Binance Review

Binance is a leading cryptocurrency exchange for cryptocurrency traders and enthusiasts looking to buy and sell a wide variety of cryptocurrencies at low fees. Led by its charismatic leader Changpeng Zhao, its defining features are innovation and new features, proactive community, ability to buy bitcoin and altcoins with more than 40 fiat currencies, their own Binance Chain and Binance coin (BNB), Binance Futures and margin trading with up to 125x leverage, and vision to morph into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in the coming future. While its platform is capable of handling a large volume of trades without suffering a significant slowdown in transaction times, it does experience its fair share of issues from time to time, including unexpected maintenances and security vulnerabilities. Despite that, it remains one of the most important exchanges in the cryptoverse.

Binance’s core features include:

Trade over 180 cryptocurrencies on Binance. Binance is one of the major altcoin exchanges with one of the best selection of tradable assets.
Binance Fiat Gateway. Binance lets you instant buy bitcoin and other 15 top cryptocurrencies with 40 popular fiat currencies using bank cards, cash balance, and other payment methods. Besides, you can sell them for some of the supported national currencies, too.
Low trading fees. Trading on Binance brings you some of the lowest in the industry.
Multi-platform support. Binance is accessible via its web platform, mobile apps for Android (including Android APK) and iOS, and desktop clients for macOS and Windows. Besides, you can make use of Binance API.
Binance Futures with up to 125x leverage and margin trading with up to 3x leverage. Trade cryptocurrency contracts and assets with leveraged positions for maximum returns.
Around the clock customer support. Binance has a dedicated help center, where you can reach out to the support team or real beginner guides and explanations of all sorts of exchange functions.
Binance Launchpad. All customers of Binance can participate in its initial exchange offerings (IEOs). Binance’s IEOs are among the most profitable in the industry.
Binance Finance. Binance also supports staking, crypto lending, and other means of earning passive income from your crypto assets.

Launched in China in July 2017, it has a fine crypto pedigree behind it: founders Changpeng Zhao and Yi He had worked previously at OKCoin exchange, while Changpeng had also been a member of the Blockchain.com wallet team since 2013.

Binance cryptocurrency exchange has proven to be one of the most successful ICO (initial coin offering) projects out there. Between July 1-20, 2017, the exchange raised USD 15,000,000 equivalent of crypto from eager investors. In turn, the investors received 100,000,000 of Binance Coin (BNB) tokens issued on Ethereum blockchain (now migrated onto Binance’s native Binance Chain). The initial ICO price for one BNB was USD 0.115 per coin.

Ever since its launch, Binance has become the largest exchange in terms of the global trading volume. More surprisingly, it achieved this in just six months. It remains near the top today, something which can be attributed to its ease of use, its responsive ability to handle a large number of transactions, global approach to its business and platform accessibility in multiple languages (English, French, German, (simplified and traditional) Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Italian, Turkish, Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Malay, and Ukrainian).

Although the company was founded in China, it moved its headquarters to Japan in advance of the Chinese government ban on cryptocurrency trading in 2017. In 2018, Binance established offices in Taiwan and announced its move to Malta. However, in 2020, Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) clarified that Binance is neither officially registered nor regulated in the country.

While Malta remains de facto Binance’s headquarters, the company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and Seychelles. Asides from that, the company has teams in California (United States), London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Moscow (Russia), Istanbul (Turkey), Singapore, New Delhi (India), Kampala (Uganda), Manila (Philippines), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), Jersey, and other locations in Asia. In total, its team is operating from 40+ countries.

Binance review
Binance Ecosystem. Source: Binance.com
Today, the exchange has over 15 million users and settles more than USD 2 billion on an average trading day. Besides, it has evolved a suite of related products, including:

