How to Build a Crypto Exchange in 2026
A practical 2026 guide to building a crypto exchange – the five core systems, the tech stack, build vs buy and real cost and timeline ranges for CEX, DEX and white label.
Reviewed by Dr. Dmytro Nasyrov, Founder and CTO
Crypto Exchange Development Company
High-performance crypto exchange platforms with order matching engines, multi-chain wallet infrastructure, KYC/AML compliance, admin dashboards and liquidity management.
- 30+ blockchain projects
- 7+ years in Web3
- 90+ Clutch reviews
SOC 2 Type II
GDPR
ISO 27001
NDA Protected
Aligned with these frameworks. Audit reports and certifications available on request.
Reviewed and updated
Last reviewed June 29, 2026 by
Dmytro Nasyrov,
Founder and CTO. Content reflects Pharos Production delivery data as of the review date.
Editorial policy.
Reviewed by Dmytro Nasyrov
Founder and CTO
23+ years in custom software development. Led 110+ projects across FinTech, healthcare, Web3 and enterprise, ISO 27001-aligned team.
What is crypto exchange development?
Crypto exchange development is the engineering of platforms that match orders, custody funds, process deposits and withdrawals, handle KYC/AML, produce regulatory reports and protect against market manipulation. It spans centralized exchanges (CEX), decentralized exchanges (DEX), hybrid models and OTC trading desks. Production exchanges require extreme attention to matching engine correctness, custody security, API rate limiting, market surveillance, cold/hot wallet architecture and regulatory reporting. Pharos builds exchange software; clients hold the licenses or partner with licensed custodians.
Authoritative citations 12 sources
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Ethereum Yellow Paper
The Ethereum Yellow Paper by Gavin Wood is the canonical formal specification of the EVM, gas accounting and state transition function, referenced by every serious smart contract implementation including the clients Pharos uses for mainnet integrations.
ethereum.github.io
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EIP-1559 Specification
EIP-1559 redefined Ethereum gas pricing with a base fee plus priority tip model, changing how wallets, dApps and L2 gas estimation libraries compute transaction cost, which we apply directly in every wallet we ship.
eips.ethereum.org
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Consensys Smart Contract Best Practices
Consensys maintains the industry-reference smart contract security guide covering reentrancy, integer overflow, front-running, oracle manipulation and upgrade patterns, which we use as a code review checklist on every Solidity audit.
consensys.github.io
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OpenZeppelin Contracts
OpenZeppelin Contracts is the most widely audited open-source Solidity library for tokens, access control, upgrades and governance patterns, and is the default foundation for every Pharos smart contract engagement unless the client has compelling audit evidence for a custom base.
docs.openzeppelin.com
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Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report
The Chainalysis annual crypto crime report quantifies illicit on-chain activity across ransomware, sanctions evasion, DeFi exploits and stolen funds, and we use the underlying methodology to calibrate AML screening thresholds in wallet and exchange integrations.
chainalysis.com
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Trail of Bits Smart Contract Audits
Trail of Bits public smart contract audit reports document real-world findings across DeFi protocols, DAOs and NFT infrastructure, and we read every published report to extend our own internal audit checklist with emerging attack patterns.
github.com
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EEA Enterprise Ethereum Specification
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance specification defines permissioned network, privacy and performance requirements that inform our architecture for enterprise chain engagements running variants of Besu, Quorum and Hyperledger Besu.
entethalliance.org
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Solidity Documentation
The Solidity language documentation is the authoritative source for syntax, compiler behaviour, gas costs and breaking changes across versions, which we track carefully because upgrade cycles from 0.8.x to 0.9.x affect every contract in production.
docs.soliditylang.org
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L2Beat
L2Beat tracks total value locked, security assumptions and maturity of Ethereum layer-2 networks, which we consult when recommending between Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync and Starknet for client dApps based on throughput and trust requirements.
l2beat.com
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DeFi Pulse
DeFi Pulse publishes total value locked and protocol-level metrics across lending, DEX, derivatives and yield protocols, useful for benchmarking liquidity assumptions when designing DeFi integrations that depend on oracle prices or pool depth.
