How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Crypto Exchange App in 2025?

Crypto exchange applications attract both public users and enterprises due to the convenience of managing digital assets. Gamification, enterprise-level crypto trading, cross-chain interoperability, and AI-based trading are some of the evolving trends to pay attention to. 

According to Business of Apps, crypto exchanges hit the revenue of $46 bln in 2024, reflecting their continuous growth. By facilitating faster, lower-cost cross-border transfers compared to traditional systems, exchanges remain in demand. In this article, we discuss the cost to build a cryptocurrency exchange app with an in-depth development guideline. 

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Crypto Exchange App in 2025? 

The estimated crypto exchange development cost will vary based on the platform’s type. Centralized exchanges typically require a higher investment than decentralized ones, based on the added complexity of the trading engine, liquidity integration, and advanced analytics dashboards.

Consequently, the approximate cost of the CEX crypto exchange app will be around $390,000 to $1,340,000+, excluding maintenance costs. Development time will take around 8-12 months. 

DEX costs range from $95,000 to $310,000+, excluding maintenance costs. The build timeline is estimated at 4 to 8 months. 

Core Features That Define Your Budget

The development of a reliable crypto exchange application requires a mandatory set of features to form its operational core to fulfill users’ needs through its stable functionality. 

Must-Have Features for the Crypto Exchange App Development

Cryptocurrency exchange software development is a comprehensive process that requires a combination of features to promote its usability, security, and functionality. The following are the must-have elements of any crypto exchange app:

Registration

Registration is the feature that enables new users to create accounts. The following aspects have to be granted by the registration:

• Security: this relates to strong password policies, CAPTCHA measures, or bot prevention strategies. 

• KYC/AML compliance: is essential to prevent illegal activities and includes identity verification, transaction monitoring for detecting suspicious activities, etc. 

• User Authentication: including 2FA and biometric authentication (for advanced crypto exchange apps). 

• User Profile and Settings: these include the ability to update information, password recovery, and notification settings, such as trade confirmations, etc. 

Wallet

The wallet is one of the core elements of the crypto exchange application, as users need a secure place to store their digital assets. Consider the following wallet sub-elements and functionalities:

• Hot Wallets: run online and are appropriate for fast trading.

• Cold Wallets: offline and are applicable for storing crypto. 

• Deposit & Withdrawal Functionality: this relates to the depositing of crypto and fiat, secure withdrawal for both, and transaction history.

Trade Engine

The trade engine is a principal software system responsible for matching crypto buy/sell orders and handling real-time order books for different trading pairs. Take a look at the order types that the trade engine can handle:

• Market Orders: immediate sell/buy at a real market price.

• Limit Orders: sell/buy per the specified price. 

• Stop-Loss Orders: sell the asset if the price falls to a specific level in order to minimize and prevent losses. 

Analytics

When it comes to cryptocurrency exchange development, analytics is about collecting and processing data in real-time to provide insights into market movements and user behavior so that clients can make thoughtful decisions. Key real-time data analytics monitor:

• Trading Volume.

• Market Depth, etc.

MVP vs. Full-Scale Product Functions

Cryptocurrency exchange platform development is a complicated process, requiring the implementation of multiple elements to ensure its security and functionality that will lead to user satisfaction afterward. Let's outline the features of the MVP and the actual product.  

MVP Features

The MVP (minimal viable product) is the way to validate the idea before you put effort into building the actual product. The MVP is the bare minimum to validate whether the core systems of the future product function properly. The primary features of MVP in a cryptocurrency exchange are: 

• User Registration & Authentication: email/password registration, email verification, basic login/logout, 2FA configuration.

• Handling Wallets: integrating a basic hot wallet for supported crypto, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc., embedding the deposit and withdrawal functions. 

• Trade Engine: support of core functionality of order matching & selling, supporting a limited number of trading pairs, such as BTC/USDT, etc., and handling basic order types, including market orders and limit orders. 

• Basic Analytics: simple price charts, real-time price display focusing on the supported pairs, and basic user dashboards, including access to deposits/withdrawals, basic trade history, etc.

Explore the approximate costs of MVP software development.

Full-Scale Product Features

The fully-fledged product will comprise a comprehensive set of features that will expand the core capabilities. 

• Advanced User Registration & Authentication: powered by AML/KYC verification, involving liveness check, ID document upload, and facial recognition. The fully scaled product can comprise multi-factor authentication, including SMS.

• Robust Wallet Management: refers to supporting versatile cryptocurrencies, integrating with different blockchain networks, and multicurrency support. 

• Advanced Trade Engine: support of different trading pairs, including crypto-to-crypto, fiat-to-crypto, and advanced order types, such as stop-limit, stop-market, etc. 

• Analytics & Reporting: include portfolio performance tracking, tax reporting tools, detailed trade reports, advanced market depth and order book analysis. 

• Integrating Fiat Gateways: to support different fiat currencies and promote multiple fiat deposit and withdrawal methods (embedding bank transfers, debit/credit cards). 

• Advanced Security: regular penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, robust fraud detection system, etc. 

