It Faded
Apr, 22 2025
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Why This Matters
Trading volume is the most critical metric for institutional adoption. Exchanges with low volume (below $100M daily) struggle to maintain reliable pricing and liquidity. Wilshire Indexes requires minimum standards that CrossTower failed to meet, resulting in demotion from institutional benchmarks.
When CrossTower launched in 2020, it didnât look like another crypto exchange. It promised something different: a bridge between Wall Street and crypto. Founded by ex-Citadel and Deutsche Bank veterans, it targeted institutional clients with prime brokerage-style services - trade financing, lending, structured products. It even got a license from Bermudaâs financial regulator. For a while, it felt like the real deal.
But by May 2023, everything changed. Wilshire Indexes, one of the most respected names in digital asset indexing, removed CrossTower from its list of contributing exchanges. Why? Because it failed to meet minimum standards for trading volume, liquidity, and market integrity - twice in a row. Thatâs not a minor hiccup. Thatâs a death sentence in institutional crypto.
What CrossTower Actually Offered
CrossTower wasnât built for casual traders. It had a spot market, yes - you could buy Bitcoin and Ethereum. But its real focus was its capital markets desk. This wasnât just a trading platform. It was designed like a boutique prime broker, serving hedge funds and family offices with up to $500 million in assets under management.
It supported fiat deposits via wire transfer and credit cards, which made it accessible for newcomers. Mobile apps were available on both iOS and Android. The fee structure was aggressive: market makers paid 0.05%, takers paid 0%. Thatâs unusually low - even lower than Binanceâs lowest tier at the time. But hereâs the catch: those low fees only mattered if people were actually trading in volume.
It also had a referral program: 25% commission on all trading fees generated by people you referred, forever. A nice perk, but not enough to drive mass adoption when the platform felt closed-off to retail users.
The Institutional Promise - and the Collapse
CrossTowerâs founders didnât want to be Kraken or Coinbase. They wanted to be J.P. Morganâs crypto desk - but smaller, faster, and built from scratch. Greg Bunn, their Chief Strategy Officer, came from Citadel. He said they wanted their institutional platform to âlook and feel a little bit like what you see in the prime brokerage space.â That sounded promising.
But institutions donât care about slick websites or low fees. They care about reliability. They care about depth. They care about being able to execute $10 million trades without moving the market. And thatâs where CrossTower fell apart.
Wilshire Indexes uses CC Dataâs Exchange Benchmark to evaluate over 150 crypto exchanges. To be included in the FT Wilshire Digital Asset Index Series, you need consistent order book depth, tight spreads, low slippage, and high trading volume. CrossTower failed those tests. Twice. And thatâs not something you recover from.
Compare that to exchanges that stayed on the list: Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, Gemini. These platforms handle billions in daily volume. CrossTower? It struggled to hit $100 million. Thatâs less than 0.5% of what Coinbase processes in a single day.
Why Retail Users Stayed Away
Even if you didnât care about institutional benchmarks, CrossTower felt⊠empty. There were no TikTok-style tutorials. No educational content. No vibrant community forums. No influencers pushing it. You couldnât find honest Reddit threads full of user stories - because there werenât any.
ICORankings called it a âregulation-driven exchange with low retail pull.â Thatâs accurate. CrossTower spent its energy on legal compliance and institutional sales, not on making the experience easy or exciting for everyday users.
Most retail traders donât care if an exchange has a Bermuda license. They care if they can buy Dogecoin with their debit card, if the app doesnât crash, and if customer support replies within 24 hours. CrossTower didnât prioritize those things. And when you donât, people leave.
Thereâs no evidence of user complaints because there were hardly any users. Thatâs the quietest kind of failure.
How It Compared to the Big Players
Hereâs how CrossTower stacked up against the leaders in 2025:
| Feature | CrossTower | Coinbase | Kraken | Bitstamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulatory License | Bermuda Monetary Authority | US (FinCEN, NYDFS) | US (FinCEN), EU | Luxembourg, EU |
| Daily Trading Volume | <$100M (estimated) | $3B+ | $1.5B+ | $800M+ |
| Wilshire Index Status | Demoted (May 2023) | Active Contributor | Active Contributor | Active Contributor |
| Fiat On-Ramp | Yes (wire, card) | Yes (multiple options) | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Market Maker Fees | 0.05% | 0.00%-0.40% | 0.00%-0.16% | 0.00%-0.25% |
| Target Audience | Institutional (limited retail) | Both | Both | Both |
Notice the gap? CrossTowerâs volume is a fraction of the others. Its license is less recognized than U.S. or EU ones. And its demotion from Wilshireâs index means even institutional investors who rely on benchmark data avoid it.
Was It Ever a Good Choice?
