Cryptocurrency, shortened as crypto, is any digital or virtual currency. Cryptography is used to ensure transactions are secure.
Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central issuing or regulating power. Instead, they rely on a decentralized system for recording transactions and issuing new units. It doesn’t depend on banks to conduct transactions.
What is it used for? It depends on a peer-to-peer system that allows anybody to send and receive payment anywhere. The currency is digitally stored on an online database which records specific transactions.
Every transaction made with cryptocurrency funds will be recorded in the public ledger. Each owner of a cryptocurrency has their funds stored in a digital wallet.
Cryptocurrency’s name is derived from its use of encryption to verify and keep transactions. Cryptocurrency can only exist digitally and virtually because it uses encryption methods only computers can understand.
This advanced coding is used to store and transmit cryptocurrency data. It provides security and safety while transactions between wallets and public ledgers take place.
Bitcoin was the first Cryptocurrency and was established in 2009. It remains the best known today. However, it is not the only cryptocurrency that exists. Some others include: DogeCoin, Ethereum, BNB (Binance Coin), Tether, Solana, and Polkadot.
To trade or exchange these currencies, one would need to use the services of a crypto exchange or digital currency exchange (DCE).
A Cryptocurrency exchange is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies and digital currencies for other assets like other digital currencies or fiat money.
Crypto exchanges have functions that are similar to online brokerage platforms. You can use them to purchase and sell digital currencies or tokens for various cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Exchanges accept wire transfers and credit card payments in exchange for digital currencies.
One such dedicated cryptocurrency exchange is Binance.
Binance and Overview Official Binance Website
Beau Troxclair’s YouTube channel 0xBeau has a video review of Binance. For those who like a visual experience, this is the video. You can still read our article for a complete overview of Binance.
Binance is still the best cryptocurrency exchange in the world when it comes to cryptocurrency trading. It has the highest trading volume of any crypto exchange by offering users the most cryptocurrency trading pairs.
Binance got its start in 2017 through Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. Although it was originally based in China, it was quickly relocated to the United States due to increasing crypto restrictions. It has been moved around from Japan and Malta, but it did not have a permanent home.
That said, there has been news about the company signing a memorandum of understanding with Bermuda and Malta, where it could finally find its home base. Official Binance Website
Binance’s popularity was due to its user base who liked the low fees, availability of cryptocurrencies and innovative products. The platform currently offers many crypto-based products.
From Binance, you can avail of such services as exchange, earn, staking, derivatives, loans, payments, credit cards, NFTs, and more.
Binance has its own unique tokens, cryptocurrencies and coins. BUSD is a stablecoin. BNB is a strong performer because of its low fees.
However, Binance has its problems and dark sides.
The United States Department of Justice (Internal Revenue Service) investigated the company in 2021 for money laundering and tax crimes.
In the same year, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority ordered the platform to stop all regulated activity in the country in June 2021. However, this ban had a limited scope and non-registered companies can still interact with UK customers.
It was originally set up in the spring of that year to launch a digital asset marketplace in Britain. However, it withdrew its application because it did not meet anti-money laundering requirements.
In the same year, Binance was also reported to have shared client information, including addresses and names, with the Russian government. This was a Russian government way of helping them combat crime.
Binance Perks
Large Selection of Cryptos
The company is one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms on the market. Hence, it is no surprise that many cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies are available. You can get decentralized finance tokens (DeFi), stable coins, alt currencies, and other popular cryptos.
Here are some examples:
- Binance Coins (BNB)
- VeChain (VET)
- Harmony (ONE)
- VeThor (VTHO).
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Matic Network (MATIC).
For those who want them, Binance also offers and support for the more popular cryptocurrencies such as:
- Dash (DASH)
- Compound (COMP).
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Cosmos (ATOM)
Low Fees
No platform offers trading currencies and tokens for free. However, choosing Binance as your trading platform will give you deals that may as well be free. Comparable to other cryptocurrency exchanges, which charge commissions and fees, this is quite a difference. So far, the highest spot trading fee is 0.1%.
The platform uses a maker/taker fee structure. Fees will vary depending on trading volume or Binance Coin (BNB). balance. As a rule of thumb, the higher the volume of your trade, the lower the fees your trades are subjected to. Official Binance Website
Users can get discounts on certain services, and this is not all. These include:
- Using Binance (BNB) coins in trades
- You can become a Very Important Person (VIP) by trading certain assets.
That said, Binance users are still subject to other fees. Different fees will apply depending on which type of withdrawal you make and what payment method you use. The chart below is an example.
| Payment Type | Fees |
|
|
In a later section, we will discuss fees.
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Passive Income on Crypto Assets
Binance allows you to earn from your crypto assets. Of course, these come with varying degrees of risk. You have two options: earning a higher rate of interest (or more) on cryptos through its staking program, or placing assets in flexible savings accounts to get lower but more consistent rates.
The platform offers more staking options. They even pay higher rates than most other exchanges.
For riskier opportunities, you can try to earn income by adding liquidity on pairs of tokens. Of course, it is really up to you when taking on these risks. As such, it is important to understand what is involved and what is at stake before jumping into these opportunities.
Advanced Trading Tools
Binance’s advanced trading features make it easy to tailor your trading options. It is simple to set a limit on the price at which you can buy or sell crypto. With its “convert” function, it even caters to beginners.
For veteran traders, the charting tools in the advanced trading interface are something to behold. A Bitcoin futures section allows people to speculate on the price of Bitcoin.