Binance Jersey. A European fiat-to-crypto cryptocurrency exchange that facilitates bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), binance coin (BNB), and bitcoin cash (BCH) trades for euros (EUR) and pound sterlings (GBP).
Binance US and other localized versions of Binance exchange. Regulated versions of Binance exchange dedicated to certain markets with varying regulatory climates.
Binance DEX. Binance’s decentralized exchange built on the Binance Chain.
Binance JEX. Binance’s cryptocurrency futures and options trading platform.
Binance Futures. Binance’s crypto-derivative platform that lets you trade futures with up to 125x leverage.
Binance Launchpad. Binance’s crypto crowdfunding platform for launching top-tier initial exchange offerings (IEOs). Binance’s launchpad was the first one in the industry and the exchange has popularized the concept.
Binance P2P trading. A peer-to-peer crypto trading platform like LocalBitcoins or LocalCryptos that supports payments via WeChat, AliPay, Bank Transfers, and QIWI.
Binance Crypto Loans. A feature that allows you to take out crypto loans secured by your cryptocurrency assets.
Binance OTC.Over-the-counter trading desk for whales and other large-volume traders.
Binance Savings. Ability to employ your crypto assets by lending them out to earn interest. You can withdraw your funds anytime.
Binance Staking. Binance staking feature lets you stake certain cryptocurrencies and reap up to 16% annual yield. Supported cryptocurrencies include Ark, EOS, ARPA, TROY, Lisk, LOOM, Tezos, KAVA, THETA, and more.
Binance Fiat Gateway. A fiat gateway that lets you purchase cryptocurrencies using your national currency (currently supports nearly 40 fiat currencies.)
Binance Chain and Binance Coin (BNB). Community-driven blockchain ecosystem with its own native token (BNB) and decentralized exchange (DEX).
Binance USD (BUSD) and Binance GBP stablecoin. Binance’s regulated stablecoins, released in partnership with Paxos Trust Company.
Binance Academy. An open-access learning hub for blockchain and crypto education resources.
Binance Charity. A not-for-profit foundation dedicated to advancing blockchain philanthropy and sustainable global development.
Binance Info. An open-source crypto encyclopedia.
Binance Labs. Binance’s infrastructure impact fund and initiative to empower blockchain projects.
Binance Research. Institutional-grade research platform conducting analysis for investors in the crypto space.
Trust Wallet. An official, secure, and decentralized wallet of Binance.
Binance Cloud. Enterprise cryptocurrency exchange solutions for cryptocurrency ventures.
Binance Card. A crypto payment card that can be used as a payment option for everyday purchases just like a regular bank card.
In 2019 and 2020, Binance made headlines for going on an acquisition streak and acquiring India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, Chinese dapp analytics platform DappReview, and the most popular cryptocurrency market data aggregator platform CoinMarketCap.

In the future, Binance has ambitious goals of morphing into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), enabling fiat-to-crypto trading for more than 180 fiat currencies, and fully open-source Binance Chain and its native Binance Coin (BNB).

Supported countries and Verification
Binance exchange is a global cryptocurrency trading company that operates in more than 180 countries. The only restriction applies to countries on economic sanctions lists or people on the U.S. Commerce Departments “Denied Persons List.”

The United States citizens and residents can use the Binance US exchange. Other locations with a local version of the Binance exchange include Binance Singapore, Binance Uganda, and Binance Jersey.

Verification procedures and requirements vary according to your jurisdiction. First-time customers must go through one-time Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification. It requires you to submit the following documents:

Government ID document (passport, ID or driver’s license)
Residential address document (utility bill)
Verification is also fairly straightforward and quick, with Binance responding promptly to the submission of verification documents. That said, taking a selfie while holding up an ID document and a piece of paper with “Binance” and the date written on it is a very tricky maneuver.

Without verifying your profile, you will be limited to withdraw up to 2 BTC per day. After verification, you will be capable of withdrawing up to 100 BTC daily. Even without profile verification, the exchange’s security systems may trigger mandatory verification upon funds withdrawal, which has happened to several unverified customers before.

As such, Binance is not a recommended exchange for users seeking to strengthen their online security with privacy.

Binance Trading Fees
Depositing funds is entirely free with Binance. It is, however, a slightly different story with trades and withdrawals, although these remain among the cheapest in the crypto industry.

Binance takes a 0.1% cut of every trade that takes place on its trading platform, making it one of the cheaper crypto exchanges on the web. As such, 0.1% trading fees apply to both spot trading and margin trading For example, Coinbase Pro charges 0.5% for any trade, while Bittrex charges 0.2% fee per trade. Other popular altcoin exchanges like KuCoin and HitBTC charge similar rates. KuCoin matches Binance’s trading rate of 0.1% per trade, while HitBTC charges 0.1% for market makers and 0.2% per trade for taking orders. Exchanges like Poloniex or Kraken are more expensive, too, as they are 0.15%-0.16% maker fee and 0.25%-0.26% taker fee.

You can also get significant trading fee discounts for using Binance Coin (BNB) (up to 25%), referring friends (up to 25%). Together, they make Binance one of the cheapest exchanges in the industry.

Binance Review Binance Fees
Binance Fees. Source. Binance.com
Low trading fees also apply to Binance Futures. At the most basic level (VIP 0), you will pay 0.02% maker fee and 0.04% taker fee.

