i am using it. However, it prevents US ip from any trading now.

It definitely is a red flag. In May 2015, 1500 bitcoins were stolen during a hack. In 2016, Bitfinex was again subject to hack. This time, 19,756 bitcoin worth $72 million was stolen from the company's customer's accounts. But none of this stopped Bitfinex from thriving.
![were.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRt8XukRFFVdAxYwFiqvRdpRo3guDvWw2pBmhKixhRbm9/were.png)
It's a serious business market with wonderful features such as OTC, Margin, lending and borrowing etc. Fee's are half as compared to bittrex. Considering that there are only few market pairs available it still continues to attract users, had it more pairs would have easily been the No. 1 Exchange.

![dgert.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRzSXNgC643vC7SciUcaWLkikG1qhNjxYMWWuQRX4HG6N/dgert.png)

But there's also an answer for "why it's driving so much business". The power of **affiliate marketing**.

![xzczxc.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmX55fjyMKxoEDAW1fkr1hL9jpGXKKMMfynAvjJVceQ6Bi/xzczxc.png)

That's sick. Direct hits are almost equal to referral hits. That doesn't even leave a room for Bitfinex to keep a fat Marketing Dept.

Your comment added an extra flavor to this post and probably what was missing. I am usually in hurry to just post and run away. Also, part of a reason is that I like to keep it short and somewhat know that no one reads it anyway. Thanks :)