defipulse.com
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Hardhat Documentation
Hardhat is the de-facto Ethereum development environment with built-in console, mainnet forking and plugin ecosystem, and is the base harness we use to ship every Solidity project with deterministic tests and gas snapshots.
hardhat.org
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NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography
NIST is finalizing post-quantum cryptographic standards including CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium that will eventually replace current ECDSA signatures, and we monitor the migration timeline closely for clients running long-lived on-chain assets.
csrc.nist.gov
What we do not do
- Exchange launches without legal counsel on licensing in the target jurisdiction
- Custodial exchanges without a sponsored custody partner
- Exchange projects motivated by token launch rather than trading volume
- Matching engines without formal correctness validation
Crypto exchange development at Pharos Production at a glance
- Exchange engagements: 5+ exchange engagements since 2020 across spot, derivatives, OTC and institutional custody
- Components: Matching engine, order book, custody operations, KYC/AML, market surveillance, reporting, admin tooling
- Stack: Go (matching engine), Elixir/Phoenix or Java/Spring (API), PostgreSQL, Kafka, Redis, AWS with HSM
- Pricing: Exchange MVP $250,000-$600,000+; full platform $600,000-$2,500,000+
- Timeline: Discovery 4-6 weeks; MVP 6-12 months; full platform 12-24 months with external audit and regulatory coordination
- Custody model: Partnered with licensed custodian (Fireblocks, Copper, BitGo) or client-owned cold storage with multi-sig
- Honest scope: We decline exchange launches without jurisdictional licensing strategy
Building exchanges that survive audits
Exchange engagements follow a security-first delivery pattern: discovery maps the regulatory requirements and custody model; build includes matching engine correctness testing and custody operations design; production readiness includes external security audit plus operational runbooks; support includes surveillance and compliance reporting.
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Phase 01 / 04 Paid Discovery
2-4 weeks- Technical validation
- Architecture proposal
- Scope refined estimate
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Phase 02 / 04 Iterative Build
2-week sprints- Working demos every sprint
- CTO review at milestones
- ADRs documented
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Phase 03 / 04 Production Readiness
- Monitoring and alerting
- Security audit Pen test
- Runbooks and rollback
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Phase 04 / 04 Support
Ongoing- Security patches
- Performance tuning
- 4h SLA response
Pharos Verified Delivery applied to 70+ production applications since 2013
Exchange engagements we shipped
Three exchange engagements covering spot trading, derivatives and OTC infrastructure. Compliance boundaries explicit.
Spot trading engine
Before
First-generation matching engine had intermittent order-matching errors during high volume. Compliance team could not reliably reconstruct the order book for audits.
After
New matching engine with formal correctness validation and full audit trail. Zero order-matching errors across 6 months post-launch. Audit reconstruction now takes minutes instead of days.
We used a deterministic single-threaded matching engine (Go) with an append-only event log. Every order, trade and cancellation writes to the log before state changes. Reconstruction replays the log; it cannot drift from reality.
Custody operations
Before
Manual cold wallet operations taking 2-4 hours per large withdrawal. Operational errors caused one near-miss incident where wrong amount was almost sent.
After
Automated custody operations with multi-sig approvals, hardware wallet integration and whitelist-only destinations. Withdrawal time down to 15 minutes with zero operational errors in 9 months.
The key was removing "type the address" from the workflow entirely. Destinations come from a pre-approved whitelist managed by compliance. Operations teams never paste addresses manually.
Market surveillance
Before
Market manipulation detection was manual daily review. Wash trading and spoofing went undetected until regulators asked.
After
Real-time surveillance for wash trading, spoofing, layering and pump-and-dump patterns. 12 violations surfaced in the first month that manual review had missed. Accounts suspended and reported to regulators.
We started with the classic patterns (wash trading, spoofing) and added custom detectors for the specific token pairs on the exchange. The detectors run on the live feed and page compliance within 60 seconds of pattern confirmation.
Client names anonymized under NDA. Full case studies at /cases/.
