CEX.IO for Israelis: card, Apple Pay and the fine print

What CEX.IO is, and why it tops our ranking

CEX.IO is an international crypto exchange that has been running since 2013, which puts it among the longest-lived exchanges anywhere. It started as a bitcoin trading service and, by its own account, was the first exchange to sell bitcoin by card, in 2014. Apple Pay and Google Pay arrived in 2021, the mobile app in 2022 and full spot trading in 2024. The company reports more than 15 million registered users and over 30 licences and registrations worldwide. Those are CEX.IO’s own figures; we have not audited them.

In our ranking of crypto exchanges for Israelis CEX.IO scores 9.1 and comes first, mostly for one reason: it is the most direct way to get from an Israeli credit card or an iPhone wallet to actual coins. Israel is not blocked, Earn is open to residents, and the order-book fees are a fraction of what the local platforms charge. It leads on four of our seven criteria: accepting Israelis, entry-level fees, track record and group-level regulation abroad.

Ranking first is not the same as being flawless. On the other three criteria (an Israeli licence, shekel access and Hebrew) Bits of Gold and Bit2C clearly win. This review sets out both sides so you can judge whether CEX.IO fits the way you will buy, and, just as important, the way you will eventually sell.

Is CEX.IO available in Israel?

Yes. CEX.IO publishes a list of 30 countries and territories it does not serve, and Israel is not on it. As of 5 October 2026 the list includes Afghanistan, Belarus, Canada, Cuba, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Russia, Singapore, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, among others, as well as "Palestinian Territory". For Israeli residents the practical upshot is straightforward: you can open an account and verify your identity.

Be precise about what "available" means. It means Israel is not excluded. It does not mean every Israeli card will be approved or every document accepted. A passport should pass verification, but we have not ourselves confirmed an Israeli biometric ID card or driving licence, and we have not tested specific Isracard, Max or Cal cards. Some Isracard-branded cards are domestic-only and will not work for foreign purchases, so those are unlikely to go through.

Payment methods and fees that matter in Israel

CEX.IO’s buy page lists around ten ways to pay, but only some of them work from Israel. The table keeps the relevant ones and flags the ones that do not apply. Keep one thing in mind throughout: there is no shekel, so any payment from a shekel card is a foreign-currency transaction.

Beyond the payment method there are two more layers of cost. One is the trading fee: if you buy on the order book rather than through instant buy, you pay 0.15% as a maker and 0.25% as a taker up to $10,000 of 30-day volume, with lower tiers above that. The other is moving coins out: a bitcoin withdrawal costs 0.0005 BTC, with a 0.001 BTC minimum.

New accounts are capped. For the first three months after identity verification you can buy up to $1,000 a day and $3,000 a month. Anyone planning to move a large sum in week one will find that impossible, which is a fair argument for a local platform in that situation. Our guide to buying crypto with an Israeli card explains why issuers sometimes decline crypto purchases and what to do about it.

Licences: what CEX.IO holds abroad, and what it lacks in Israel

Under Israel’s Supervision of Financial Services (Regulated Financial Services) Law, 2016, anyone offering a service in a financial asset to the public, crypto exchanges included, needs a licence from the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority. CEX.IO has no such licence, and we found no ISA registration or Israeli payment-services licence for any CEX.IO entity. The same goes for Binance, Kraken, Coinbase and the other international exchanges in this guide.

The group’s regulated footprint sits elsewhere. In the United States, CEX.IO Corp. is registered with FinCEN as a money services business and holds state money-transmitter licences. In the UK, CEX.IO Markets UK Ltd is registered with the FCA for anti-money-laundering purposes only, which, as CEX.IO itself notes, is not FCA authorisation. The group also obtained a Gibraltar DLT licence in 2019, whose current status we could not confirm. It holds no EU MiCA licence.

In May 2026 a bill known as Amendment 18 passed its first reading in the Knesset. It would let regulated foreign firms apply for a tailored Israeli licence. As of October 2026 it has not become law, and we have no information that CEX.IO has applied. Because the CMISA licence register could not be checked automatically, we suggest looking it up yourself before making a large deposit on any platform.

How to sign up from Israel

The flow below is based on what CEX.IO documents, not on an account we opened ourselves. It resembles any international exchange; the differences are in the caps and the currency.

