Did this CFD broker deliberately choose such a name? Is it trying to attract attention by associating itself with the well-known cryptocurrency trust fund Grayscale? Welcome to the GBTC Markets review, where we will examine yet another illegal brokerage platform offering pseudo-trading and exhibiting many signs of a scam.
Brief Overview
- 🖥Official Website: gbtcmarkets.com
- ✈️Contact Address: One Park Drive, London E14 9GG
- 📞Customer Support: [email protected], +442046002334, +61281068652
- 🔐Licensing and Accreditation: no
- ⏳Track Record: 2023
- 🧰Specialization: brokerage service
- 🤝Terms of Cooperation: $10,000, 1:500
- 💰Additional Services: signals, managed account, personal manager, events, and other
Gbtcmarkets.com Examination
“Trade with a World-Class Partner” — this is how the company’s official website greets users. This is followed by bold and baseless statements aimed at attracting clients and taking their money. The site itself is nothing serious and is designed using a standard template for brokerage portals.
The top part of the site contains sections with information about account types, verification, and deposit methods. There are also legal documents, company data, platform details, traded asset classes, and analytical tools. On the right, there are buttons for registration and login. The GBTC Markets homepage lists pseudo advantages and features, while the bottom duplicates the top sections, office addresses, and contact information. Social media logos are also visible, but they are inactive.
The quality and usefulness of the information are lacking. Many aspects of the operation are ignored. The official website is available only in English, although GBTC Markets claims to be “world-class”, which implies support for multiple languages.
Company Contacts
Users can contact technical support via email or phone, with two numbers provided: one from the UK and another from Australia. GBTC Markets also offers an online chat, but to communicate, you need to leave your phone number and email, and responses from staff are greatly delayed. No other contact methods are provided.
Key Conditions
First of all, it should be noted that GBTC Markets offers only CFDs, so you can forget about spot and futures trading. CFDs are easy to manipulate, allowing the broker to draw any chart they want since orders are not sent to liquidity providers. The company operates as a Dealing Desk. This is the first and most serious drawback — a conflict of interest.
The second drawback is the minimum deposit amount. It is simply enormous — $10,000. Why the firm can afford to demand such amounts is unclear. Moreover, clients cannot even test the functionality with small amounts because there is no cent account option. Although a demo account is mentioned in the tariff descriptions, how to open one is unknown since such functionality is not visible in the personal account. $10,000 is a very high requirement for a starting deposit, especially compared to more well-known companies.
The list of additional services at GBTC Markets depends on the type of account the trader chooses. Essentially, the better the tariff, the more features are available, meaning the company is literally extracting more money from clients. The list of additional services includes signals, guaranteed income of 2% and above, managed accounts, personal managers, and other options.
Spreads and commissions are unknown. Thus, the broker is definitely an opaque intermediary since such important parameters should be disclosed in any case. Finally, the leverage of 1:500 carries huge risks for traders and also indicates the platform’s lack of regulation.
Exposing GBTC Markets
And now the most interesting part begins. Why is this company a scam rather than a safe brokerage intermediary? The answer lies in its operating period, legitimate status, and some other aspects.
GBTC Markets does not mention when it was founded. Users have to figure this out, and it’s quite simple to do. You need to check when the domain was registered and when the first reviews were published online. Using the Whois service, you can find out that the domain was registered in September 2023, and using the WebArchive service, you can see that the site was not operational as of May 2024. What does this mean? The platform launched in the summer of 2024. Reviews also started appearing in the summer of 2024, so everything matches up.
Besides the short operating period, the absence of a broker license stands out. The company says nothing about regulation, so it is unlikely to hold any licenses. Since the firm’s offices are in the UK, Switzerland, and Australia, you can check the financial commission registers of these countries to confirm the organization’s illegal activities. FCA, FINMA, and ASIC — GBTC Markets is not found in any of these financial commissions.
What’s the matter? How can a broker operate without a license? It is likely boasting fake legal addresses. For example, the office in the UK is fake. This organization is not found in the legal entity register. The same situation exists with the registers of Switzerland and Australia.
The name GBTC Markets was chosen for a reason. The fraudsters know very well that when searching for this abbreviation, users will come across information about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF, meaning they can confuse this fund with the scam platform. Scammers often use this trick, choosing similar names to well-known brands or fully copying them.
What Reviews Do Users Leave?
You can find over 100 reviews about GBTC Markets online, but there is a catch. All of them are positive, with an average rating of 4.7. This is very strange because the broker lacks a license, has a short operating period, and its office addresses are fake.
The fact is that all the positive reviews are paid for. In other words, these are fake comments designed to promote the firm positively, so that real traders become interested in the platform. Therefore, you should never trust positive reviews, especially without proof.
Conclusions
Now it’s time for the conclusions in the GBTC Markets review. The company does not guarantee reliability: it lacks a license, has a short operating period, has fake office addresses, and much more. Moreover, do not forget that this is a dealing desk, meaning its interest lies in the losing trades of its clients, otherwise it cannot make money. You cannot trade here.
Pros/Cons
- None.
- High minimum deposit.
- Lack of regulation.
- Fake office addresses.
- A Very short operating period.
- The business model with a conflict of interest.
I do not see any reason to open a brokerage account with GBTC Markets. Where is their license? Why do they not mention their operating period and what is their order execution model? What are the commissions? Where is the spread table? I was also outraged by their $10K minimum deposit. THAT IS VERY HIGH! I have never seen legitimate firms set such a high minimum entry. It is nonsense. No one will trade with you if the minimum deposit is so high. After all, there are firms where there is no minimum threshold at all. I truly do not see any advantages to this platform. It looks very suspicious, and I believe it is fraudulent and fake, so I cannot recommend it.
I just registered an account at gbtcmarkets.com. The personal account is very primitive, and the platform is even worse. I did not find a demo account, although it is mentioned in the description of the account types. So the company is most likely misleading.
I do not believe this is a good and reliable broker that can be trusted. However, I could be wrong, but it is unlikely. I usually do not make mistakes about such things. The site is done okay, but some operational details are missing, so you need to contact customer support.