When a custom exchange is not the answer
We decline roughly 30% of RFPs we receive. Forcing a bad fit costs both sides 3-6 months and damages outcomes. Here is how we think about scope:
Projects we decline
- Exchange launches without jurisdictional licensing strategy
- Custodial exchanges without a sponsored custody partner
- Exchanges motivated by token launch rather than trading volume
- Projects where off-the-shelf white-label exchanges would cover needs
- "Uniswap fork" launches without a differentiated thesis
We recommend white-label solutions when they fit
For most exchange launches, white-label solutions (ChainUp, Modulus, HollaEx) ship in weeks with inherited compliance tooling. Custom development makes sense when you need proprietary features, institutional-grade custody, market surveillance or scale that exceeds white-label limits.
Pharos Production crypto exchange portfolio observations
Observations from 9 exchange and trading-platform engagements delivered 2021-2026 across centralised, hybrid and DeFi-native venues.
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Exchanges that launched with proof-of-reserves from day one retained users 2.3x longer through market stress events than those that added it later.
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Matching-engine rewrites from Node to Go or Rust reduced P99 latency by 64 percent on average across 4 migrations in our sample.
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Teams of 10 to 16 engineers plus 2 security reviewers shipped licensed-grade exchange MVPs in 9 to 14 months across 6 engagements.
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Hot-wallet incidents in our portfolio averaged $90,000 direct loss; zero incidents occurred on MPC-custody-from-day-one venues.
Crypto exchange outlook 2026-2027
How to evaluate an exchange build before public launch
Lesson from production: the oracle window attack
A customer exchange integrated a DeFi liquidity layer for exotic pairs in 2023. During a thin-liquidity Sunday, a trader used a flash loan on-chain to move the spot price of an obscure token, then immediately opened a leveraged position on the exchange priced against that oracle. The exchange held the stale price for 47 seconds before cross-venue reconciliation triggered. Loss: $412,000. Root cause: oracle update cadence was set for typical market conditions, not adversarial ones. We added a median-of-three oracle composite, tightened staleness checks to 5 seconds for low-liquidity pairs, and added a circuit breaker that halted trading on any pair where oracle deviation exceeded 3 percent in 60 seconds. No further oracle-window losses in 18 months since. The lesson: exchange oracles must be designed for adversarial markets, not typical markets.
Licensing and regulatory scope
Pharos Production builds crypto exchange software. We do not hold VASP, money transmitter or exchange licenses. Regulatory licensing, compliance program operation, custody liability and market conduct responsibility belong to the client or their licensed partners.
Published record
Published Pharos research
Technical articles, comparison guides and methodology deep-dives we write from our own delivery experience.
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Platforms We Work With
Trusted by Coinbase, Consensys, Core Scientific, MicroStrategy, Gate.io and 10+ more Web3 and enterprise platforms
16+ partnersOur 16 technology partners include:
- Consensys
- Gate Io
- Coinbase
- Ludo
- Core Scientific
- Debut Infotech
- Axoni
- Alchemy
- Starkware
- Mara Holdings
- Microstrategy
- Nubank
- Okx
- Uniswap
- Riot
- Leeway Hertz
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Consensys
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Gate Io
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Coinbase
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Ludo
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Core Scientific
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Debut Infotech
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Axoni
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Alchemy
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Starkware
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Mara Holdings
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Microstrategy
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Nubank
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Okx
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Uniswap
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Riot
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Leeway Hertz
Exchange development services
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Matching engine developmentHigh-performance order matching with sub-millisecond latency. Support for limit, market, stop-loss and OCO orders. Horizontal scaling for peak load handling. -
Multi-chain wallet infrastructureAutomated deposit/withdrawal across multiple blockchains. Hot/cold wallet management, fee estimation, transaction monitoring and balance reconciliation.
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Trading UI and admin dashboardsReal-time trading interface with charts, order books, trade history and portfolio analytics. Admin panel for user management, KYC review and risk monitoring.
About Founder and CTO
Founder and CTO Pharos Production
I design and build reliable software solutions – from lightweight apps to high-load distributed systems and blockchain platforms.
PhD in Artificial Intelligence, MSc in Computer Science (with honors), MSc in Electronics & Precision Mechanics.
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13 years in architecture of great software solutions tailored to customer needs for startups and enterprises
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23 years of practical enterprise customized software production experience
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Lecturer at the National Kyiv Polytechnic University
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Doctor of Philosophy in Artificial Intelligence
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Master’s degree in Computer Science, completed with excellence
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Master’s degree in Electronics and precision mechanics engineering
Choose your cooperation model
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Smart contract launch
Audited single-chain contract or module with deployment, verification and documentation.
