Gate review: does the huge coin catalog come with reserves you can trust?
Gate lists more coins than almost anyone else in crypto and now publishes zk-verified proof of reserves to back it up. We checked those numbers, the licensing and an old, allegedly undisclosed breach against the exchange's pitch to see if a bigger balance is safe there.
6.8out of 106.8
Our verdict
Gate's published numbers are genuinely strong: a zk-verified 115 percent reserve ratio, MiCA licensing in Europe, ISO 27001 certification and a $100 million-plus SAFU fund all check out against independent trackers, and the coin catalog is as wide as any major exchange's. What keeps us from calling it fully trustworthy for a large balance is the exchange's own history: an alleged $234 million breach from 2018 that on-chain investigators say Gate never disclosed, plus a steady stream of complaints about frozen accounts and stuck withdrawals. Trade the long tail of altcoins here for the selection, but keep the balance you cannot afford to lose somewhere with a cleaner record.
Traders after a wide coin catalog who check Gate's reserve dashboard rather than assuming a spotless history
Best for:
Gate has always sold itself on breadth: more coins than Binance, more pairs than Kraken, a catalog long enough that whatever obscure token you want is probably listed here first. Breadth is easy to advertise and hard to trust with a real balance, so we spent our time checking the reserve numbers and the history behind them rather than counting listings.
The reserve dashboard actually holds up
Gate's proof of reserves is not just a marketing line. Its June 2026 report, now built on zero-knowledge verification rather than a simple snapshot, shows a 115 percent coverage ratio against $8.18 billion in total reserves, a number that matches what independent trackers report on the exchange's own listing page, down to the reported spot volume of roughly $1.6 billion and total tracked assets of $7.48 billion at the time we checked.
That figure sits comfortably above the 100 percent solvency line every proof-of-reserves exchange claims to clear, and Gate was one of the first major platforms to publish this kind of report at all, back when most competitors were still resisting the idea. Add ISO 27001 certification, mandatory two-factor authentication, withdrawal whitelists and a SAFU insurance fund valued past $100 million, and the security architecture reads like a genuinely mature operation. None of this is verified by an outside body sitting between Gate and its users, so the reserve number ultimately rests on Gate's own zk-proof pipeline being honest about what it feeds in.
Licensing has caught up with the marketing
A MiCA license now covers Gate's European operations, and the exchange holds registrations across Malta, Italy, Gibraltar, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Dubai and Australia. Gate US, a separate and more limited entity, handles spot trading for American users in roughly 30 states, though the main global platform remains closed to US residents entirely. Mainland China and Canada are blocked outright, which rules Gate out for a meaningful slice of readers before fees ever enter the conversation.
Fees that reward volume, not the first trade
Spot trading starts at 0.1 percent maker and 0.2 percent taker, a fee that is average rather than aggressive until GT token discounts or VIP tiers bring it down. Futures traders get a better deal: 0.02 percent maker and 0.05 percent taker on USDT perpetuals sits among the lowest base rates any major platform quotes, a real advantage for anyone running frequent leveraged positions.
The app store tells its own story
Gate's mobile app carries a solid but unspectacular rating across nearly 90,000 reviews
A 3.9-star rating across nearly 90,000 reviews and 10 million-plus downloads is a decent showing for an exchange app, not a standout one, and it lines up with what independent review sites report: functional trading tools alongside a recurring complaint pattern about frozen accounts and withdrawal requests stuck in repeated document-verification loops. None of that shows up in a proof-of-reserves number, but it is exactly the kind of friction that matters most the day you actually need your funds out.
The separate Gate US app, built for the roughly 30 states where it currently operates
The history a reserve dashboard cannot erase
Gate's disclosed incidents are handled about as well as any exchange's: a 2019 51 percent attack on Ethereum Classic cost the platform around $200,000, and Gate covered the loss from company funds while disclosing it openly. Less comfortable is an alleged 2018 breach that on-chain investigators put at roughly $234 million, one that, per their research, Gate never formally disclosed to users. A company can improve its reserve reporting and licensing considerably in the years since and still owe an explanation for an incident it has not addressed.
Who this actually suits
Independent reviewers rank Gate for its breadth, with the same caveats we found
Gate makes the most sense for a trader who wants access to smaller-cap coins nobody else lists and who checks the reserve dashboard rather than assuming it, moving funds in and out rather than parking a life-changing balance there indefinitely. The regulatory progress since 2018 is real. Whether it fully offsets an unexplained nine-figure incident from the exchange's own past is a judgment call every reader has to make for themselves, not one a 115 percent reserve ratio settles by itself. Newer users are better served starting small, moving a modest balance first and confirming a withdrawal clears before trusting the account with anything larger.
Verdict
We would use Gate for its catalog and its genuinely competitive futures fees, moving balances rather than storing them, given the unresolved question mark from 2018 and the pattern of withdrawal complaints reported elsewhere. The proof-of-reserves and licensing work is real progress and should count for something. It should not count for everything.
What we liked
Zk-verified proof of reserves showing a 115% coverage ratio and $8.18 billion in assets as of June 2026
MiCA license in the EU plus registrations across Malta, Italy, Gibraltar, Bahamas, Hong Kong, Dubai and Australia
Futures fees as low as 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on USDT perpetuals, among the cheapest base rates available
ISO 27001 certification, a $100 million-plus SAFU insurance fund, and mandatory 2FA with withdrawal whitelists
One of the widest coin catalogs of any major exchange, with thousands of tradable assets
What held it back
An alleged 2018 breach of roughly $234 million was reportedly never disclosed by Gate, per on-chain investigators
Mainland China and Canada are blocked outright, and US users only get the more limited Gate US, live in about 30 states
Independent review sites report frozen accounts and withdrawal requests stuck in repeated document loops
Specs
Spot fee (base tier)
0.1% maker / 0.2% taker, before GT holding discounts