Factors Influencing Development Cost 

The overall cost of the exchange app development will depend on the complexity of the versatile elements, including UX/UI design, technology and architecture, security level, licensing, and team selection. Let’s clarify in detail each component. 

UX/UI Design Complexity

UX/UI design matters for promoting customer attraction and retention, so the level of complexity will be critical in determining the overall cost of the exchange app. 

Basic UX/UI

A standard UI/UX design will incorporate standard elements, minimalist animations, basic navigation, common iconography, and basic color palette, which will mostly suit the MVP and so have a lower impact on the development costs.

Medium UX/UI

Medium-level design will focus on customization, improved user flow, and interactive elements like animated transitions. Based on the increased development hours, the cost will be moderate, as it will require wireframing and custom graphics.  

Advanced UX/UI

The advanced UX/UI design will involve the highest level of sophistication and design intuitiveness, presenting robust data visualization, custom animations, personalized dashboards, and extensive user research to guarantee the highest level of user satisfaction. 

Security Level (KYC/AML, Cold Wallet)

Security is a non-compromised factor in the importance of crypto exchange app development, so the portion of investment will be considerable. 

KYC (Know Your Customer) / AML (Anti-Money Laundering)

KYC and AML are intertwined processes that circulate over financial institutions, aiming to prevent illegal financial activities. 

• Basic KYC will include simple identity checks and email verification, and so requires low financial input.  

• Advanced KYC/AML is about integrating with third-party services to promote document upload, facial recognition, liveness check, etc., which will require extensive investment. Robust KYC/AML requires a sophisticated backend to operate and store sensitive clients’ data to abide by the regulations, which justifies an enhancement in the price. 

• Cold wallets will enhance the overall budget by involving the configuration of the offline infrastructure, a multisignature wallet solution, and require advanced knowledge of blockchain development and hardware security modules. 

• Consider the following additional security measures:

• 2FA is standard for any exchange platform.

• DDoS protection is used to detect and prevent denial-of-service attacks. 

• Encryption to grant security for data at rest and in transit. 

Licensing and Legality

Operating within a regulatory landscape for a crypto exchange is complex and cost-demanding. Let’s check how licensing will affect the overall budget for crypto exchange app development.

Legal Consultation

Legal consultations contribute to the ongoing costs of hiring experienced blockchain lawyers to advise on specific regulations in different jurisdictions. 

Licensing Fees

Licensing fees will vary by jurisdiction and the type of service. The required licenses are Money Transmitter Licenses for the US and MiCA for the EU. Based on application and renewal fees, the cost may range from thousands to hundreds of thousands USD or EUR.   

Compliance Infrastructure

Another point that will affect the budget is integrating the system for regulatory reporting and transaction monitoring as required by the law.

Team Selection (Roles, Stakes, Number of People)

Team size and expertise are critical factors that determine the cost of the crypto exchange app development, as they are interdependent with hourly rate, presence/absence of overhead investments, etc. The following is a list of core roles, and people for each role, to deliver an exchange application: 

• Project Manager (1-2): keeps the scope, timelines, and communication with stakeholders.

• Business Analyst (1): collects requirements, defines features, and makes sure development follows the business.

• UX/UI Designer (2): develops wireframes, user flows integration, visual design, branding, interaction.

• Frontend Developer (3-5): engineer user-centered web and mobile applications (Swift/Kotlin for mobile; React, Angular, etc., for web). 

• Backend Developers (4-6): are responsible for tailoring the server-side logic, APIs, databases, etc. Backend specialists include:

• Core Backend Developers: to set the general application logic. 

• Blockchain Developers: to embed blockchain networks, manage wallets, engineer smart contracts (for DEX), etc.

• QA Engineers (3-4): perform versatile testing procedures such as functional, performance, security, usability testing types to make sure the exchange app is secure.  

• DevOps Engineer (1-2): is responsible for pipeline deployment, cloud resources, infrastructure management, system monitoring, etc. 

• Security Specialist (1-2): focuses on cybersecurity threats and implements security protocols.

Geographical Impact on the Team Cost

• Western Europe/The USA: the highest hourly rate, ranging from $70 to $250.

• Eastern Europe (such as Ukraine): medium-level rates, ranging from $25 to $110, while offering qualified and competitive talent. 

• Asia (such as Vietnam or India): the most cost-effective hourly rates, varying from $20 to $80 per hour. 

Check out the best 15 countries for software development outsourcing.

Technologies and Architecture

The overall cost of crypto exchange app development is defined by the architectural decision between custom development and a white-label option. Key cost drivers will include the complexity of the blockchain integration, programming languages, tailoring a high-performance order matching engine, and other factors listed below. 

Custom Development vs. White-Label Solution

Custom development implies building a crypto exchange platform from scratch, including unique features and emphasizing complete control and scalability. As an outcome, this will require the highest financial input (around $250,000 to $2,000,000+ for the highest level of customization and feature-rich experience).