$17,000 - $40,000
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Protocol build
Multi-contract protocol, indexers, dApp frontend and full security review.
$40,000 - $80,000
Ecosystem
Full ecosystem
Cross-chain architecture, token economics, governance, audits and ongoing support.
$80,000 - $180,000
Prices vary based on project scope, complexity, timeline and requirements. Contact us for a personalized estimate.
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Need extra hands on your software project? Our developers can jump in at any stage – from architecture to auditing – and integrate seamlessly with your team to fill any technical gaps.
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Whether you’re building from scratch or scaling fast, our engineers are ready to step in. You stay in control, and we handle the code.
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From first line to final audit, we handle the entire development process. We will deliver secure, production-ready software, while you can focus on your business.
37+ technologies
Technologies, tools and frameworks we use
Our engineers work with 37+ blockchains technologies - chosen for production reliability and performance.
Blockchains
Private and Public Blockchains 33
Ethereum
TON
Corda
Tron
Hedera
Stellar
Consensys GoQuorum
Solana
Arbitrum
Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
Sei
Celo
Hyperledger
MultiversX
IOTA
Polkadot
Aptos
Neo
Flow
Algorand
Avalanche
EOS
Optimism
Polygon
Cosmos
Sui
Tezos
Ontology
Fantom
NEAR Protocol
VeChain
Base
IPFS
Cloud Blockchain Solutions 4
Amazon Managed Blockchain
Amazon QLDB
IBM Blockchain
Oracle Blockchain
Trusted & Certified
Partnerships & Awards
Recognized on Clutch, GoodFirms and The Manifest for software engineering excellence
15+ industry awards
An approach to the development cycle
The Pharos Delivery Framework divides every project into 2-week sprints. After each sprint there is a retrospective of the work done, planning for the next sprint, a report of the work done and a plan for the next sprint. This methodology is why agile projects are 3x more likely to succeed than waterfall (Standish Group CHAOS Report, 2024).
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Team Assembly
Our company starts and assembles an entire project specialists with the perfect blend of skills and experience to start the work.
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MVP
We’ll design, build and launch your MVP, ensuring it meets the core requirements of your software solution.
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Production
We’ll create a complete software solution that is custom-made to meet your exact specifications.
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Ongoing
Continuous Support
Our company will be right there with you, keeping your software solution running smoothly, fixing issues, and rolling out updates.
Proven Results
PumpTap Crypto Wallet
50,000+ daily transactions with zero security incidents
GridTradeX. Crypto Prediction Game.
Cut order-to-ack p99 latency from 14ms to 2.8ms and reduced backtesting time on 1 year of tick data from 4.5…
Kimlic. Blockchain-based KYC
Lifted onboarding completion from 62 to 89 percent and scaled verification volume from 20k to 140k flows per month. Measured…
Ludo. Reputation platform of Web3
Real-time reputation scoring across 5+ blockchains
Crypto exchange engineering insights
MiCA KYC in 2026: CASP Onboarding, AML and the Travel Rule
MiCA KYC in 2026: what the term really means, who must comply, customer due diligence, the crypto Travel Rule and the compliance software it takes.
Smart Contract Audit Cost in 2026: Pricing by Project Type
Smart contract audit cost in 2026 by project type, what drives the quote and how to reduce it without cutting safety.
RWA Tokenization Platform Development: 2026 Engineering Roadmap
RWA tokenization platform development covering architecture, smart contract standards, compliance, custody and cost.
Crypto exchange glossary 7
- Order Book
- A real-time list of buy and sell orders for an asset, ranked by price. The exchange matches the highest bid against the lowest ask to execute trades. A deep order book with many resting orders signals strong liquidity and tighter spreads.
- Matching Engine
- The core software component that pairs incoming buy and sell orders and executes trades. Its performance is measured in orders processed per second and latency. A high-throughput matching engine lets an exchange absorb spikes in volume without slippage or downtime.
- Liquidity
- The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. On an exchange liquidity comes from active traders and market makers. Low liquidity causes wide spreads and large price swings on modest orders.
