An exchange is a marketplace where one can buy and sell assets. Examples of exchanges for traditional markets include the New York Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and many more. For the derivatives market, the major exchange is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

For the crypto markets, there are has been an explosion of of exchanges. There are estimates that there are over 500 exchanges as of 2020. Some of the biggest include Binance, Coinbase, Huobi, Bybit, Gemini, Fintrex, and Crypto.com.

The first crypto exchange started in 2010 called Bitcoinmarket.com. Quickly followed by Silk Road, which was predominantly a marketplace for illegal goods. The first true, large-scale exchange was Mt. Gox which started in July 2011.

Crypto exchanges have had a long history of hacks, scandals, and implosions. Billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies have been stolen in crypto exchange hacks, with the biggest in terms of dollar value at time of the hack reaching $533 million.

A big difference with crypto exchanges and the stocks and derivatives exchanges is that the crypto exchange is the platform you use to buy and sell crypto, and the asset is not "listed" on that exchange specifically. Whereas with the stock market, you normally use a third party platform like Robinhood, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or Questrade (for Canadians) to buy stocks/derivatives from their respective exchange. For example, Apple stocks (AAPL) are listed on the NASDAQ exchange. If you buy AAPL stock using Fidelity, Fidelity will send the transaction to the NASDAQ to complete.

Whereas with a crypto exchange, if you buy bitcoin on Binance, you'll buy it directly from someone selling bitcoin on Binance. Binance is not a third-party platform layered on top of an exchange where the asset lives. Instead all crypto exchanges have the assets and let you trade them directly on their platform.