Binance Review Fees
Binance Futures trading fees. Source: Binance.com
Another key factor to look at when evaluating Binance’s fees is futures funding rate and margin position daily interest rate. These tend to change based on market conditions, and there are no fixed rates, so be sure to check them regularly at Binance’s website here and here.

Binance Review margin borrow rates
Binance's margin interest borrow rates. Source: Binance.com
Last but not least, there are deposit and withdrawal fees. Cryptocurrency deposits free for all 180+ coins supported by Binance. With withdrawals, Binance offers remarkably good value for money, although fees vary from cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency. A small sample of the fees for some of the more popular coins is shown below:

Coin Minimum Withdrawal Withdrawal Fee
Bitcoin (BTC) 0.001 BTC 0.0004 BTC
Bitcoin (BTC) - BEP2 0.0000044 BTC 0.0000022 BTC
Ethereum (ETH) 0.02 ETH 0.003 ETH
Ethereum (ETH) - BEP2 0.00018 ETH 0.000092 ETH
Litecoin (LTC) 0.002 LTC 0.001 LTC
Litecoin (LTC) - BEP2 0.00074 LTC 0.00037 LTC
Monero (XMR) 0.0002 XMR 0.0001 XMR
Ripple (XRP) 0.5 XRP 0.25 XRP
Ripple (XRP)- BEP2 0.17 XRP 0.083 XRP
As you can see, Binance lets its users withdraw either regular or BEP2 versions of their assets. BEP2 withdrawals are based on Binance Chain and use not an actual crypto asset, but a pegged BEP2 version of it.

To put these fees in some perspective, Kraken and Bittrex both charge a 0.0005 BTC withdrawal fee, while Bitfinex and HitBTC charge 0.0004 BTC and 0.001 BTC respectively.

Although Binance does not have any fiat-to-crypto trading pairs, it does facilitate fiat-to-crypto purchases using third-party service providers and integrations. Using Binance Fiat Gateway, you can buy and sell crypto with over 40 fiat currencies. The fees vary based on the payment method and floating exchange rates determined by Simplex, Koinal, TrustToken, BANXA, iDEAL, SEPA, Paxos, and other payment processors.

Typically, fiat gateway fees vary from 1% to 7% based on the chosen payment method and processor. Bank card transactions tend to cost more compared with other payment options.

Binance Review fiat gateway
Binance exchange fiat gateway. Source: Binance.com
Overall, Binance charges some of the lowest fees in the industry, which is a major plus. Its extensive and ever-growing suite of services is available at reasonable prices, making it one of the most accessible, innovative, and convenient trading options out there.

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Binance Security
Security at Binance is generally sound, although the exchange has experienced a significant hack in May of 2019. The exchange lost over 7000 BTC due to a number of compromised user accounts and used its #SAFU fund (Secure Asset Fund for Users) for user compensations. Since then, the exchange has strengthened its security by introducing the Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) authentication method and enhancing its exchange monitoring capabilities.

Besides, Binance encourages users to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) using either Google Authenticator or SMS authentication. Also, traders have an option to whitelist addresses and set up an anti-phishing code. It also has a fairly extensive security FAQ in its support section, where it advises its users on how to guard against phishing attempts and personal security lapses. Every withdrawal from Binance must be confirmed by email.

Binance review securty
Binance account security. Source: Binance.com
As of 2020, Binance boasts of having state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) risk control solutions that use identity and facial recognition, big data analytics, and cyber forensic investigations to monitor each movement that takes place on the exchange and identifies suspicious and irregular activities.

That said, recent events have shown that Binance can respond quickly to significant threats and protect customers' funds. For example, in March 2018, criminals managed to use phishing to hack into the accounts of numerous users, whose funds were inexplicably sold off in order to purchase the Viacoin (VIA) cryptocurrency. However, despite this, Binance was able to systematically identify and reverse all irregular trades, meaning that the only people to lose money were the hackers.

In July 2018, Binance has started a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and allocates 10% of all trading fee revenue there. In the case of a successful hack, it is used to cover user losses like it was done in the May 2019 security breach. Later in 2019, the exchange also had a KYC data leak, which hackers have allegedly obtained from a 3rd party vendor.

According to CryptoCompare Exchange Benchmark Q4 2019 report, Binance is a solid A grade exchange. It makes it in the top 20 exchanges in terms of security grade, too, scoring an above-average 11.5 out of 20 possible points.

All in all, Binance is a secure exchange, but security is not its hallmark, and there is some room for improvements.

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Exchange Usability and Design
Usability is one of Binance’s key strengths. Its website and trading pages were revamped in 2019, and now are easy to understand and navigate for both beginners and experienced users.