The LSE Directory / Crypto exchanges
Phemex is a Singapore-based centralized cryptocurrency exchange offering spot trading in more than 600 digital assets alongside USDT-margined and coin-margined perpetual futures and dated contracts across more than 530 markets, with leverage up to 100x. Beyond core trading it runs a copy-trading feature for following other traders, automated strategy bots (grid, martingale and signal), a savings and staking product called Phemex Earn, P2P fiat on-ramps, a crypto-backed lending product, and a mock-trading mode for practicing without capital. The exchange differentiates itself commercially through a Premium Membership subscription: instead of per-trade commissions, subscribers pay a fixed monthly or annual fee for zero-fee spot trading, a structure aimed at active traders who prefer predictable costs over per-trade fees. It has also pushed beyond pure crypto with Phemex TradFi, a product line for trading stocks, metals and global indices from the same account. The exchange states it holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider registration in Poland and operates what it calls a Global Web3 Compliance Framework for KYC and AML checks across the jurisdictions it serves. It publishes a Proof of Reserves attestation using Merkle-tree verification and says more than 70% of customer assets sit in offline, multi-signature cold storage, with Fireblocks among its custody security partners. Phemex was founded in 2019 in Singapore by Jack Tao, part of a founding team of eight former Morgan Stanley employees; Tao himself spent more than a decade at Morgan Stanley as global development lead for the bank's Electronic Trading Benchmark Execution Strategies desk before starting the exchange. Phemex raised a $3.5 million Series A in March 2020 led by NGC Ventures, taking total funding to $5 million and its valuation to $50 million; at that point it reported roughly 105,000 registered users and was targeting 1 million by the end of that year. It states it has since grown to more than 10 million users worldwide, and it issues a native token, Phemex Token (PT), on the platform. Phemex has continued to add partnerships and promotions in 2026: it lists a research partnership with Universite Paris-Dauphine, PSL on DeFi and cryptocurrency, and is running an "Ultimate Championship" trading competition with a stated $7 million prize pool.
