Bits of Gold: fees, licence and the shekel route

What Bits of Gold is

Bits of Gold (ביטס אוף גולד) is an Israeli crypto platform founded in Tel Aviv in 2013 by Jonathan Rouach and now run by Yuval Rouach. The company reports more than 200,000 registered customers and over 30 employees. It is a broker rather than an order-book exchange: you buy from and sell to the company at the rate it quotes, and you can either leave the coins in a managed cold wallet with Bits of Gold or withdraw them to a wallet of your own.

In our ranking of exchanges for Israelis it comes second with a score of 8.7. It leads on the three things no international exchange can offer: an Israeli licence, shekel deposits and withdrawals, and an app and support team that speak Hebrew. What keeps it below CEX.IO is cost. You pay a fee of a couple of percent on every trade, the coin list stops at nine, and the August 2026 data incident is a fresh mark against it.

The licence: number 56716, first among active exchanges

In September 2022 the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority (CMISA) granted the first permanent licences under the Supervision of Financial Services (Regulated Financial Services) Law, 2016. Hybrid Bridge received one on 14 September and Bits of Gold on 18 September, which made Bits of Gold the first operating crypto exchange in Israel with a permanent licence. Its licence number is 56716.

A small note for anyone reading the company’s help centre: it attributes the licence to the Israel Securities Authority, but the 2022 coverage names CMISA, which is indeed the body that licenses financial-asset service providers. The CMISA licence register could not be checked automatically, so if it matters to you, look the company up there yourself.

1. 2013Founded in Tel Aviv

   One of Israel’s earliest bitcoin services.

2. 2014Israel’s first bitcoin ATM

   At the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv. Today the company runs no ATM or cash desk.

3. Sept 2022Permanent licence 56716

   First active exchange with a CMISA licence.

4. March 2024BILS sandbox pilot

   A shekel stablecoin on Solana.

5. 27 April 2026BILS cleared for full launch

   With segregated reserves held in Israel, per reports.

6. August 2026Data-security incident

   Personal details possibly exposed; the company says funds and keys were not.

Bits of Gold fees: what you actually pay

The service fee depends on your trading volume over the past three months. It starts at 1.95% and steps down through eight tiers to about 1.20% once you pass ₪1 million. There is a minimum fee of ₪43, and 18% VAT is added to every fee. At the entry tier that works out to roughly 2.3% including VAT.

There is a further layer to watch. The price on the site is not the bare market rate. On 5 October 2026 bitcoin was shown at about ₪269,149 when the global market price was about ₪262,130, roughly 2.7% higher, and USDC was shown at ₪3.12 against a market rate near ₪3.04. That comparison is our own calculation; Bits of Gold says its displayed prices include the cost of acquiring the coin and conversion. Before a large purchase, compare the final amount you will receive, not only the fee percentage.

A simple example: buying ₪5,000 of crypto by bank transfer. The 1.95% service fee is ₪97.50, or ₪115.05 with VAT. Pay the same amount by credit card and the 3.5% processing fee adds another ₪175 before VAT. That gap is why regular buyers usually move to bank transfers or a standing order.

Payment methods, minimums and caps

The shekel is the only deposit currency. You can buy in shekels or dollars and sell for shekels, dollars or euros. The minimum shekel deposit is ₪500, a bank-transfer purchase starts at ₪750, and buying from a shekel balance already in your account starts at ₪100. There is also an "Instant Transfer" option that sends you to your bank’s app to approve the payment, subject to your bank supporting it.

By credit card the minimum is ₪500, and there are two caps: ₪10,000 a day and ₪100,000 a year, on Israeli-issued cards only. Selling into your shekel wallet starts at ₪200, and selling straight to your bank at ₪750.

There are three account plans. "Start small" allows up to ₪5,000 per six months with one ID document. "Trade like a pro" allows up to ₪50,000 per six months with a second document. "Unlimited" adds digital identity verification. Accepted documents are an Israeli passport, an Israeli driving licence and the biometric ID card; non-Israelis can use a passport only. You must be 18 or over.

