Bamboo Relay Crypto Exchange Review: What You Need to Know in 2025

Most people think crypto exchanges are either big names like Binance or Coinbase - places where you sign up, deposit cash, and trade with a few clicks. But what if you want to trade without handing over your keys? What if you want to use margin trading, lend your crypto, and still keep full control? That’s where Bamboo Relay comes in. It’s not your typical exchange. It’s a decentralized trading platform built on Ethereum, and it’s been around since 2017. But here’s the thing: it’s not growing. It’s not fading away either. It’s stuck in the middle - a quiet tool for a very specific kind of trader.

How Bamboo Relay Actually Works

Bamboo Relay doesn’t hold your crypto. It doesn’t even have its own order book. Instead, it’s a relayer - a middleman that connects buyers and sellers using the 0x protocol. Think of it like a bulletin board where traders post their offers, and the 0x protocol matches them on the Ethereum blockchain. Your funds stay in your wallet - usually MetaMask - and trades happen directly between users. No central server. No identity checks. No bank-level KYC.

What makes it stand out is the integration with bZx. That’s the part that lets you do margin trading and lend your assets. You can borrow ETH to go long on LINK, or lend your USDC to earn interest - all without leaving the platform. That’s rare for a DEX. Most decentralized exchanges only do spot trading. Bamboo Relay gives you a little bit of the power you’d find on centralized platforms like Kraken or Bybit, but without the custodial risk.

Fees: Competitive, But Not Always Cheaper

The fee structure is one of its strongest points. Makers (people who add liquidity to the order book) pay 0.1%. Takers (those who fill existing orders) pay 0.2%. That’s lower than most centralized exchanges, which often charge 0.1% to 0.5% flat. On Binance, you can get down to 0.02% if you use BNB, but that requires volume and holding their token. Bamboo Relay doesn’t ask you to hold anything. You just pay what you trade.

But here’s the catch: lower fees mean nothing if there’s no one to trade with. Liquidity on Bamboo Relay is thin. You might see a few hundred thousand dollars in volume for ETH/USDC - compared to billions on Uniswap or Curve. If you’re trying to move a large position, you’ll get slippage. Or worse, your order won’t fill at all.

What Coins Can You Trade?

Bamboo Relay supports a small but solid list of Ethereum-based tokens: USD Coin (USDC), ChainLink (LINK), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). That’s it. No Solana tokens. No Polygon. No new memecoins. Just the blue chips that have been around since 2020. It’s clean. It’s focused. But it’s also outdated. Most modern DEXs support hundreds of tokens. Bamboo Relay barely supports a dozen. CryptoRival’s page still says “Review Coming Soon!” - a sign the platform isn’t being actively updated.

The Credit Card Trick

This is the one feature that still surprises people. Bamboo Relay lets you deposit fiat using a credit card - through Carbon, a digital manufacturing platform that’s not even a crypto company. You link your card, buy USDC, and it gets sent directly to your wallet. No bank transfer. No waiting 3 days. Just a few clicks.

That’s huge. Almost no DEX offers this. You usually have to buy crypto on a centralized exchange first, then move it over. Bamboo Relay cuts that step. For someone new to DeFi, this removes a major barrier. But it’s also a red flag. Carbon isn’t regulated like a crypto exchange. If something goes wrong, you’re on your own. And there’s no public info on which countries or cards are supported.

Security: No Hacks, But You’re Still at Risk

Bamboo Relay hasn’t had a major breach. That’s good. But security on a DEX isn’t about the platform - it’s about your wallet. If you lose your private key. If you sign a bad transaction. If you click a phishing link - your money is gone. Forever. There’s no customer support to call. No “forgot password” button. The platform doesn’t store anything. So it can’t help you.

It’s a trade-off. You get privacy and control. But you also get full responsibility. If you’re not comfortable managing your own keys, this isn’t the place for you.

Who Is This For?

Bamboo Relay isn’t for beginners. It’s not for people who want to buy Bitcoin with PayPal and forget about it. It’s for intermediate DeFi users who:

• Already use MetaMask
• Understand gas fees and Ethereum network delays
• Want to trade with leverage without using a centralized exchange
• Prefer not to deposit funds into a company’s wallet

It’s also for people who live in the U.S. - unlike many DeFi platforms, Bamboo Relay explicitly allows U.S. investors. That’s rare. Most DEXs avoid U.S. users due to legal gray areas. Bamboo Relay doesn’t. That alone makes it valuable for American traders who want decentralized access.

Why It Feels Stuck

The last major update to its documentation was in July 2022. No blog posts. No Twitter updates. No GitHub commits in over a year. The platform still works - but it hasn’t evolved. New DEXs like dYdX and GMX offer better interfaces, higher liquidity, and more advanced trading tools. Even Uniswap V3 has better price discovery than Bamboo Relay.

And the reviews? There are eight on Revain.org. One is incomplete: “Bamboo Transfer Trade turns out to be a decentralized trade from Australia.” That’s it. No ratings. No detailed experiences. No Reddit threads. No YouTube tutorials. It’s like the platform disappeared after 2022.

Even Alchemy’s 2025 DEX directory mislabels it as a “Solana yield farming protocol.” That’s wrong. Bamboo Relay is Ethereum-only. That kind of error suggests no one is maintaining its listing anymore.

How It Compares to Other DEXs

Look at that table. Bamboo Relay has one real advantage: credit card onboarding and margin trading together. But it loses on everything else - liquidity, token variety, active development, and user base.

Should You Use It?

If you’re new to crypto? Skip it. Use Coinbase or Kraken. Learn the basics first.

If you’re an experienced DeFi user who wants to avoid centralized exchanges, and you’re okay with low liquidity? Then Bamboo Relay might still be useful. Especially if you’re in the U.S. and want to deposit fiat directly without jumping through hoops.

But don’t expect it to grow. Don’t expect new features. Don’t expect support. It’s a relic - but a working one. It’s like finding a vintage car that still runs. It’s not the fastest. It doesn’t have GPS. But if you know how to fix it, it gets you where you need to go.

How to Get Started

Here’s the bare minimum you need to do:

1. Install MetaMask (or another Ethereum wallet)
2. Buy some ETH to pay for gas fees
3. Go to bamboorelay.com (verify the URL - phishing sites exist)
4. Connect your wallet
5. Use Carbon to deposit USD via credit card, or send USDC from another wallet
6. Start trading ETH, LINK, or WBTC

That’s it. No sign-up. No email. No ID. Just your wallet and your risk tolerance.

Final Thoughts

Bamboo Relay is not dead. But it’s not alive either. It’s in between. It’s a niche tool that solved a real problem in 2019 - letting U.S. users trade with leverage on Ethereum without KYC. But the market moved on. New platforms came in. Liquidity got deeper. Interfaces got better.

Still, if you’re one of the few who need what it offers - credit card access + margin trading + no KYC - then Bamboo Relay is still one of the only places you can get it. Just don’t expect it to improve. Don’t expect it to be popular. And don’t put more money into it than you’re willing to lose.

It’s not the future of crypto trading. But for now, it’s still a working piece of the past - and sometimes, that’s enough.