Behind the Scenes of BestChange: Creator Denis Malkov Discusses Anonymity, Regulatory Challenges, and Future Developments

For the entirety of its 18-year history, the cryptocurrency exchange monitoring service BestChange has operated under the radar, with its founder remaining largely anonymous. This article marks the first public interview with Denis Malkov.

**Denis Malkov (D. M.):** I have never concealed my identity; however, I did not see the point in publicly declaring that I created BestChange. Over the years, the project’s reputation has become more valuable than my own.

I considered the risks of excessive publicity, but since the inception of the site, it has been possible to find information about me. There would have been no logic in hiding.

Now, for the first time, I am openly discussing my role in the project—not for fame, but to address the questions of those genuinely interested.

Additionally, the project is currently entering a phase of active development: you can already see a new design in the brand’s social media, which will soon be introduced to the website, alongside long-awaited features that will significantly enhance quality and usability, as well as expand international presence.

**FL: Tell us about yourself. How long have you been in the cryptocurrency sector? What did you do before launching BestChange?**

**D. M.:** I was born in Kazakhstan, lived in Russia, and am now based in the UAE, where our headquarters is located. I have been passionate about programming since school, creating simple applications in Delphi and designing websites in PHP. In my third year of university, I created the first version of BestChange within a few weeks—this was in 2007. Back then, no one had heard of cryptocurrencies, and I had no idea how important my exchanger aggregator would become in the years to come.

I have always been fascinated by electronic currencies, although I didn’t encounter Bitcoin right away. Initially, the site monitored exchange rates for electronic payment systems like WebMoney and E-gold. I added cryptocurrency to BestChange only in 2012 when the first exchanges dealing with Bitcoin appeared.

The project’s evolution has been gradual; in the early years, most earnings were reinvested into promotion. Everything changed in 2016-2017, during the first significant cryptocurrency boom—people were actively seeking places to buy Bitcoin. BestChange emerged as one of the few trustworthy services positioned at the center of this whirlwind.

**FL: When and how did the idea of creating an aggregator for exchanges come to you?**

**D. M.:** During my university days, I became interested in electronic currencies after discovering online exchange points. At that time, they were quite rare, and the commission rates seemed worth trying out for myself. I gained my initial experience as an administrator of an exchange point, which gives me an inside understanding of how everything should work.

However, I can’t say the experience was successful. Due to a technical vulnerability, a group of criminals managed to rob several exchange points, including mine, in a single day.

At the same time, I noticed the emergence of actively developing aggregator services, whose business models reduced risks and broadened audience reach without significant staffing costs. Thus, the monitoring service was born, modeled after well-known services at that time. Many competitors later ceased operations, making BestChange the oldest remaining.

Gradually, I shifted away from programming to lead the team. Now, we have specialized departments for development, promotion, moderation, and integration.

**FL: How does the service generate income?**

**D. M.:** The service earns from user traffic: people looking for the best rates and honest reviews of exchange points allow us to collect a small commission from their transactions on the exchange sites.

**FL: In which country is the legal entity registered?**

**D. M.:** Our headquarters is in the UAE, but we still have our original office in Russia. We allocate resources across countries, making it easier to work with contractors and regulators under different legal frameworks. While we maintain two independent teams—one in Russia serving clients from Russia and neighboring countries, and another set up specifically for international markets—our employees can work from anywhere in the world.

We may consider registering businesses in other jurisdictions if needed for the project’s welfare; however, we don’t have an urgent need for offices in different countries.

**FL: Can you share statistics on the number of BestChange users?**

**D. M.:** Currently, our website serves about 1.1 million users monthly, which is a 15% increase from the average of the previous year.

**FL: Which assets are most popular with users from Russia?**

**D. M.:** It’s challenging to break down statistics by country due to widespread VPN usage. However, in the global context across the Russian-speaking segment, the most sought-after assets for many years have been three: USDT, Bitcoin, and the Russian ruble.