Coins, BILS, the Max card and Premium

Nine coins are listed: BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, ADA, SOL, POL, SUI and USDC. Some may be unavailable for particular users, and the help centre explains why. If you want smaller altcoins, you will not find them here.

Beyond plain buying and selling, a few products set Bits of Gold apart. BILS, a 1:1 shekel stablecoin on Solana, received CMISA approval for a full launch on 27 April 2026, after a sandbox pilot that began in 2024. MaxBack CRYPTO is a Max credit card that pays bitcoin cashback into a Bits of Gold account; at its 2022 launch it was reported as ₪1 in bitcoin for every ₪160 spent. In July 2026 the Yellow app (Paz group) also began letting users convert rewards to bitcoin through Bits of Gold, according to press reports. We cover crypto cards in Israel separately.

For large investors there is a Premium service from ₪250,000 (about $80,000): a personal account manager, a dedicated OTC quote sent for your approval, limit orders, and handling of tax-voucher payments on your behalf. Our guide to OTC and large trades compares it with the alternatives.

The closed loop, paperwork and your bank

This is where Bits of Gold is strongest. The Bank of Israel’s Directive 411 forbids banks to refuse money only because it comes from crypto, but it requires them to assess the risk and to check the source of funds closely above about ₪100,000 a year. The "closed loop" route (buy in shekels on a licensed Israeli platform, hold and sell there, and withdraw to the same account) is the one banks are most comfortable with.

Bits of Gold issues exactly the documents banks ask for: a transaction history in Excel or PDF with the company’s signature, balance and account reports, an annual tax report similar to Form 867, and a signed Closed Loop Certificate. Even so, the company itself notes that each bank has its own policy on crypto-sourced money and suggests checking with your branch before a large withdrawal.

It also helps people who bought elsewhere. The sell-from-external-wallet service (1.95% plus VAT) lets you send coins from an international exchange and sell them for shekels. That does not turn the foreign leg into a closed loop, and the bank may still want paperwork on it, but it shortens the road home. See every way to sell crypto and cash out to a bank.

The August 2026 data-security incident

"Was Bits of Gold hacked?" is a common search, so here is what the primary source says. In August 2026 the company published a notice in its help centre about a data-security incident (the article was last updated on 16 August 2026). According to the notice, the data that may have been exposed includes full name, IP address, email address, phone number, bank account details, Israeli ID number and public wallet address.

Bits of Gold says customer funds, passwords, private keys and ID photos were not exposed. We have no independent information beyond that notice and will not guess at the scale of the incident or who was behind it.

App and customer support

The site, the app and the support team all work in Hebrew and English. The "Bits of Gold | ביטס אוף גולד" app is one of the few crypto apps in the Israeli App Store that declares Hebrew. It is rated 3.91 stars, but from only 22 ratings (5 October 2026), so there is not much to read into it. The help centre is detailed and up to date, and most questions about fees, minimums and documents are answered there.

Bits of Gold vs Bit2C

Israel’s two licensed retail platforms are more different than they look. Bits of Gold is a convenient broker; Bit2C is mainly a shekel order book, owned by eToro since the second quarter of 2026.

In short: if you buy occasionally, want to pay by card or standing order and prefer a simple interface, Bits of Gold will suit you better. If you trade regularly and are happy to place your own orders, you will pay far less on Bit2C Pro.

Who Bits of Gold suits

Bits of Gold is a strong fit for anyone who values a smooth relationship with their bank over a few tenths of a percent: an employee in Haifa buying ₪1,000 a month by standing order, a couple planning to sell in a few years who want tidy paperwork, or someone holding coins abroad who needs a way back to shekels. It suits active traders less well, since they will pay less on Bit2C Pro or an international exchange, and it is not the place for a wide choice of coins.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Bits of Gold — costs (article 9042396) · Updated 30 August 2026
2. Bits of Gold — payment methods and minimums (article 9042399) · Updated 30 August 2026
3. Bits of Gold — data-security incident notice (article 16390458) · Updated 16 August 2026
4. Bits of Gold — reports and closed-loop certificate (article 9464549)
5. Bits of Gold — Premium service
6. Globes — Bits of Gold receives a permanent licence · 18 September 2022

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