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BH Bithumb VS DB Deribit
These two exchanges don't share an obvious product overlap. Differences below come from our individual reviews of Bithumb and Deribit.
| Bithumb | Deribit | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 | 2016 |
| Regions | Built for South Korean residents: full access requires a Korean mobile phone number and a real-name-verified account at Bithumb's partner bank. Registration for new overseas users has been suspended since 2021, and Bithumb blocks access from roughly 21 jurisdictions under FATF-related restrictions, including North Korea and Iran. | Not available to US persons directly; as of September 2026, eligible US users can reach Deribit's order books through Coinbase Financial Markets as a regulated intermediary. Broadly available elsewhere, subject to Deribit's own jurisdictional restrictions. |
| Products | Spot | Options, Perpetual futures, Dated futures, Combo/spread orders |
| Maker fee | Verify current tier: Bithumb runs a tiered, promotion-heavy schedule (KRW-market rates have ranged from a standard 0.25% down to 0.04% for applicants to fee events) so check the live rate and any active promotion before trading | Not yet verified |
| Taker fee | Verify current tier: same volatility applies, Bithumb has run limited-time maker/taker promotions on top of its standard tiered schedule more than once | Not yet verified |
Bithumb pros
- Long operating history since 2014 and consistently South Korea's second-deepest KRW order book after Upbit
- Wide listing of Korea-origin and Korea-popular tokens that see little volume on international exchanges
- Free KRW deposits and a flat, low KRW withdrawal fee through its real-name-verified bank partner
- Site and app support multiple languages including English, though functional support for non-Korean users is thinner than the language selector suggests
Deribit pros
- The dominant global crypto options venue by a wide margin, holding roughly half of all Bitcoin and Ethereum options volume and an even larger share of Bitcoin options specifically
- Purpose-built options infrastructure (combo orders, a full volatility surface, portfolio margining) that generalist exchanges bolting on an options tab don't match
- Backed by Coinbase's balance sheet and compliance infrastructure since the August 2025 acquisition, addressing a long-standing question about counterparty durability at a derivatives-only exchange
- Keeps roughly 99% of user funds in cold storage with third-party custody (Fireblocks, Cobo) for the operational portion, and covered a 2022 hot-wallet loss entirely from company reserves rather than user funds
This table is generated from the same data behind our individual exchange reviews. See methodology for how it's put together. Fee figures marked "not yet verified" need confirming against live terms before this page is treated as launch-ready.