For a short window - late 2020 to early 2022 - maybe. If you were a small fund with $50M to $200M to trade and wanted a clean, compliant platform, CrossTower had potential. It offered things most retail exchanges didnât: margin lending, trade financing, structured notes.
But even then, it was risky. You were betting on a startup with no proven track record in crypto. And by mid-2023, that bet collapsed. No new features. No marketing. No press releases. Just silence.
Then came the headline in The Royal Gazette in January 2024: âCrossTower Bermuda: The Latest Crypto Casualty.â That wasnât a metaphor. It was an obituary.
What Happened to CrossTower Now?
As of October 2025, CrossTowerâs website still loads. The apps still work. But the order books are thin. Liquidity is low. Customer support responses are slow. No new assets have been added since 2023. No team updates. No product roadmaps.
The institutional clients it once courted have all moved on. The retail users never came. And without either group, the platform became a ghost.
Itâs not officially shut down. But itâs not operating either. Itâs in limbo - a relic of a time when crypto thought it could out-institutionalize Wall Street without the scale to back it up.
Should You Use CrossTower Today?
No.
If youâre a retail trader: go with Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini. Theyâre reliable, liquid, and have real customer support. Youâll get better prices, faster execution, and actual help when something goes wrong.
If youâre an institution: avoid it. Wilshire Indexes removed it for a reason. You canât build a portfolio around an exchange thatâs not trusted to provide accurate price data.
Even if youâre curious about its legacy - donât deposit funds. Donât trade. Donât risk your assets on a platform thatâs clearly fading.
CrossTowerâs story isnât about bad technology. Itâs about bad strategy. Trying to serve two markets - retail and institutional - without dominating either one. Itâs a cautionary tale for every crypto startup that thinks compliance alone is enough.
Real adoption doesnât come from licenses. It comes from volume. From trust. From users who keep coming back.
CrossTower had none of that.
Is CrossTower still operational in 2025?
CrossTowerâs website and apps are still accessible as of October 2025, but the platform is effectively inactive. There are no new product updates, no meaningful trading volume, and no institutional or retail engagement. It is not officially closed, but it is no longer functioning as a viable exchange.
Why was CrossTower removed from Wilshire Indexes?
Wilshire Indexes removed CrossTower in May 2023 because it failed to meet minimum standards for trading volume, liquidity, and market integrity in two consecutive semi-annual reviews. The exchangeâs order books were too shallow, spreads were too wide, and trading activity was too low to be considered a reliable price source for institutional indexes.
Can I still deposit fiat into CrossTower?
Technically, yes - the platform still lists wire transfers and credit/debit card deposits as options. However, with low liquidity and minimal trading activity, depositing funds offers little practical benefit. Withdrawals may also be delayed due to reduced operational capacity.
Was CrossTower safe to use?
CrossTower held a license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, which provided a baseline level of regulatory oversight. However, regulatory compliance does not guarantee safety or reliability. Its lack of trading volume, institutional trust, and user activity raises serious concerns about its long-term viability and operational health.
What happened to CrossTowerâs institutional clients?
After the Wilshire demotion in May 2023, institutional clients quietly migrated to exchanges like Coinbase Institutional, Bitstamp, and Kraken - all of which maintained their index status and offered deeper liquidity. CrossTowerâs client base evaporated because it could no longer meet their basic requirements for reliable trading and pricing.
Is CrossTowerâs referral program still active?
The referral program - offering 25% commission on referred usersâ trading fees - is still listed on the website. But since trading volume is near zero, earning commissions is nearly impossible. The program exists on paper only.
What to Do Instead
If youâre looking for a crypto exchange in 2025, donât chase the next big thing. Look for the ones that have survived.
Use Coinbase if you want simplicity and U.S. regulation. Use Kraken if you want deep liquidity and global access. Use Bitstamp if youâre in Europe and want a clean, long-standing platform.
None of them are perfect. But theyâre alive. Theyâre trading. Theyâre trusted.
CrossTower was a bold idea that ran out of fuel. Donât make the same mistake.
Mehak Sharma
November 1, 2025 AT 23:55CrossTower wasn't doomed by bad tech-it was killed by arrogance. They thought institutional trust came from fancy titles and Bermuda licenses, not from consistent liquidity or market depth. Real finance moves on volume, not paperwork. You can't build a bridge between Wall Street and crypto if you're the only one standing on your side of the river.
Sammy Krigs
November 2, 2025 AT 21:02wait so they had a bermuda license but no one traded? lmao that's like having a drivers license but never leaving the driveway
Masechaba Setona
November 4, 2025 AT 10:23Of course it failed. The whole crypto world is a pyramid scheme dressed in blockchain pajamas. Institutions don't care about 'liquidity'-they care about control. CrossTower was too honest. They didn't inflate volumes or bribe index providers. That's why they vanished. The real winners? The ones who lied louder.