White-label solutions are about utilizing the pre-built solutions, which can minimize the initial input and accelerate product time-to-market delivery. Nevertheless, they are less flexible. The approximate cost range is about $30,000 to $80,000. 

Programming Languages

Programming languages like JavaScript with Node.js and React, Angular, Solidity for smart contracts, etc., will require different developers, leading to different hourly rates and overall development time.

Database Systems

Complex data structures and in-depth requirements will increase the final costs, as will the database type: relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB), etc. 

Blockchain Integration

Integrating versatile blockchain networks, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc., will require specialized knowledge and can promote integration with blockchain APIs or full nodes. 

Order Matching Engine

Tailoring a robust order-matching engine requires involving expert backend developers and will require the highest financial input to tailor a high-performance and low-latency order-matching system. 

Cloud Infrastructure

The cost will depend on data storage and operational scalability level. Among the proficient cloud providers consider AWS, Azure, Google Cloud. 

Third-Party Integrations

Integrating with liquidity providers, payment gateways such as fiat/on-ramps, and KYC/AML solutions will require more development and ongoing support costs. 

Scalability

Investing in scalability might influence the initial investment; nevertheless, it will pay off in the long term, as the future growth of users will require scalable infrastructure to handle the load by minimizing the performance drop-off. 

Tech Stack We Recommend (and Why)

As a backbone of crypto exchange app development, selecting a tech stack should represent a critical standpoint, as it determines the functionality, scalability, and integration effectiveness. 

Benefits of Microservice Architecture

Microservice architecture represents an approach in which the crypto exchange app is developed as a collection of small, independent services, each responsible for a specific capability. Here are a few reasons why implementing a microservice architecture is a strategically proactive decision. 

1. Minimized Failure Impact: The whole application will not fail if one microservice fails. Other services can keep functioning.

2. Optimized Recovery: Isolated failures are easier to detect and respond to rather than assessing the whole system for bugs. This, consequently, optimizes time and resources for recovery. 

3. Parallel Development: the development team can work simultaneously on the different microservices, while the dependencies will be minimal. This is specifically beneficial for engineering new features and updates.

4. Independent Feature Deployment: it’s possible to deploy each microservice independently that eliminates the need to redeploy the whole application. 

Integrations: Blockchain, Payment Gateways, APIs

Integrating three interconnected systems like blockchain, payment gateways, and APIs is non-negotiable to ensure secure and reliable exchange operations. 

Blockchain 

Blockchain integrations refer to the direct connection of blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, etc., with a crypto exchange app. The benefits include:

1. Transparency & Auditability 

This indicates a publicly verifiable blockchain transaction, which is a transparent attribute for users and regulators to trust. 

2. Decentralization

Direct peer-to-peer interactions through a blockchain-based process are the foundation of decentralized exchanges. These features create distance from a third-party intermediary. 

Payment Gateways

Payment gateways are services to assist with the deposit and withdrawal of traditional bank-regulated currencies (usually EUR, USD, etc.). The benefits include:

1. Enhanced Liquidity

Access to fiat provides users with the opportunity to deposit funds, which contributes to the rise in the trading volumes and, so, liquidity on the exchanges. 

2. Global Reach

Numerous payment gateways support international payments, enabling exchanges to cover the needs of users from different countries. 

APIs

APIs represent a set of rules and protocols that promote the communication and interaction between different software applications. APIs can be used for the internal microservice communication and third-party service integrations. 

1. Access to Real-Time Data

APIs provide access to live market data such as prices, order books, volumes that are crucial for traders.

2. Customization Opportunities

It’s possible to tailor custom interfaces and trading strategies that would align with the business-specific needs. 

How to Monetize Your Crypto Exchange Platform

Building a cryptocurrency exchange is a cost-demanding process, which requires strategies to compensate for the initial investment. Monetization strategies can represent an efficient solution, for instance, to cover operational costs, such as infrastructure elements, security measures, regulatory compliance, etc. Here is a breakdown of the appropriate monetization strategies for building a crypto exchange. 

Trading Commission

Trading commissions represent a percentage-based fee for every trade executed, such as selling or buying crypto. Trading volume will determine the commissions; for instance, the higher the volume, the lower the commission. 

Listing Fees

Listing fees refer to the commissions the crypto exchange application charges the project teams to list their new crypto or token on the exchange. The fee covers due diligence, technical integration, etc. 

Staking & Tokenization

Staking enables a user to stake their crypto for a specified period of time to earn rewards. This is usually specific to PoS digital assets, where the crypto exchange operates a staking pool where the exchange earns a percentage of those rewards for the services it offers (i.e., managing crypto infrastructure). 

Furthermore, crypto exchange applications can apply to tokenize digital assets and real-world items of value, collecting fees from each issued, managed, and traded value represented by a token on the blockchain.

Subscription for B2B Clients

The subscription monetization strategy involves offering premium services to institutional or business clients. These can include advanced API access, such as higher rate limits, over-the-counter services, or large-volume operations not executed on the public order books.  

Advertisement/Sponsorship

The presented monetization strategy involves obtaining revenue by advertising sponsored content, products, or services. To be specific, this content includes articles, analyses funded by crypto projects or partnerships, and collaborations with other crypto businesses for cross-promotion. 