The favorites among our audience are Tether on the Tron network and Sberbank. Yet, even for these two assets, the interest in pairs does not exceed 5% of all exchanges across the 40,000 trading pairs monitored. Thus, popularity is quite relative, with demand spread fairly evenly across a hundred assets.

**FL: How many exchangers are currently listed on your platform?**

**D. M.:** That’s a dynamic figure. Currently, there are 548 exchangers added for the Russian segment, with just under 500 of them active. For the English-speaking segment, there are 404 listed exchangers, out of which approximately 380 are active. However, it’s important to note many of these services overlap—there are 571 unique functioning services across both versions of our site.

Exchange services find it crucial to be listed on BestChange, so they actively seek inclusion, although we don’t add just anyone. We carefully vet each service to minimize risks for our users.

**FL: How can an exchanger join your aggregator, and what are the reasons for removal from the list?**

**D. M.:** It’s simple to review the details on our website, and if there are any questions, they can contact our integration team via the feedback form.

The grounds for removal include any suspicious activity that poses risks to users or systematic rudeness and a lack of commitment to agreed-upon obligations.

**FL: What do you attribute the increased attention from the RKN to your platform?**

**D. M.:** In reality, this is more of an observer’s illusion—our site is blocked even less frequently than law enforcement requests through the courts. In a way, RKN acts merely as an executor; they don’t initiate blocks themselves, so it isn’t accurate to say there is special interest in us.

Various law enforcement agencies often don’t want to spend time closely examining the activities of every site they block, leading to occasional errors. The reason for these mistakes seems to be that our site frequently appears at the top of search results for many cryptocurrency-related queries.

**FL: Does your service fall under the definition of a cryptocurrency platform?**

**D. M.:** We are a simple informational resource—not a promoter of exchange services or cryptocurrencies on our site. We serve a function similar to «Yandex,» which aggregates information about other resources capable of dealing with cryptocurrencies without engaging directly with them.

However, it’s difficult to predict how courts and regulators will interpret this rather vague law in reality.

**FL: How would you assess the current regulatory environment for crypto platforms in Russia?**

**D. M.:** Unfortunately, it is far from perfect—it appears that the regulator aims to ban everything they haven’t managed to address yet.

While there are still no regulations for digital currency exchange operators and no corresponding OKVEDs, there is no prohibition on circulation, which is already an improvement.

Our team has always been open to dialogue regarding legislative questions and is keen to contribute towards making the market user-friendly and regulated.

**FL: How is cryptocurrency advertising treated in Russia? Has it gotten more difficult for BestChange to promote its services?**

**D. M.:** In short, it’s effectively banned. Therefore, we have excluded any mention of our brand in conjunction with cryptocurrencies from our advertising campaigns. It has become more challenging, but only from a bureaucratic perspective—our marketers now have to double-check what and where they publish to avoid any violations.

However, we maintain a high level of brand recognition and a good SEO base that helps us retain our leadership position.

**FL: How do you assess the current state of the cryptocurrency market in Russia? Has the introduction of sanctions affected the use of digital assets?**

**D. M.:** The sanctions have indeed had an impact. There’s been a noticeable increase in the demand for exchange services due to issues with direct money transfers between countries and the inability to pay with conventional methods in foreign stores. However, the industry hasn’t undergone any significant changes in recent years.

We notice an overall growth in interest and awareness among the audience regarding cryptocurrencies, but there haven’t been any conceptual shifts either before or after the sanctions.

**FL: Do you think the proposal from the head of the Central Bank to allow cryptocurrency transactions only for highly qualified investors will affect trading activity?**

**D. M.:** Cryptocurrencies will remain accessible for investment purposes, as over-the-counter trading of assets persists despite regulatory prohibitions. In the worst-case scenario, these transactions may become riskier and costlier. However, we hope it won’t come to that, and lawmakers will not prohibit the purchase of cryptocurrencies outside the country.

The Central Bank’s recent proposals concern the purchase of cryptocurrencies via official brokers, which is less of a restriction for others and more of an opportunity for major investors. I don’t believe this initiative will negatively impact the operations of exchangers.