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Jason Coe
November 5, 2025 AT 01:48I remember when CrossTower first launched-I thought they had a real shot. The team had legit Wall Street creds, the fee structure was insane, and they actually seemed to understand institutional needs. But then⊠nothing. No marketing, no updates, no community. It felt like they got the funding, built the product, and then just⊠gave up. No one wants to be the last person at a party when the music stops.
And honestly, retail users didnât leave because they were snobs-they left because there was literally nothing to do there. No memes, no tutorials, no chatrooms. Just a sterile platform with a 0.05% fee and a whole lot of silence.
Brett Benton
November 5, 2025 AT 03:40Man, I used to check CrossTower every day hoping theyâd blow up. I even referred three friends. Got zero trading volume from them. Zero. It was like trying to throw a party in an abandoned mall. The lights were on, the door was unlocked, but nobody showed up. And now? The app still opens but the order book looks like a ghost town at 3am. RIP.
At least they had the decency to not scam people. Just⊠forgot to build a customer base.
David Roberts
November 5, 2025 AT 12:22The Wilshire demotion was the death knell, no doubt. But the real issue was their misalignment of incentives. They targeted institutions with low fees, but institutions need depth, not arbitrage. Low fees without liquidity = zero execution quality. They confused cost efficiency with market quality. A classic startup delusion. Also, Bermuda license? Thatâs like getting a permit from a tropical island to run a nuclear plant.
Monty Tran
November 6, 2025 AT 22:01CrossTower didn't fail. The market failed them. Everyone else is just jealous because they tried to do something real instead of pumping tokens on TikTok. The fact that they got removed from Wilshire proves the system is rigged. Institutions are scared of innovation. They want to keep their $3B daily volume monopoly. CrossTower was the whistleblower. Now it's dead.
Beth Devine
November 8, 2025 AT 13:22It's sad but not surprising. Crypto startups often forget that trust isn't built with licenses-it's built with consistency. CrossTower had potential, but consistency was missing. No updates, no engagement, no energy. It's like a restaurant with gourmet food but no waitstaff. You can have the best ingredients, but if no one feels welcome, you're just cooking for yourself.
Brian McElfresh
November 8, 2025 AT 22:53They never really existed. This whole thing was a front for money laundering. Bermuda license? Totally fake. The âtrading volumeâ was bot-generated. Wilshire caught it. The apps still work because theyâre just placeholders. Theyâre waiting for a white-hat hacker to expose the whole thing. Donât deposit. Donât even look at the site. Itâs a honeypot.
Hanna Kruizinga
November 9, 2025 AT 06:49Can we talk about how the entire crypto industry is just a series of failed startups pretending to be banks? CrossTower was just the latest. I didnât even know they existed until this post. Thatâs the problem. No one cared. And now theyâre gone. No drama. No fanfare. Just⊠quiet. Like a candle snuffed in a library.
David James
November 10, 2025 AT 10:22Low fees sound great but mean nothing if no oneâs trading. Itâs like opening a gas station in the desert. You can have the cheapest fuel, but if no cars come, youâre just sitting there with a pump and a dream. CrossTower had the dream. They just didnât have the road.
Shaunn Graves
November 11, 2025 AT 13:37Why are people still surprised by this? Crypto exchanges that ignore retail are doomed. Retail is the fuel. Institutions are the passengers. You donât get passengers without fuel. CrossTower acted like institutions were the only real customers. Thatâs like a car company thinking only CEOs matter and ignoring everyone else. Of course they crashed.
Jessica Hulst
November 13, 2025 AT 09:19Itâs poetic, really. They built a temple for institutional gods, but forgot that gods need worshippers. No one came to pray. No one even knocked on the door. They had the architecture of finance, but none of the soul. And now? The temple stands, untouched, covered in dust, with a plaque that says âOpen 24/7â-but the lights are off, the candles are out, and the altar is empty.
Maybe the lesson isnât that they failed. Maybe itâs that we all believed they could succeed.
Kaela Coren
November 13, 2025 AT 20:43Statistical analysis of exchange viability correlates strongly with three factors: trading volume, regulatory recognition, and user engagement. CrossTower scored zero on the latter two post-2022. The Bermuda license, while technically valid, lacks global recognition in institutional frameworks. Wilshireâs removal was not punitive-it was descriptive. The data reflected reality. The platformâs continued existence is merely an artifact of legacy infrastructure, not operational viability.
Nabil ben Salah Nasri
November 15, 2025 AT 16:33Man, I remember when CrossTower had that sleek UI and the referral program. I sent my cousin a link and he signed up. We both waited⊠and waited⊠and waited. Nothing happened. No trades. No support replies. Just a spinning wheel and a âWelcomeâ banner. I still have the email they sent me about âupcoming features.â It was dated April 2022. đ
Now I use Kraken. They even have a meme channel on Discord. CrossTower had⊠nothing. Not even a cat video.
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