The LSE Directory / Crypto exchanges
Poloniex is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange offering spot, margin and derivatives trading. Its spot market lists several hundred digital assets across pairs quoted in BTC, TRX, USDT, USDC and USDD; alongside spot trading it offers margin trading, USDT-margined perpetual futures with adjustable leverage of up to 100x, staking and earn products, futures copy trading, and automated grid-trading bots. The exchange operates under the registered entity Polo Digital Assets, Ltd, based in Seychelles. The exchange built its reputation from its 2014 launch on listing a wide range of smaller altcoins earlier than larger rivals, and it has carried that breadth-of-listings approach into its current ownership. Since 2019 it has operated within TRON founder Justin Sun's wider crypto business interests, which also include the TRON blockchain and the HTX exchange, and its product set leans toward high-leverage derivatives and TRON-network assets such as TRX and USDD rather than institutional or fiat on-ramp services. Poloniex does not serve customers in the United States: it wound down US service in December 2019, around the time Circle divested the platform, and its terms of service bar access to US persons and several other restricted territories. Poloniex was founded in 2014 by Tristan D'Agosta. Circle Internet Financial acquired it in February 2018 for a reported $400 million, then sold it in 2019 to an investor group backed by Justin Sun. In August 2021 the US SEC charged Poloniex with operating an unregistered securities exchange between July 2017 and November 2019, the period of Circle's ownership; the company settled by paying roughly $10.4 million in disgorgement, interest and penalties without admitting or denying the findings. On November 10, 2023, the exchange's hot wallets were compromised in a private-key breach; estimates of the loss range from about $100 million to $130 million across bitcoin, ether and TRX, among the largest exchange hacks of that year. Poloniex has also been named on the UK Financial Conduct Authority's list of unauthorized firms, listed under the entity name Polo Digital Assets, Ltd. In May 2026 the UK sanctioned HTX, another exchange under Sun's control, over alleged Russia-linked sanctions violations; Poloniex itself was not named in that action but continues to operate under the same ownership umbrella and remains subject to ongoing regulatory scrutiny tied to Sun's broader business network.
