Gate Review 2026: Is It Safe? Proof of Reserves, Hack History, Regulatory Warnings, Licences, Fees and Sign-up

This article brings together Gate’s official information, regulators’ notices and media reports.

The short version: Gate is an international exchange that grew out of Bter, founded in 2013, and was renamed from Gate.io to Gate in 2025. It publishes a proof of reserves every month, and the snapshot of 13 September 2026 on its official page showed a total reserve ratio of 117%. Every snapshot in 2026 has been at 115% or above, but there is currently no third-party verification. Two kinds of negative history are worth knowing: first, the theft of 7,170 BTC from the cold wallet of its predecessor Bter in 2015; second, since 2021, regulators in Italy, the Cayman Islands, Chile and elsewhere have publicly named it as unauthorised, while for the Spanish warning I found only media reports. Regular users pay 0.1% on spot, or 0.09% when paying with GT.

This article is a compilation of information. It is not investment, tax or legal advice. Fees, rates, licences and service regions can change; every figure here is as of the date shown, so check Gate’s official pages before you act. Crypto prices are volatile, and keeping assets on an exchange carries the risk of the exchange itself.

Gate key factsData checked: 2026-10-08

As of 2026-10-08, Gate's general-user spot taker fee is 0.1% and its futures taker fee is 0.05%; signing up with the invitation code gives a 20% trading fee discount.

Item	Details	Source
Jason Finance rating	64.9 / 100	rating method
Highlights	EU MiCA, Dubai VARA, Japan and other licences Publishes only an overall reserve ratio
General-user fees (taker)	Spot 0.1%, futures 0.05%	2026-10-08
Invitation code fee discount	20% trading fee discount	2026-10-07
Proof of reserves	2026-09-13 (monthly): overall 117% (no per-asset figures)	2026-10-08
Main licences and registrations	EU MiCA (Malta MFSA), Dubai VARA licence, Japan FSA licence, Bahamas SCB licence, Gibraltar GFSC licence, Australia AUSTRAC registration	source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4 source 5 source 6
Order book depth (±2%)	BTC/USDT about 24.4M USD, ETH/USDT about 9.4M USD	2026-10-08

What kind of exchange Gate is

The history and name change come from Gate’s May 2025 transparency report and Decrypt. The user figure is Gate’s own claim, from the July report as republished by ChainCatcher. The trust score and place of registration are from CoinGecko.

Is Gate safe?

Proof of reserves: monthly, Merkle tree plus zk-SNARK

A proof of reserves is an exchange publishing how much it holds in its wallets and comparing that with the total of all user balances. Gate’s proof of reserves page states that it uses a Merkle tree plus zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proofs. The verification code is on GitHub, and users can check for themselves whether their account was included.

The latest report I could find with a written announcement is the snapshot of 19 August 2026 (Gate announcement, published 24 August):

Total reserve ratios from other snapshots in 2026:

There are some limits, though:

• USDT on its own has come very close to 100%. In the 22 June snapshot, users held about 1.418 billion USDT and the platform held about 1.432 billion USDT in reserve, a surplus of only about 1%. From August on, the announcements combine USDT, USDC, USD1 and GUSD into a single “stablecoins” ratio, so the USDT figure on its own is no longer visible.
• Third-party verification stopped in 2024. The only audit listed on the proof of reserves page is one carried out by Hacken on 3 January 2024; the reports since then have been published by Gate itself.
• A proof of reserves is a snapshot at one point in time, not a full financial audit, and it shows nothing about the company’s finances beyond its liabilities to users. What it can and cannot prove, and how reserve ratios compare across exchanges, are in How to check proof of reserves.

Hacks and asset losses

The April 2018 incident is a third-party allegation. I found no official explanation from Gate and cannot confirm whether users lost anything.

The 2023 identity verification gap

In May 2023, ZachXBT signed up for Gate.io using names from sanctions lists such as “Kim Jong-Un” and obviously suspicious email addresses. The basic level of identity verification (KYC) was approved within minutes, allowing withdrawals of up to 100,000 USDT a day (CryptoSlate). I found no reports of user losses from this, and no official explanation from Gate.

Account security settings

According to Gate’s help centre, accounts can use passkeys, FIDO2 hardware security keys and 2FA. Before creating a passkey, you must complete identity verification and turn on at least two security verification methods. The fact card on this site also lists the withdrawal address whitelist, anti-phishing code and the withdrawal restriction after changing security settings.

Gate’s regulatory warnings, penalties and licences

Regulatory record, warnings and lawsuits

The table lists the regulatory warnings, court cases and service exits I found. The source column says whether the source is an official page or a media report; where I found only media reports, or the official page could not be opened, this is noted.

The regulators’ warnings concern operating locally without authorisation; they do not involve theft of user assets. I found no penalties or warnings against Gate from the New York Attorney General, the UK FCA, Hong Kong’s SFC, Singapore’s MAS, or the securities regulators of Thailand or Malaysia. Some of these lists could not be searched from our servers, though, so this does not mean there are definitely none.

Licences and registrations

According to Gate’s official licence page:

The Japanese entity serves only Japanese residents, the EU entity serves only the European Economic Area, and the Dubai entity serves only local users. Ordinary users in the Chinese-speaking world sign up on the global site, which is outside the supervision of all the licences above. The licence statuses in the table are compiled from Gate’s official page and press releases; I did not check each one against the regulators’ registers.

Where you can’t use it

According to Gate’s user agreement, restricted regions include the United States, mainland China, Singapore, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Malta, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Crimea, Spain, Luhansk, Donetsk, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Myanmar, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Austria, India, Indonesia, Japan, Argentina, Cambodia, the UAE, Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam, Russia and others. The list may be updated without notice.