1. Create the account

   On the website or in the app, with an email address and a strong password. Switch on two-factor authentication straight away.

2. Verify your identity

   Upload an ID document as instructed. An Israeli passport is the safe choice; we have not verified the biometric ID card or a driving licence.

3. Add a payment method

   A Visa or Mastercard, or Apple Pay / Google Pay on your phone. If the card is declined, ask your issuer whether it is enabled for foreign online purchases.

4. Buy within the caps

   For the first three months: up to $1,000 a day and $3,000 a month, charged in USD, EUR or GBP.

5. Export your records

   Download your transaction history regularly. Your bank and the Israel Tax Authority will want it. How crypto tax works in Israel.

Earn: savings and staking for Israeli residents

CEX.IO runs an Earn programme with two tracks. In Savings you deposit a coin and receive a yield; in Staking you take part in validating networks that support it. Israel appears on the country list for both, on a page updated on 31 August 2026. That is a genuine plus, because plenty of international services restrict these products country by country.

We are not quoting rates here, since they vary by coin and over time and are never guaranteed. The risk is the bigger point: coins in Earn stay in the exchange’s custody, there is no deposit insurance, and no Israeli regulator is watching. Earnings also need to be recorded for tax, so keep your Earn statements and check the treatment with a tax adviser.

Track record and security

More than a decade of uninterrupted operation counts for a lot in an industry where exchanges close, get hacked or collapse. In 2014 CEX.IO ran the GHash.IO mining pool, and it has since grown from mining and basic trading into a full consumer product. We are not aware of a major loss of customer funds at CEX.IO, but we have not done an exhaustive study of every security event in its history, so we will not write that it has "never been hacked".

What we can say is that a long track record does not replace your own precautions. Two-factor authentication, a unique password, and moving amounts you cannot afford to lose to a wallet you control are the best protection you have against any exchange, foreign or Israeli.

Cashing out to an Israeli bank

Buying on CEX.IO is easy. Getting the money back into an Israeli bank account takes more planning, because there is no shekel withdrawal. There are two practical routes. The first is to sell for dollars and withdraw by SWIFT to a foreign-currency account at an Israeli bank. The bank will take its own transfer and conversion fees, and since the money comes from a foreign provider that is not licensed in Israel, expect questions about its source.

The second is to send your coins to a licensed Israeli platform and sell there. Bits of Gold, for example, lets you sell coins sent from an external wallet for 1.95% plus VAT and pays shekels to your own account. It costs more, but Israeli banks know the local platforms and recognise their paperwork.

Under the Bank of Israel’s Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 411, a bank may not refuse money just because it comes from crypto, but it must assess the risk and look closely at the source of funds above about ₪100,000 a year. So from day one, keep your CEX.IO statements, card receipts and transfer confirmations. Our guide to crypto and Israeli banks lists what the bank is likely to ask for.

Who CEX.IO suits, and who it does not

CEX.IO fits someone starting with a small or mid-sized amount by card, anyone who already earns in dollars (say, a Tel Aviv freelancer paid into a USD account), and people who want coins the Israeli platforms do not list. It fits less well if you want to deposit and withdraw in shekels, need support in Hebrew, or plan to bring large sums back into an Israeli bank and prefer the route banks know best.

Alternatives to CEX.IO

If the drawbacks above are deal-breakers, these are the closest alternatives. Bits of Gold (licence 56716) is the easiest shekel route, with a Hebrew app and a closed-loop certificate for your bank, at 1.95% down to 1.20% plus VAT. Bit2C (licence 72080, now owned by eToro) runs Israel’s only shekel order book, with Pro fees from 1.25% down to 0.05%. Among the internationals, Kraken accepts Israeli residents and has the highest-rated exchange app in the Israeli App Store.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. CEX.IO — unsupported countries (article 4560858) · Checked 5 October 2026
2. CEX.IO — Savings and Staking countries (article 5080354) · Page dated 31 August 2026
3. CEX.IO — payment methods and buy fees · Checked 5 October 2026
4. CEX.IO — fee schedule and new-account limits · Checked 5 October 2026
5. CEX.IO — legal entities and licences · Checked 5 October 2026
6. Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority

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