Bitstamp

Basics

First full licensed bitcoin exchange.
Has a BitLicence since 2019.
For a while the second largest exchange, based in Slovenia, now based in the UK. According to Coin Metric (25-8-2020) in Luxembourg.
Bitstamp is a European Union (Luxemburg) based bitcoin marketplace founded in 2011. The platform is one of the first generation bitcoin exchanges that has built up a loyal customer base. Bitstamp is well known and trusted throughout the bitcoin community as a safe platform. It offers advanced security features such as two-step authentication, multisig technology for its wallet and fully insured cold storage. Bitstamp has 24/7 support and a multilingual user interface and getting started is relatively easy. After opening a free account and making a deposit, users can start trading immediately.
9 trading pairs
acts as a gateway for the Ripple payment protocol
Has been acquired by gaming group NXC, NXMH a private equity and investment firm based in Brussels that also owns Korbit, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase price was rumored to be around $400 million. "Kodrič will remain CEO of Bitstamp and does not expect anything to change for either the company’s customers or its 180 employees following the acquisition, he told Fortune in an interview. “We have kind of the same opinion as NXMH—why change something if it works perfectly well?” he said, adding that Bitstamp “has been profitable from almost day one.”

Nor does he envision a merger between Bitstamp and Korbit now that they are both owned by the same parent company, though the crypto exchanges do plan to share technology and research and development resources. “We’ve talked about it, but we decided to keep the companies running separately,” Kodrič said. Kodrič took the opportunity to cash out the majority of his stake in the company—he retains 10% of Bitstamp’s shares—as he saw in NXMH a likeminded partner."

Bitstamp outsourced custody to BitGo.

Audits & Exploits

From CryptoSec, a hack happened on 4-1-2015:

"On January 4th, some of Bitstamp’s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC...This breach represents a small fraction of Bitstamp’s total bitcoin reserves, the overwhelming majority of which are are held in secure offline cold storage systems."

Amount stolen: $5,100,000

Pros and cons

Pros: Good reputation, high-level security, worldwide availability, low transaction fees, good for large transactions.
Cons: Not beginner friendly, limited payment methods, high deposit fees, user interface. Verification needed.

Team, investors, etc.

Nejc Kodrič, CEO & Founder & board of directors. Bitstamp was cofounded by 29-year-old Slovenian native Nejc Kodrič with just 1,000 euros in 2011. It had since raised a total of about $14 million from investors including Pantera Capital.
Damijan Merlak, co-founder & board of directors
Morehead, Dan; board of directors
Is a sponsor of Coin Center
Got mentioned as one of the creditors of FTX (26-1-2023).