Step-by-Step Process of Building a Crypto Exchange

Building a functional crypto exchange app is a challenging multi-stage initiative that takes into account extensive marketing research, regulatory planning and thorough maintenance of the app after it’s launched. The framework requires a careful system architecture design, robust blockchain integration, smart contract development for DEXs, and rigorous QA to remain secure and reliable. 

1. Market Research & Competitor Analysis

The stage of market research and analysis is paramount as it deals with feature prioritization and the generation of marketing strategies. Lack of clarity and understanding of the landscape might lead to an inadequate position. 

Investigating Current Market Trends

Understanding current market trends is pivotal since the volatility and rapid evolution of the crypto market, so it’s essential to identify the potential risks and opportunities. 

• Risks: understanding the risks with cybersecurity and compliance matters for the developers to architect a secure, compliant, and robust platform that will preserve safety when encountering cyber threats or money laundering. 

• Opportunities: assessing current trends (AI integration into trading, etc.) can assist the platform in standing out, by presenting refined possibilities and covering the pain points of the target audience. 

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis enables you to find gaps, strengths, points, best security practices and learn from their mistakes to make the crypto exchange application exceptional. 

• Gaps: gaps highlight what crypto exchange applications don’t offer to their users. For instance, lacking user-friendly options for beginners and limited customer support might offer diversification opportunities you can consider to outperform the competitors. 

• UVP: understanding competitors’ strengths can help you with identifying areas for the growth of your product based on the innovative approaches you might apply to differentiate your product and bring some innovation or reconsider the fee model.

• Learning from Mistakes (and Successes): focusing on the competitors’ past mistakes, such as data breaches, complicated UI/UX; you can reconsider their counterstrategies and either use similar or identify limitations and craft a unique one. 

Identifying the Target Audience

Knowing your target audience is a cornerstone of further market campaign development, as it not only recognizes their needs but also directly affects the channels of message delivery. 

• Client Needs: any application has to resolve the clients' pain points and satisfy their needs. Emphasis on tech sophistication might distract the clients, complicating UX, and provoking drop-offs, since unnecessary or complex elements minimize user engagement.

• Tailored UX: continuing the discussion of clients’ needs, consider the overall tech crypto awareness of your target audience as designing features exclusively for pro clientele can complicate onboarding and app usage for the new individuals.

• Effective Marketing and Communication: refers to message delivery and channel selection. Message delivery is about identifying pain points and benefits to convey a relevant brand message. Communication channels refer to the platform selection based on demographic preferences: TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. 

2. Regulatory Compliance & Legal Due Diligence

Considering regulatory compliance is a must, regardless of the country’s target market, since non-compliance or ambiguities in interpretations can lead to massive fines, extreme penalties, and loss of the audience’s trust. 

Assessment of Legal Requirements in the Target Regions

For instance, the US regulatory landscape for crypto is fragmented with a mix of state-level and federal regulations, must be complied with from the launch or expansion of a new crypto exchange venture. 

Federal Regulations:

• FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network): classified as ‘Money Services Businesses’ under the Bank Secrecy Act, crypto exchanges must register with FinCEN and adhere to AML and CTF requirements.

• CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission): if the crypto exchange operates crypto assets that are classified as a ‘commodity,’ such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, then their derivatives such as futures and options fall under CFTC jurisdiction, requiring the provider to comply with CFTC regulations. 

• SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission): SEC argues that crypto assets are securities based on the Howey Test. When a digital asset is classified as a security, it must comply with federal securities laws. This may involve registering as a national securities exchange or operating as an alternative trading system (ATS).

• IRS (Internal Revenue Service): digital assets are considered ‘property,’ implying that the crypto exchange providers are required to report user taxes and may be obliged to disclose certain transactions to the IRS. 

State-Level Regulations:

Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs): addressing state-level regulations must come along with the federal-level requirements to prevent illicit financial activity. Most states require businesses that transfer and exchange fiat and crypto to possess a state-level license to ‘validate’ crypto operations within the state. Nevertheless, if the crypto exchange app is going to cover a few states, then MTLs must be obtained for every state.

Choosing a Jurisdiction for Registration

Selecting a jurisdiction requires an in-depth analysis of the global law landscape for crypto adoption. This factor is critical as a ‘crypto-friendly’ jurisdiction with clear regulations and effective tax policies can stimulate the growth of the crypto market within those countries or states.

• Consider Regulatory Clarity: when selecting a jurisdiction worldwide, pay attention to countries with clear regulatory certainty for crypto adoption. Their legal frameworks can significantly reduce risks for businesses and clients and maximize investments in blockchain innovation (e.g., the UAE, Switzerland). 

• Tax Benefits: don’t ignore jurisdictions with low taxation for crypto assets. Countries like El Salvador and Panama apply no or low taxation on crypto-related capital gains for users. 

