US bitcoin-only brokerage with zero-fee recurring buys, phone support and full proof of reserves.
Lightning-native app for buying bitcoin and sending it anywhere instantly, with no added fee on transfers.
No verdict: both exchanges score 4.6 out of 5 on our rubric, so the rows below decide by what you need.
Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.
| Fact | River | Strike |
|---|---|---|
| Editorial rating | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Published fees | Free recurring, 1.2% one-off | Fee shown before you confirm |
| Maker fee | Not published | Not published |
| Taker fee | Not published | Not published |
| Identity verification | Required | Required |
| Bitcoin-only | Yes | Yes |
| Payment rails supported | 2 | 4 |
| Countries ranked in | 1 | 2 |
| Ranks first in | 0 | 1 |
| Countries shared | 1 | 1 |
| Security record | 9 dated events, 2 incidents, latest 2026-08-26 | 8 dated events, 1 incident, latest 2026-06-30 |
| Founded | 2019 | Not stated |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US | Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Last reviewed | 2026-08-12 | 2026-08-12 |
Each country guide ranks its own roster on published fees, security record and local payment support, so the two can sit in a different order from one country to the next.
| Country | Status | River ranks | Strike ranks | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Legal | #4 | #6 |
Dated events from each review, newest first: breaches, enforcement actions, licences, audits and proof-of-reserves publications. Every exchange ranked here carries one.
Licensed in more than 40 US jurisdictions under NMLS 1906809, but not New York
August proof of reserves shows 31,581 BTC held against 31,407 BTC owed
A mining pool failure stopped hashing at both River mining sites for four days
Strike Europe authorised under MiCA by the Maltese regulator
NYDFS granted Strike a BitLicense and a money transmitter licence
Withdrawals can now be locked behind passkey or hardware key 2FA
No verdict: both exchanges score 4.6 out of 5 on our rubric, so the rows below decide by what you need. The rating weighs published fees, security record and local payment support; the table above sets each beside the other so you can check the score against the facts.
River: Free recurring, 1.2% one-off. Strike: Fee shown before you confirm. Those are each platform's published headline rates; card purchases and instant-buy widgets cost more than the order book on both, and each review carries the full schedule.
Both are ranked in our guides for United States. River is ranked in 1 countries in all and Strike in 2; each country guide ranks its own roster, so the two can sit in a different order from one country to the next.
River carries 2 incidents among 9 dated events, the latest on 2026-05-03: A mining pool failure stopped hashing at both River mining sites for four days. Strike carries 1 incident among 8 dated events, the latest on 2023-10-30: Customer email list leaked, denied by Strike, then admitted. Both reviews list every event with its source.
River: required. Strike: required; identity verification is required to use the app; requirements vary by country..
The full reviews: River and Strike, each with its sources, and every exchange we review.
Every other head-to-head River or Strike appears in.
United States