What was the first Bitcoin exchange to launch?

BitcoinMarket.com was the first Bitcoin exchange to launch. It began operating in March 2010, giving users an early organized venue to trade bitcoin for U.S. dollars rather than relying only on informal person-to-person arrangements.

The exchange appeared just over a year after Bitcoin’s network launched. Its first recorded price was tiny by modern standards—roughly $0.003 per bitcoin—illustrating how little liquidity and market infrastructure existed at the time. Early trading was experimental, with participants discovering prices through bids and offers rather than using the mature custody, compliance, and matching systems associated with modern exchanges.

BitcoinMarket.com is often confused with Mt. Gox because Mt. Gox later became the best-known early exchange and dominated trading for a period. Mt. Gox launched in 2010 as well, but it was not first. New Liberty Standard also published an early exchange rate in 2009, yet it is generally described as a pricing service rather than the first dedicated Bitcoin exchange. BitcoinMarket.com is therefore the standard answer to this question.