Built-In KYC/AML Integration

While building a cryptocurrency exchange from scratch, don’t forget to pay close attention to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).  These protocols are integrated directly into the architecture of the crypto exchange application. Adding AML and KYC is a strategic component of an ongoing compliance process tied to protecting customers, and safeguarding the crypto assets within the ecosystem. 

• Legal Compliance: AML and KYC help crypto exchange apps verify users and prevent financial crimes through transaction monitoring, which is central to FinCEN in the U.S. and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

• Anti-Fraud & Security: KYC includes appropriate verification to prevent account manipulation and identity theft. AML provides continued review of transactions to flag identifiable patterns of suspicious behavior, allowing the crypto exchange to freeze crypto funds and report the transaction to the authorities. 

3. Discovery Phase & Project Planning

The discovery phase is the most critical step on the road to developing a crypto exchange, as it relates to establishing the position of the project. If ignored, all the key stakeholders can miscalculate the feature set or idea validity, leading to extreme financial loss, necessitating product rework. Here are the major sub-steps for efficient project planning. 

Detection of the Functional Requirements

Unlike other blockchain-relevant applications, crypto exchange app development requires scrupulous analysis of its future operations, actions, and the specific system’s behavior. This app is not about user-centric elements but the backend processes that will define its capabilities. Here is the list of major requirements to include: 

• User Management: registration, login (including 2FA), password recovery.

• Wallet Integration: functions including top up and withdrawal, support for multiple cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks, possibilities of cold and hot wallet storage. 

• Trading Engine: the paramount crypto exchange app feature. It has to match buy and sell orders in real time, covering different order types. 

• Security: encryption, safe key management, and solid security protocols. 

• Liquidity: the stakeholders have to clarify how the exchange app is going to access liquidity (e.g., either through order books or integrating with external providers). 

• Compliance: embedded KYC and AML to ensure regulatory compliance and secure transaction flow. 

Roadmap Development

Roadmap is a strategic document that defines and summarizes the overall project’s vision, goals, and principal milestones. This is critical for all the involved parties to stay on track with priorities, not to get distracted by the nice-to-have product elements. 

3 Roadmap Development Phases:

• Phase 1: MVP: the first principal element is to craft a project with the principal features to validate the overall concept and how it responds to the clients’ needs. 

• Phase 2: Growth: once validated, the second phase is about integrating new features based on the clients’ feedback and market analysis. This can include adding new trading pairs or integrating new functions like on/off-ramps. 

• Phase 3: Scaling: this phase is about adapting the application to the larger client base that will lead to integrating more features such as staking or implementing advanced order types.

MVP Prioritization (Must-Have Features) 

Again, MVP is about a set of must-have features required to validate the concept of how the app addresses the clients’ pain points and needs. 

4. System Architecture Design

This phase transitions from validating the business proposition to developing technical designs. The system architecture design is a critical step in the overall design process that effectively lays the groundwork for future performance, secure, and sustainable operation of the application. 

Technology Stack Selection

Technology stack selection is about choosing a spectrum of programming languages, frameworks, databases, and other tools to engineer the application. 

High-Level Architecture Design

This phase is simply to produce a plan for these essential structures, largely describing how the component layers work together. Good architecture will make sure that the system is modular and maintainable.

Frontend

The user interface layer where customers can register for the service, execute trades, and interact with their accounts by application programming interface (API) calls with back-end applications. 

Backend

The backend elements that comprise the business logic supporting the trading engine, wallet management, and APIs. This backend layer also includes data management, security, and communication with the blockchain. 

Blockchain Integration

This layer offers secure functionality supported by various blockchain network capabilities. This includes wallets, nodes, and APIs supporting cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals and tracking on-chain transactions in real-time.

Infrastructure

The foundational hardware and software environment that supports the application. Most exchanges rely on cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure to achieve scalability, global availability, and strong security. 

Scalability and Security Planning

The factors of security and scalability must be considered to prevent serious consequences for an exchange, including data breaches, illicit trading activities, financial losses, and regulatory violations. 

Scalability refers to the exchange application’s ability to handle the influx of users and high transaction volumes. It’s achievable through:

• Microservice Architecture: dividing the exchange into smaller and independent services, such as dedicated modules for the trading engine, wallets, and user management, enables each component to scale individually based on demand. 

• Load Balancing & Auto-Scaling: leveraging cloud services that balance incoming traffic across different servers, which helps keep the platform fast and responsive, even during peak trading activity. 

Security represents a layered defense system built to safeguard user funds, sensitive data, and the platform against direct cyber threats. 

• Hot & Cold Storage: the system architecture should ensure security by storing most user funds offline in cold wallets. But it can keep a minimal amount in hot wallets online to manage daily transactions.

• Encryption & Authentication: it’s a must to apply robust encryption for data in transit and at rest, combined with secure authentication methods such as two-factor authentication and multi-sig wallets. 

• Regular Audits: regular security audits and penetration testing must be scheduled to detect and fix vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.

5. UX/UI Design

UX/UI design represents a significant shift from practical planning and concept validation into creating an intuitive application that is easy to use for both beginners in crypto trading and seasoned traders. 

