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 didn’t 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 Bermuda’s 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. That’s not a minor hiccup. That’s a death sentence in institutional crypto.
What CrossTower Actually Offered
CrossTower wasn’t 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 wasn’t 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%. That’s unusually low - even lower than Binance’s lowest tier at the time. But here’s 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
CrossTower’s founders didn’t want to be Kraken or Coinbase. They wanted to be J.P. Morgan’s 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 “look and feel a little bit like what you see in the prime brokerage space.” That sounded promising.
But institutions don’t 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 that’s where CrossTower fell apart.
Wilshire Indexes uses CC Data’s 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 that’s 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. That’s less than 0.5% of what Coinbase processes in a single day.
Why Retail Users Stayed Away
Even if you didn’t 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 couldn’t find honest Reddit threads full of user stories - because there weren’t any.
ICORankings called it a “regulation-driven exchange with low retail pull.” That’s 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 don’t care if an exchange has a Bermuda license. They care if they can buy Dogecoin with their debit card, if the app doesn’t crash, and if customer support replies within 24 hours. CrossTower didn’t prioritize those things. And when you don’t, people leave.
There’s no evidence of user complaints because there were hardly any users. That’s the quietest kind of failure.
How It Compared to the Big Players
Here’s 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? CrossTower’s volume is a fraction of the others. Its license is less recognized than U.S. or EU ones. And its demotion from Wilshire’s 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 didn’t: 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: “CrossTower Bermuda: The Latest Crypto Casualty.” That wasn’t a metaphor. It was an obituary.
What Happened to CrossTower Now?
As of October 2025, CrossTower’s 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.
It’s not officially shut down. But it’s not operating either. It’s 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 you’re a retail trader: go with Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini. They’re reliable, liquid, and have real customer support. You’ll get better prices, faster execution, and actual help when something goes wrong.
If you’re an institution: avoid it. Wilshire Indexes removed it for a reason. You can’t build a portfolio around an exchange that’s not trusted to provide accurate price data.
Even if you’re curious about its legacy - don’t deposit funds. Don’t trade. Don’t risk your assets on a platform that’s clearly fading.
CrossTower’s story isn’t about bad technology. It’s about bad strategy. Trying to serve two markets - retail and institutional - without dominating either one. It’s a cautionary tale for every crypto startup that thinks compliance alone is enough.
Real adoption doesn’t 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?
CrossTower’s 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 exchange’s 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 CrossTower’s 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. CrossTower’s client base evaporated because it could no longer meet their basic requirements for reliable trading and pricing.
Is CrossTower’s referral program still active?
The referral program - offering 25% commission on referred users’ 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 you’re looking for a crypto exchange in 2025, don’t 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 you’re in Europe and want a clean, long-standing platform.
None of them are perfect. But they’re alive. They’re trading. They’re trusted.
CrossTower was a bold idea that ran out of fuel. Don’t make the same mistake.
Mehak Sharma
November 2, 2025 AT 01:55CrossTower 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 23:02wait 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 12:23Of 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.
🚀
Jason Coe
November 5, 2025 AT 03:48I 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 didn’t 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 05:40Man, I used to check CrossTower every day hoping they’d 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 14:22The 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? That’s like getting a permit from a tropical island to run a nuclear plant.