Quality Assurance Initiative: review of stale exchange listings

[devdavidejesus]

Hi @Cobra-Bitcoin ,

Per docs/adding-exchanges.md, listings are "re-reviewed at regular intervals" and "may be removed should severe and/or unresolved issues be encountered." This issue documents a systematic review I conducted of all 92 unique exchange URLs currently listed on bitcoin.org/en/exchanges, and proposes 7 removals + 1 URL update.

To minimize review burden and risk, I'm submitting one focused PR per case referencing this master issue. Each PR is a single-line diff with reproducible evidence. This issue tracks them all in one place.

Methodology

The audit was conducted in three independent layers:

1. Live HTTP audit of all 92 unique URLs (HTTP status, HTTPS validity, redirects, response time)
2. Forensic verification of flagged cases using curl, openssl, whois, dig, host — all standard tools
3. Public press-release confirmation for each acquisition / wind-down case

All evidence is reproducible by any reviewer in under 30 seconds per case using standard system tools. No external libraries or services required.

The audit makes no claims about the subjective criteria (operational processes, order book quality, leadership, press feedback). It only surfaces cases that fail "Site functionality" — i.e. the listed URL no longer points to a functioning instance of the listed exchange.

Cases

Removals (7) — listed URL no longer resolves to the listed exchange

#	Listing	Region	Reason	Status
1	itBit	United States	Retail services deprecated by Paxos (Aug 2023); SSL cert expired Jun 2024	#4685 ✅ merged
2	Coinfloor	United Kingdom	Acquired by CoinCorner (Oct 2021); ceased operations	#4690 ✅ merged
3	Coinberry	Canada	Acquired by Bitbuy/WonderFi (Jul 2023); accounts migrated	#4691
4	Coinsmart	Canada	Acquired by WonderFi (Jul 2023); platform wind-down announced	#4692 ✅ merged
5	Bitvo	Canada	Acquired by Bitbuy/WonderFi (Nov 2023); site deprovisioned	#4693 ✅ merged
6	AnyCoin Direct	Europe	Acquired by Finst (Nov 2024); platform wind-down announced	#4694 ✅ merged
7	Egera	Poland	DNS A record removed; site unreachable	#4699 ✅ merged

URL update (1) — same company, rebranded domain

#	Listing	Region	Current URL	Proposed URL	Status
8	Bitybank	Brazil	https://bitybank.com.br/	https://www.bity.com.br/	#4700 ✅ merged

Bitybank is the same legal entity rebranded under the Bity group. The legacy domain redirects (HTTP 302/308) to the current one. This is the only case I'm proposing as a URL update rather than removal, since the company continues to operate.

Sequencing

I'll submit one PR at a time, starting with itBit (purely technical case, no business-context dependencies). After feedback or merge of the first PR, I'll submit the remaining cases. This avoids overwhelming the review queue and lets us calibrate the format before scaling.

Why this approach

• Each PR is a single-line diff (one <a> tag removed or updated)
• Per-case evidence is in the PR description with reproduction commands
• This master issue serves as the single source of truth and progress tracker
• Cross-references make the trail easy to audit

Thanks,
Davi (@devdavidejesus)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #1 submitted: #4685 (itBit removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #2 submitted: #4690 (Coinfloor removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #3 submitted: #4691 (Coinberry removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #4 submitted: #4692 (Coinsmart removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #5 submitted: #4693 (Bitvo removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #6 submitted: #4694 (AnyCoin Direct removal)

[devdavidejesus]

PR #7 submitted: #4699 (Egera removal)