User Flows, Wireframes, Mockups

These refer to the project blueprinting sub-phase. Firstly, designers create user flows, or map out all the possible paths of how the client can perform actions to complete a specific task (e.g., top up an account). User flows are beneficial to reduce points of friction. 

Then, the design team will build a wireframe, or a low-fidelity layout that will outline content placement, structure, and spacing, excluding any aesthetic elements.

The final point is creating a mockup, or adding high-quality dynamic or static designs, branded colors, icons, and typography presenting a realistic preview of the final crypto exchange app. 

Mobile-First and Security-First Approach

When it comes to practical crypto exchange app development, designers should underline the importance of mobile-first design. Since a vast majority of clients prefer smartphones due to the operational convenience of the web version, designers should tailor the mobile layout first and then adapt it for the web. These include presenting the most critical features, like

portfolio management on the mobile layout and then adapting it to the computer version.

UX/UI is a powerful tool to present app security. The logical presentation of 2FA, clear representation of transaction status, and errors within a minimalist design can truly reduce cognitive load, preventing unintentional errors. 

Design for Different Types of Users: Traders, Administrators, Verifiers

Although a crypto exchange app must be intuitive and keep performance processing simple, it does not diminish the fact that it has to be built keeping in mind different user types:

• Traders: the designs have to contain in-depth and well-organized rich data, including real-time charts and order books, excluding any confusion or cognitive load. 

• Administrators: the admin-based designs have to contain clear and logically structured layouts for effortless user management and transaction monitoring. 

• Verifiers: the design should be intuitive and quick-functioning, with clear queues and status updates so the verifiers can approve KYC documents.

6. Blockchain & Smart Contract Development

The process of building blocks for a crypto exchange relate to blockchain and smart contracts. This foundation is crucial for the secure and decentralized management of digital assets. This is not typical app development, and you will need a strong understanding of cryptographic principles and architecture of networks.

Blockchain Protocol Selection

Selecting blockchain protocols is central to crypto exchange app functionality, similar to overall blockchain software development, as it will dictate what cryptocurrency types the application supports. These are the key factors to consider: 

• Transaction Speed & Scalability: if it’s a centralized exchange’s deposit and withdrawal functions, Solana and Polygon protocols can be considered to cover fast and frequent transactions. 

• Security & Consensus Mechanism: a crypto exchange app must evaluate the security of the protocol’s consensus mechanism (PoS, PoW) in order to maximize the security of user assets. 

• Transaction Costs (Gas Fees): if the crypto exchange app is interested in processing small-value transactions, networks with lower fees, like Binance Smart Chain, can be a decent option. 

Smart Contract Development

Smart contracts are essential for the decentralized exchange (DEX) and, in some cases, can be applied to centralized exchanges for specific on-chain features, while most CEX core functions operate off-chain.

• Trading (for DEX): Smart contracts preserve funds in transactions and release them only if the predefined conditions are met. Additionally, they manage liquidity pools and execute swaps, reducing the need for centralized authority. 

• Withdrawal/Deposit: smart contracts can be applied to automate fund transfers. A deposit contract can be designed to confirm incoming transactions and update the user’s balance in the exchange’s internal system. They can streamline withdrawals by transferring assets from the exchange’s hot wallet to the client’s external wallets. 

• Escrow: a smart contract can serve as an automated escrow system, meaning it can hold funds from buyers and sellers and release them to the appropriate recipient if the predefined conditions are met.  

Gain insights into the custom smart contract development process.

Cryptocurrency Wallet Integration

In order to securely store and manage crypto funds, the crypto exchange application has to ensure robust wallet integration along with a secure crypto wallet development.

• Hot & Cold Wallets: although the vast majority of funds are stored in cold, offline, and hardware wallets, the crypto exchange app employs a hot wallet architecture, which is a wallet type connected to the Internet that holds a portion of crypto for trading and withdrawals. 

• User Wallet Connection: a crypto exchange app should support integration with third-party wallets like MetaMask or Trust Wallet, which enables users to connect their personal non-custodial wallets directly to the exchange for trading on DEX. 

7. Frontend & Backend Development

Building a crypto exchange application will also require specific focus on both the backend and the frontend. The backend comprises the critical business logic that runs the exchange, whereas the frontend is the actual user interface and user experience. 

Frontend Development

While performing the user interface-related functions, the frontend is designed to present complex data and trading tools in a clear, intuitive, and real-time manner. 

• User Interface: the frontend tailors the trading platform, user dashboards, and all the interactive components. It must be designed for both novice users and professional traders, including features like order forms, price charts, and customizable dashboards. 

• Real-Time Data: visualizing critical data from the backend is a critical task of the frontend. This involves the continuous update of the order books, showcasing the live price feeds, and displaying the recent trade history. 

• User Experience (UX): UX is critical for a crypto exchange app as the platform has to be fast, secure, responsive, and simple to navigate to minimize user errors and frustrations, especially during high market volatility periods. 

Backend Development

The backend is the engine within the crypto exchange app that manages all data and logic to support the app’s core functions, making the crypto exchange operational. 

