Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has raked in a net profit of more than $400 million in 2018, up nearly 25% from the previous year, according to data provided by its shareholder Zhao Dong.

Bitfinex has made headlines these days after the New York State’s Attorney General’s office accused the exchange of secretly using Tether’s USD reserves which should back the stablecoin to cover up an $850 million fund shortfall in its finances. Though the exchange denied the charges, saying the funds have been “seized and safeguarded” by Polish, Portuguese, U.S. and UK authorities which only needs “a few weeks to be unfrozen”, it is now attempting to raise $1 billion via LEO token sale in an effort to cover the frozen $850 million funds.

The exchange’s financial figures were revealed by Zhao’s DFund in an analysis about Bitfinex’s LEO “whitepaper”. It showed that Bitfinex, with 35-60 employees in 2017, netted in $326 million in profit and gave out $246 million to its shareholders; In 2018, the exchange generated $404 million in profit with a team of 60-90 employees, and paid out a dividend of over $261 million.

Leon Li, CEO of crypto exchange Huobi, commented on it

“(less than) 100 employees earn $326 million! Can’t calm down (after seeing these outsatanding figures), I’ve found a new goal.”

Screenshot of Huobi Leon Li’s Wechat moment

According to Coinmarketcap, Bitfinex has an average daily trading volume of about $114 million in the past 7 days and it’s currently ranked 46th among crypto exchanges worldwide by trading volume.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are thriving and pocket in millions of USD despite 2018 seeing a massive downturn in crypto price. Leading crypto exchange Coinbase is projected to bring in $456 million in profits in 2018. As previously reported by 8btc, top crypto exchange Huobi reported over $500 million in trading fees throughout 2018, Binance earned $462 million and OKEx made $292 million in the past year.

As the crypto market springs back to life since this April, crypto exchanges may be more profitable along with the rally in bitcoin price. While to remain competitive in such as ever-changing market, crypto exchanges have to focus on continuous optimization and innovation of its services. According to Coinmarketcap, many crypto exchanges have seen an upheaval in their rankings as the market moves, the big three – Binance, Huobi and OKEx – have been replaced by latecomers like Brazil-based Negocie Coins and LBank.