CCXT is one of the most used open source projects in the cryptocurrency market with over 400k downloads a month. In fact, the CCXT Github has been starred and watched more than the Litecoin Github, the EOS Github, and the Stellar Github.

As a consolation to these cryptocurrencies, most crypto projects have less activity than CCXT. It has become one of the largest libraries for developers who are trying to integrate cryptocurrency exchange trading into their projects.

With this volume of activity, you would be right in assuming this library solves a large problem.

A Global Problem

Cryptocurrency exchanges have a serious problem. They are completely independent organizations which have individually decided the standards, functionality, and features for their APIs. They don’t abide by traditional conventions or follow industry expectations. Every single exchange has implemented their own completely unique API with custom endpoints which interface with their services.

Developing services which interface with crypto exchanges is unpleasant to say the least. Specialized infrastructure is required for each exchange you support. Custom software with peculiar logic is often a requisite to completing a new integration.

Once an integration is complete, the problems don’t stop there. Every few days there will be a breaking change to at least one of the exchanges you support. Sometimes these changes are announced ahead of time and sometimes you find out because one of your requests for data will simply stop working at 7pm on a Friday night.