Functionality Implementation

• Trading Engine: the backend powers the trading engine, a high-speed system that matches buy and sell orders in real time. It processes incoming orders, scans the order books for compatible matches, performs trades, and updates user balances. 

• Order Book: the backend handles the order book, a dynamic list of all bids and sell orders for a specific cryptocurrency pair. This ledger is updated by the trading engine and is a source of real-time market data. 

• API: the backend exposes secure and scalable APIs to enable the frontend to fetch data, place orders, and manage user accounts. Additionally, APIs serve as a public interface for third-party trading bots and services to interact with the exchange, typically through public and private endpoints. 

Integration with Exchanges and Payment Gateways

• Exchanges: the backend system can integrate with other major exchanges and liquidity providers' APIs to pool their liquidity. This provides market depth, which improves the trading experience and reduces slippage. 

• Payment Gateways: the backend system can interface with fiat payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, or banking. This setup matters for supporting and handling deposits and withdrawals, converting fiat to crypto, and streamlining a secure flow of funds to and from the client’s accounts. 

Admin Panel and Analytics

• Admin Panel: the backend supports private dashboards for an exchange’s administrators, enabling them to manage user accounts, monitor transactions, oversee KYC/AML verification results, and freeze suspicious accounts when necessary. 

• Analytics & Reporting: the backend collects and processes a large amount of data on user behavior, trading volumes, and market trends. This information is used to generate analytics and reports, which are central for business intelligence and risk management to improve the platform. 

8. QA Testing & Security Audit

Once the development is done, QA takes priority as it looks at internal and external vulnerabilities for the application while looking for consistent tech and potential errors. 

Manual and Automated Testing 

A solid QA analysis takes a well-rounded approach to the detection of errors, such as using a combination of automated tests and manual tests: 

• Automated Testing: it’s about writing scripts to conduct repetitive checks. For instance, a regression test, which aims to check whether new features don’t affect the existing ones. Automated testing benefits trading engines as it can simulate high-volume scenarios to check performance under concurrency. 

• Manual Testing: manual testers act as end users to check usability issues and visual inconsistencies (UX/UI), to make sure the journey is client-centric and intuitive. They can check the correctness of 2FA and multicurrency withdrawal. 

Conducting Pentests and Auditing Smart Contracts

The following security procedures are required during the QA testing:

• Penetration Testing: is a simulated hacking attack to clarify the app’s security vulnerabilities. This attack aims to undermine the application’s defense from multiple standpoints, including web and mobile attacks, APIs, and network infrastructure. 

• Smart Contract Audits: an indispensable auditor conducts a line-by-line, in-depth code review. Once deployed on the blockchain, smart contracts cannot be altered. Any error can damage an application's reputation and lead to financial loss. The security experts aim to identify vulnerabilities like reentrancy attacks or logical errors that could cause loss of funds. 

Using External Audits (If Necessary)

Again, regardless of the internal in-depth testing, conducting external audits is a mandatory practice for the crypto exchange app to obtain a decent assessment of its security posture. Once performed, the developer organization obtains a security certificate that can be applied to build trust with the users. 

9. Deployment, Launch & DevOps

DevOps is a fundamental element of the crypto exchange that focuses on collaboration and automation, required to build, deploy, and operate the platform in a secure and reliable fashion. It’s about ensuring the platform runs scalably from the development to the production environment. 

CI/CD Pipeline

A CI/CD pipeline is an automated process that integrates code changes, runs tests, and enables the continuous delivery of new software updates. 

• Continuous Integration (CI): is a practice of frequent merging of code changes into a shared repository, where automated builds and test runs are performed to detect bugs, integration issues, and regressions early in the development cycle. 

• Continuous Deployment (CD): automatically pushes code to production once it passes all required tests. It’s central for the crypto exchange application, as it enables the rapid rollout of new features and the immediate release of security patches, reducing vulnerability and minimizing downtime. 

Server Configuration, Monitoring, Logging

These are central elements to foster a crypto exchange app’s health and security. 

• Server Configuration: it involves configuring the infrastructure to handle high volumes of real-time volume transactions in the exchange. The complexity relies heavily on careful configuration of the infrastructure, including load balancers, databases, and networks settings to provide high redundancy and availability to prevent a single point of failure in the whole system. 

• Monitoring: DevOps will monitor various metrics through specific tools when issues occur, for example: server performance, network latency, transactions throughput, and security context.

• Logging: this involves writing a script to perform a repetitive check. To demonstrate a regression test that verifies new features do not impact the existing ones. 

Preparation for Launch: Staging to Production

The launch procedure signifies a systematic and precise transition from the testing phase into a production environment.

• Staging: a staging environment closely replicates the production server. So before launch, the entire application with its features and integrations is deployed here. Here, the team performs the final quality assurance (QA) and performance testing, stress testing to make sure the platform can handle the user load without issues. 

• Production: the production environment is a live instance of the crypto exchange app available for users. Migration from staging to production is typically completed with an automated CI/CD pipeline to minimize any downtime using blue-green or rolling deployment techniques.

