Name: River review
Item: River
Author: Bitcoin Basics

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River is a bitcoin-only brokerage founded in 2019 and based in Columbus, Ohio. It is the most transparent company in this guide: it publishes a proof of reserves every month and audited financial statements every year. Our verdict: the best choice for a US saver who wants to buy bitcoin on a schedule at zero fee and see exactly how the company holding it is doing.

Founded	2019
Based in	Columbus, Ohio, USA
Coins	Bitcoin only
Fees	1.00% on one-time buys and sells (lower above $1M) plus a spread of roughly 0.25% on buys and 0.50% on sells; recurring buys 0% after the first 7 days; ACH and wires free; one free on-chain withdrawal per month
Custody	Custodial, full-reserve, in-house cold storage with monthly proof of reserves; withdraw on-chain (one free send per month) or over Lightning; no user multisig product
Best for	US savers (outside New York and Nevada) who want zero-fee dollar-cost averaging from a transparent bitcoin-only company

Compare River side by side with other exchanges

Open a River account

What it is

River Financial was started by Alex Leishman, who remains CEO and chief technology officer. Unlike an exchange with an order book, River is a brokerage: you buy bitcoin from River at a quoted price rather than from another trader. It sells bitcoin and nothing else.

Around that core River has built a cash account with a routing number, direct deposit that converts pay into bitcoin, bill pay, a Lightning wallet, and, as of 2026, a feature that pays interest on your idle dollars in bitcoin (3.30% APY as of December 2025, subject to change). Investors include Peter Thiel and Kingsway Capital, which led a $35 million round in 2023.

River is licensed across the US but, as of 2026, does not serve residents of New York or Nevada.

Fees

River’s pricing is simple but has two parts. There is a stated fee, and there is a spread, a small difference between River’s quoted price and the wider market, which River discloses openly. All figures are as of 2026 from River’s help center.

Item	Cost
One-time buy or sell, up to $1 million	1.00% (0.70% to 0.25% above that)
Spread included in the quote	Typically about 0.25% on buys, 0.50% on sells
Recurring buys	0% starting seven days after you set them up
Direct deposit converted to bitcoin	Free, up to $30,000 a month
ACH and wire deposits, ACH withdrawals	Free
Instant cash withdrawal	1% ($1 minimum, $150 maximum)
Bitcoin withdrawal to your wallet	One free send per month; otherwise the network fee, none of which River keeps

So a $1,000 lump-sum buy costs about $12.50 all-in. A $100 weekly recurring buy costs the 1% only on the first order, then nothing but the roughly 0.25% spread. That makes River one of the cheapest places in the country to dollar-cost average, which just means buying a fixed amount on a fixed schedule regardless of price.

Buying bitcoin step by step

Sign up on the website or app with your email and a strong password.
Verify your identity with a government ID and address; this is required by federal law.
Turn on two-factor authentication and consider ForceField, River’s tool that caps how much can leave your account in a given period.
Link your bank and deposit dollars by ACH (free), or set up direct deposit using River’s routing and account numbers.
Buy. For a one-time purchase, enter the amount and confirm; the fee and spread are shown before you approve. For zero fees, set a recurring buy instead and it becomes free after the first week.
Withdraw to your own wallet. Paste your address, choose the Free speed for your monthly free send (River batches it and broadcasts within a day), and confirm. Lightning withdrawals are supported too.

Security and trust

River has never had a known breach or loss of customer funds. It holds customer bitcoin itself, in cold storage (offline keys) built in-house with multiple signatures required to move coins, rather than handing custody to a third party. Its terms state that customer bitcoin is never lent, pledged or reused, and it holds SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II audit reports.

The standout feature is transparency. Since 2024 River has published a monthly proof of reserves: it signs a transaction from its cold-storage address that anyone can check on the Bitcoin blockchain, alongside an anonymized list of customer balances you can match your own against. The September 1, 2026 entry showed about 33,700 BTC in reserve. River does this itself without an outside attestor, which is the one caveat.

Even rarer for a private company, River released audited financial statements for 2024 and 2025. They show a profitable business with no debt and a bitcoin treasury of its own. Dollar balances are held at Lead Bank with pass-through FDIC insurance up to $250,000; bitcoin, as everywhere, is uninsured.

River is a registered money transmitter with licences listed for all 50 states, though it has chosen not to serve New York or Nevada. It has no history of regulatory penalties that we could find.

Pros and cons

Pros

Recurring buys are free after the first week, and one withdrawal a month is free.
Monthly proof of reserves plus audited public financials, unmatched among the seven.
Full-reserve in-house custody, Lightning support, and a cash account that pays interest in bitcoin.

Cons

Lump-sum buys cost 1% plus the spread, more than a Pro order book at Kraken.
Not available in New York or Nevada.
No multisig vault product of its own, and the proof of reserves is self-administered.

Who it’s for

River is for the long-term saver who wants to set up a weekly buy, forget about it, and sweep coins to a hardware wallet once a month for free. It is also the pick for anyone who reads the words “proof of reserves” and thinks, yes, show me.

Active traders and lump-sum buyers will find Kraken cheaper per trade. New Yorkers should look at Swan or Strike. This is education, not financial or tax advice.