What is a centralised cryptocurrency exchange?

A centralised cryptocurrency exchange operates in a centralised manner, meaning that buyers and sellers are using a third party or middle intermediary to conduct transactions. They allow for the trading of fiat to cryptocurrency, or cryptocurrency to fiat, as well as the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another. For instance, any given individual can trade a common pairing such as BTC/ETH on a centralised exchange. 

Advantages of centralised exchanges include great liquidity and volume, with centralised exchanges still accounting for the majority of trading volume for cryptocurrencies, with some experts proclaiming that about 99% of cryptocurrency trading occurs on centralised exchanges. Moreover, due to such great liquidity and volume, transaction speeds are enhanced, enabling for more complex trade types to be completed, creating better user experiences. This also means users are able to trade a lot of cryptocurrency pairs, as well as centralised exchanges accepting exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency (and vice versa), as well as accepting direct bank deposits & visa purchases of cryptocurrency directly from the exchange. Disadvantages include a lack of privacy, with users required to provide an extensive amount of private information, including name, address, bank details, address amongst other things in order to confirm their identity. This can extend to government-issued IDs. This also presents a high risk of identity theft, with over 30 infamous hackings of centralised exchanges occurring over the last decade. Furthermore, most centralised exchanges are licensed, and then government regulated, leaving the door ajar for potential government shutdowns of centralised exchanges, which we have seen in countries such as Russia, China and South Korea. Some of the more popular centralised exchanges used include Binance, Bittrex, Bitfinex, Coinbase and Kraken.