10. Post-Launch Support & Iterative Improvements

Once the full cycle development process is finished, there is still the factor of post-launch support that results in another financial expense. 

Processing User Feedback

After launch, the development and UX/UI design team collects and processes user feedback on the crypto exchange app functionality. These can include:

• Direct Channels: include in-app chat support, email, and social media page(s). 

• Review Monitoring: this relates to monitoring reviews published on app stores (Google Play or Apple App Store) and public forums (Quora, Reddit) to analyze clients’ impressions and detect any additional bugs or tech complexities that lead to frustration. 

• Data Analytics: applying analytics tools is essential to gain insights into how users interact with the crypto exchange app. This provides a strategic advantage by analyzing behavioral data to check what features are the most popular, detect cases of drop-offs, and identify areas of improvement. 

• Prioritization: it’s important to note that not every new feature will be added. After collecting and processing user data, the team decides on the crucial elements for update and integration to stimulate the app’s security and future growth.

Technical Support, Feature Updates

Despite the user feedback collection and analysis, the crypto exchange application must present a robust development and operational strategy, which includes:

• Round-the-Clock Support: customer support should be accessible 24/7 all around the world and solve issues ranging from password resets to complex challenges with transactions. 

• Bug Fixes: the continuous bug fixes will be critical in supporting the system's performance and strengthening user trust.

• Feature Updates: the crypto market is dynamic, and applications require constant feature updates to stay competitive. This includes chart functionality improvements or implementing passive income options. 

Scaling: New Markets, Fiat Gateways, New Tokens

Finally, if the business is interested in serving global markets, the process of exchange expansion will require significant investment into these:

• Legal & Regulatory Compliance: this point is about navigating compliance with different regulatory frameworks, AML, and KYC thresholds, and being flexible to legal alterations. 

• Localization: this factor isn’t about just updating the linguistic presentation of the app’s features. It’s about updating design and functions to respond to the local user behavior. 

• Infrastructure: the crypto exchange application must provide a scalable infrastructure to be able to handle user traffic, data storage, and transaction volumes in multiple geographic areas, without compromising performance. 

Fiat Gateways:

Finally, a fiat gateway represents integrating the bridge between traditional currencies (USD, EUR) and digital currencies, which promotes the following:

• User Onboarding: integrating a fiat gateway simplifies the process, as without it, clients would have to purchase crypto with digital assets, which could represent a significant barrier to entry.

• Liquidity: is about ensuring an effortless conversion between fiat and crypto, along with maintaining a sufficient supply of assets and trading activity to promote smooth exchange operations. 

New Token Listing:

This step refers to adding new digital assets to the exchange to facilitate more trading activity, especially since it is often the key catalyst for traders looking for trending and higher-potential assets. This involves:

• Due Diligence: the exchange will conduct due diligence to assess the full risks of listing a new token, which may include reviewing the project’s white paper, tokenomics, the team’s backgrounds, and any regulatory standing or disclosures made. The goal of due diligence is to vet any fraudulent actions on the part of the issuer and also to mitigate compliance risks. 

• Technical Integration: finally, typically if the exchange proceeds with the token, it will integrate the token by adding support for the underlying blockchain protocol into the wallet infrastructure for storage and transfer purposes. In parallel, the trading engine must be updated to support trading pairs associated with the new token. 

How Agilie Builds Secure & Scalable Crypto Exchanges

For over 14 years, Agilie has been building its story by crafting from scratch and optimizing digital solutions for a vast pool of domains, including fintech, marketing, real estate, healthcare, media, and e-commerce. Our areas of expertise include blockchain development, mobile banking, payment options, and fintech.

Agilie’s services are notable for technical sophistication and originality in applied solutions. Nevertheless, our portfolio in crypto exchange application development is our top priority. Here are a few cases of our dedicated expertise:

Level01

Based on the Ethereum blockchain, Level01 is a P2P decentralized platform that allows users to create and manage their crypto wallets and save coins. Agilie worked with Level01 and crafted a cross-platform solution for the application’s ability to support both iOS and Android environments. 

What is more, we solved the challenge with smart contract implementation. Our team of experts solved the issue of AI inclusion within smart contract development. The Agilie team preserved the AI prediction data inside the smart contract, awaiting further model optimization. 

Chameleon Pay

Chameleon Pay is a multicurrency digital wallet that enables clients to store, receive, and convert cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. The Agilie team elaborated on the project from scratch, and one of our significant achievements was expanding the blockchain network to support multiple cryptocurrencies. 

The integration of the NativeScript framework was central in our development of two platforms, where our development professionals without altering the native code, while still adding new features. 

Summary

Cryptocurrency exchange platform development requires an in-depth strategic approach to planning the core must-have features, along with tailoring a robust system architecture to remain scalable, safe, and reliable. The choice between a CEX or DEX will directly influence the development cost and time, due to the degree of complexity it imposes. Yet, the overall development process includes the same stages for both. The exception lies in the integration of features that are central for CEX but not typical for DEX.