For France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Malta on that list, as well as Japan and the UAE, Gate has separate EU, Japanese or Dubai entities, but the global site is not available there.

How to sign up for Gate

Gate is an international exchange (for users in the Chinese-speaking world). Create an account with an email address or phone number, enter the invitation code in the invitation code field, then complete identity verification (KYC). Before signing up, make sure your region is not on the restricted list above, and follow local law.

Gate fees: 0.1% on spot, 0.05% taker on futures

According to Gate’s official fee explanation from September 2026 and its fee guide from August 2026, regular users (VIP 0) pay:

• A maker places an order and waits for someone else to fill it; a taker fills an order already on the book.
• VIP tiers go up with 30-day trading volume or GT holdings, and higher tiers pay lower fees. Gate changed its spot and futures fee structure on 9 April 2026. The full VIP thresholds are visible on the official fee page after logging in; this article does not list them.
• For a comparison with regular-user fees at other international exchanges, see the international exchange fee comparison.

In money terms: a regular user buying 1,000 USDT of BTC at market pays a 0.1% taker fee, which is 1 USDT, or 0.9 USDT when paying with GT. Signing up with an invitation code gives a 20% fee discount; the official page at the time is what counts.

Deposits and withdrawals: on-chain deposits are free. Withdrawals carry an on-chain fee, which Gate adjusts roughly every hour depending on network congestion; the withdrawal page shows the current fee (official fee guide).

Depositing USDT to Gate on-chain

On Gate’s deposit page, choose USDT and a network, copy the address, then withdraw from the sending side. Both sides must use the same network, or you may not get the assets back.

On 9 October 2026 Gate’s public API showed these networks open for both USDT deposits and withdrawals:

There are also Near, Kaia, Kava EVM, Celo, Tezos, Polkadot Asset Hub, Monad and other networks. That day, withdrawals on Optimism and deposits on Algorand and EOS were suspended.

Unlike OKX, Gate supports USDT deposits and withdrawals on BEP20. The minimum withdrawal on TRC20 is 10 USDT, higher than on the other networks. The API does not give withdrawal fees; check the withdrawal page for the actual fee.

If a transfer is confirmed on-chain but the exchange has not credited it, see what to check in USDT deposit delayed: what to do.

Gate earn products: Simple Earn and GUSD

Simple Earn: flexible can be redeemed any time, fixed terms lose interest if redeemed early

According to Gate’s help centre, Simple Earn Flexible lends idle assets to users who want to borrow. The system matches them against borrowing demand every hour, and you can subscribe with as little as 1 USDT.

• Flexible redemption: you can request it at any time. During sharp market moves, network delays or very large redemption volumes, requests are processed in order, and interest keeps accruing while you wait.
• Fixed term: terms run from 3 to 360 days. Interest starts at 00:00 (UTC+0) on the day after you subscribe, and at maturity the principal and interest return to the spot or trading account. Redeeming early forfeits all accrued interest (official explanation).
• Risk: the official explanation states that digital asset prices can fluctuate sharply and that you may lose the entire amount invested.

GUSD: a yield-bearing token backed by US Treasuries and other assets

GUSD is a yield-bearing token Gate launched in August 2025. It is minted 1:1 with USDT or USDC and backed by tokenised US Treasuries and other low-risk assets, Gate ecosystem revenue and some stablecoins. The base annual yield at launch was 4.4% (press release published by The Block). GUSD is issued by Gate itself, so its risk is concentrated on Gate. This is different from USDT and USDC, which are issued by other companies.

For what extra risk idle USDT in an exchange earn product carries compared with short-term Treasury ETFs, Aave and Bitfinex lending, see Where to park idle USD and USDT.

Pros and cons: who Gate suits

More exchange guides and comparisons are on the crypto topic page.

FAQ

Is Gate safe?

Gate publishes a proof of reserves every month using a Merkle tree plus zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proofs. On its official proof of reserves page, the snapshot of 13 September 2026 showed a total reserve ratio of 117%. The 19 August snapshot, the latest with a written breakdown, showed 127%, with BTC at about 123%, ETH at about 122% and stablecoins combined at about 112%. However, its predecessor Bter lost 7,170 BTC to theft in 2015, and since 2021 regulators in Italy, the Cayman Islands, Chile and elsewhere have publicly named it as unauthorised. A proof of reserves is a snapshot at one point in time, not a financial audit.

Are Gate and Gate.io the same exchange?

Yes. The exchange started as Bter in 2013, was renamed Gate.io at the end of 2017, switched to the new domain Gate.com on 19 May 2025 and now goes by the brand Gate.

What are Gate's trading fees?

According to Gate's official explanation from September 2026, regular users (VIP 0) pay 0.1% maker and taker on spot, or 0.09% when paying with GT, and 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on futures. Deposits are free, and withdrawal fees are adjusted roughly every hour based on network conditions.

What licences does Gate hold?

According to Gate's official licence page, Gate Technology Ltd received MiCA authorisation approved by Malta's MFSA on 29 September 2025, Gate Technology FZE holds a VARA virtual asset service provider licence in Dubai, and Gate Japan K.K. is a crypto asset exchange registered with Japan's Financial Services Agency. These licences cover only the entity in each region; the global site is outside their supervision.

Where can't you use Gate?

According to Gate's user agreement, restricted regions include the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, the UAE, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Malta and others. The list may be updated at any time.

Can I deposit USDT to Gate on BSC (BEP20)?

Yes. On 9 October 2026 Gate's public API showed both deposits and withdrawals of USDT open on BNB Smart Chain (BEP20). It also supports TRC20, ERC20, Solana, TON, Arbitrum One, Polygon and other networks. The minimum withdrawal on TRC20 is 10 USDT; on most other networks it is 1 USDT.