- Market Maker
- A participant that continuously quotes both buy and sell prices to supply liquidity, profiting from the spread. Exchanges often run market-making programs to keep order books deep and trading smooth from launch day.
- KYC (Know Your Customer)
- On a crypto exchange, KYC is the identity verification a user completes before they can trade or withdraw. It combines document and biometric checks, sanctions screening and risk scoring, and feeds the exchange anti-money-laundering and travel-rule reporting.
- Custody
- How an exchange stores user assets. Hot wallets stay online for fast withdrawals while cold wallets stay offline for security. A sound custody model splits funds across both and adds multi-signature controls to limit the impact of any single breach.
- Cold Wallet
- A cryptocurrency wallet kept fully offline and isolated from the internet to block remote attacks. Exchanges hold the bulk of customer funds in cold storage and move only small float amounts to hot wallets for day-to-day withdrawals.
Frequently asked questions about Crypto Exchange Development Company
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A custom crypto exchange typically ranges from $80,000 for a spot-only MVP to $400,000 or more for a derivatives platform with margin trading and deep liquidity routing. Cost depends on the matching engine throughput target, number of supported chains, KYC/AML vendor integrations and whether you need a white-label admin or a fully bespoke build.
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A spot exchange MVP usually takes 4 to 6 months, while a feature-complete platform with margin, futures and multi-chain wallets runs 9 to 14 months. Timelines depend on order matching engine complexity, regulatory onboarding for KYC/AML providers and the number of blockchain networks integrated into wallet infrastructure.
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We build order matching engines in Rust or C++ for deterministic low-latency execution, often paired with an in-memory order book and lock-free data structures. Backend services run on Go or Java, real-time market data streams over WebSocket and Kafka and the wallet layer integrates node clients for each supported chain.
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We integrate certified KYC/AML providers such as Sumsub, Jumio or Onfido for identity verification, document checks and liveness detection. Transaction monitoring connects to Chainalysis or Elliptic for sanctions screening and wallet risk scoring. The admin dashboard exposes case review queues, audit trails and configurable rules to match your licensing jurisdiction.
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Multi-chain wallet infrastructure separates hot and cold storage, with multi-signature and HSM-backed key management for cold reserves. Withdrawals pass through allowlists, rate limits and manual approval thresholds.
We add 2FA, anti-phishing codes, withdrawal cooldowns and full penetration testing before launch to protect both user funds and operator keys.
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The admin dashboard includes user and KYC case management, fee and trading pair configuration, hot wallet balance monitoring, withdrawal approval workflows and real-time liquidity views. Operators get audit logs, role-based access control, suspicious activity alerts and reporting exports. Market making and liquidity provider connections are managed from the same console.
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Liquidity is managed through market maker integrations, aggregated liquidity from external venues and optional connections to liquidity providers via FIX or REST APIs. We can deploy automated market making bots tuned to your spread targets and route order flow across internal and external books to keep depth healthy on thinly traded pairs.
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Pharos pairs deep FinTech and blockchain engineering with a 90+ person team across our Las Vegas headquarters and Kyiv office. We own the full stack from the matching engine to multi-chain wallets and compliance tooling, rather than reselling a white-label shell, so you keep control of latency, custody architecture and the regulatory posture of your platform.
The Pharos takeaway on crypto exchanges
Crypto exchange engineering in 2026 is measurable: matching-engine latency, custody posture, proof of reserves and audited settlement contracts. Pharos Production builds exchanges that clear MiCA-class operational audits and sustain real-world adversarial load before public launch.
Your business results matter
Achieve them with minimized risk through our bespoke innovation capabilities
What happens next?
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Contact us
Contact us today to discuss your project. We’re ready to review your request promptly and guide you on the best next steps for collaboration
Same day -
NDA
We’re committed to keeping your information confidential, so we’ll sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement
1 day -
Plan the Goals
After we chat about your goals and needs, we’ll craft a comprehensive proposal detailing the project scope, team, timeline and budget
3-5 days -
Finalize the Details
Let’s connect on Google Meet to go through the proposal and confirm all the details together!
1-2 days -
Sign the Contract
As soon as the contract is signed, our dedicated team will jump into action on your project!
Same day
Our offices
Headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada. Engineering office in Kyiv, Ukraine.