**FL: In 2022, the media reported an increase in the number of transaction blocks involving services listed on BestChange. Following this, the aggregator’s team stated plans to «adjust operations in light of new risks.» What steps have been taken in this regard?**

**D. M.:** I’d clarify that the expansion of AML checks is not our initiative and not even a requirement from exchangers; these are rules imposed by regulators through major market players. Speaking specifically, BestChange has undertaken the following measures:

**FL: Have the services listed on BestChange encountered issues following the blocking of Garantex assets?**

**D. M.:** Some users in the Russian market experienced minor issues a few years ago when analytical services flagged exchange wallets as sanctioned.

Since then, people have avoided working with that exchange even through intermediaries. Therefore, by the time of the actual blocking, I don’t believe any of the exchangers were working with such a «toxic» source of funds.

**FL: How are the legal relationships between the aggregator and the listed exchangers regulated? What liability does BestChange bear towards users?**

**D. M.:** Regarding legal liability for transactions conducted on third-party sites, it obviously doesn’t exist. We don’t handle customer funds as traditional aggregators like Aviasales or Booking do. Essentially, we’re just a catalog of links to other sites, and legally, we have no connection to them.

That said, over the years, we have developed a moral responsibility towards our users. We continually expand our moderation team to provide support in disputed situations and to monitor the integrity of exchanges. This straightforward human approach is something our users value.

**FL: Are there any restrictions on the use of BestChange by citizens of certain countries? Are there limitations on input/output methods?**

**D. M.:** No, we are a highly apolitical informational service. We share the view of many global experts that access to information should be available to all individuals worldwide, without exceptions.

In 2022, a small number of exchangers listed with us began refusing service to citizens of specific countries. We proposed a compromise solution—removing specific currency directions from monitoring. This resolved the situation.

Nowadays, any client requiring national currencies can work with the services willing to accommodate this regardless of the user’s citizenship.

**FL: Is it possible to conduct completely anonymous transactions through the exchangers listed on BestChange?**

**D. M.:** In short, yes. However, we don’t encourage such practices, so we don’t highlight those services separately. Nonetheless, there are still a few services in our listings that allow for completely anonymous transactions without registration or providing temporary email addresses.

The majority of exchangers have long started following the global trend towards de-anonymizing high-risk transactions involving cryptocurrencies.

After the EU’s Fifth Directive, almost all major custodial services began implementing the Travel Rule and AML checks for all transfers, requesting additional information from counterparties, and in some cases, exchanges redirect these requirements to their users.

**FL: Does BestChange cooperate with law enforcement or regulators in any country? Have there been any such requests during the aggregator’s existence?**

**D. M.:** We don’t store personal data, and all information about visits is registered not on the server, but on the user’s browser. In specific cases when we receive official requests from government agencies, we may share small amounts of data, such as log files.

According to the laws of the jurisdictions where the project operates, we can only share any data within the country. As an informational intermediary, we are responsible for ensuring confidentiality and protection of the data transmitted. Thus, we are obliged to suggest that law enforcement from other countries send official requests to the law enforcement authorities in the UAE or utilize Interpol’s legal instruments. Since 2025, the agency has introduced a Silver Notice used for tracking and recovering illegally obtained funds, including those related to virtual currencies.

Overall, such requests are rare—occurring once every few months, for instance, when a victim mentions our service among websites they visited prior to transferring cryptocurrency to scammers.

**FL: BestChange has recently undergone rebranding. What other updates are planned for this year?**

**D. M.:** Our visual concept on social media has changed. We plan to implement a true redesign of the website soon. It’s hard to specify timelines, but I sincerely hope that the updated design will delight our users by the end of the year.

Additionally, we are looking to launch several user-friendly ways to interact with the monitoring service in the near future. I’ll just hint that it will be focused on our primary web platform. Stay tuned for official announcements on our channels.

*Interview conducted by Lena Jess.*