You can sell leveraged tokens to earn income opportunities that have inherent risk. This is an opportunity for customers to multiply their positions in a particular currency. This strategy is risky because it can increase losses and even cause traders to lose their whole position.
The Binance Shortcomings
Not for Newbies
Binance is definitely not for beginners. It is a complicated platform created with experienced and veteran traders in mind. The general aim of the platform is to have these earners maximize their profits.
We previously discussed the advanced trading tools and the risky opportunities Binance provides its users to earn passive income on their crypto holdings. You need to understand what these things mean and how you’re using them.
The most risky opportunities are where novice traders and beginners lose their money. It takes years of experience and honed gut feeling to understand the inherent and hidden risks some trades carry with them.
It can be difficult to navigate the vast market selection and in-depth dashboards offered by the platform, especially for those just starting out in crypto investing.
Once you are comfortable with the platform, it will be very simple to manage your assets. Also, for what it’s worth, Binance has a simpler interface designed for first-timers. It also provides a sizable educational resource.
Binance isn’t very beginner-friendly, but it has many resources that can help those who are interested. It is still not a platform where you just buy Bitcoin and then sit back and relax. Official Binance Website
Pay attention to regulatory matters
As we have already mentioned, Binance has faced many problems. It is currently in the crosshairs of several countries, including Japan, Canada, Singapore and Thailand.
The United States authorities are currently investigating the platform in regard to possible money laundering, tax fraud, and insider trading. So far, no charges have been filed, and Binance has denied any wrongdoing. Only time will tell if anything comes out of this.
Binance took steps to improve its compliance team, and keep regulators in line. However, this could prove to be a difficult endeavor as most of the products that make Binance attractive to customers are also the ones attracting regulatory attention.
It is not available in the U.S.
In response to regulations targeting Binance’s business in the United States, they had to build a separate platform for U.S. customers called Binance.US. The U.S. version Binance offers fewer features and less cryptocurrencies.
Binance.US also trades over 120 cryptocurrencies and does not offer futures trading or leveraged token. Also, it lacks availability as it is not available to the whole country. It’s unavailable in Hawaii, New York, Texas, or Vermont.
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How it all Works
We’ve seen the positive and negative aspects of Binance. Now we can talk about how it all works.
As we know, Binance functions as a cryptocurrency exchange. It has a huge range of services. These include:
- Trade, buy, and sell cryptocurrency
- Set up recurring buys
- Earn passive income
- Advanced features like crypto derivative products, limits orders and peer-to-peer trading are available.
- Trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
- To get exposure to new cryptos, you can join Binance’s Launchpad or Launchpool
- Get portfolio insights and live tracking, as well as alerts
- Keep track of your tax obligations with its tax reporting tool
That said, it still bears repeating that the platform’s broad range of products is what landed them on the crosshairs of many regulatory bodies around the world. Binance warns users about the potential risks of investing on the platform.
The system also features an anti-addiction feature in case traders get too involved with trading. The system warns traders about the risks involved in trading derivatives if they suffer heavy losses or a losing streak. They are encouraged to take a break from trading and rest.
The platform believes that responsible traders must be critical and maintain control to avoid compulsive trading and gambling.
These are all just reminders; ultimately, it is up to the retail investors how they manage the risk and how they should keep their money.
Sign up for your Binance account
Creating and registering your very own Binance account is simple and can be done within a few minutes. There are two types of accounts available: unverified and verified.
For Unverified users:
- Register on the Binance homepage
- Enter Email address
- Create a password
- Accept Binance’s Terms of Use
- Click “Create Account”
- Confirm registration through email
For Verified Accounts
- Register now for an unverified Account
- Log in to your account
- Go to User Center and click Identity Verification
- Select Personal
- Fill in your Details
- Select an ID type to verify document authenticity, such as a Passport and Driver’s licence
- Upload a file or take a picture of the document
- Take a photo of yourself
- After uploading the required document and photo, click confirm.
- Binance will then review it as soon as possible. Official Binance Website
To verify your account, you will need to wait for Binance to send an email.
Trading Experience
As we’ve mentioned, Binance offers a variety of trading tools. These tools include real-time charting with moving averages or exponential moving averages. Trades can also be made easy and accessible through the Binance mobile app, Binance website or Binance desktop application.
Traders can also use the platform to look at their portfolios and trade history. The platform allows them to view their order book and price charts. The platform also gives users a selection of order types. You can place stop orders, limit orders and stop-limit orders.
Users can also choose from different trading views to better understand data and view it in the way that they prefer. There are many views to choose from, including classic, margin and OTC views.
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Trust your wallet
Binance offers a custodial wallet on its platform. It also recommends Trust Wallet, which supports thousands of cryptocurrencies on most major blockchains. It is easy to withdraw from Binance to a Trust Wallet or other external crypto wallet.
Usually, withdrawals are complete within 10 minutes, and even the costs are minimal. Since you can use Binance via a multitude of platforms such as desktop, mobile, or through a web-based app, users will need to provide some personal information to verify their account to get started.
Fees
Binance is known for its low fees. This does not mean users are exempt from any charges. Users of Binance are still required to pay fees for using the platform.
Deposit and withdrawal fees
Deposit fees depend on the currency and method of payment. While it is usually free to make a bank transfer, fees will usually be there for debit card payments.
Binance may allow you to make credit card or debit card payments, bank transfer, and peer-to-peer payments depending on where you live.
As for withdrawing money, you can do so as a fiat currency to a bank account. You can also withdraw cryptocurrency to a wallet, or another exchange. These withdrawal fees and minimum amounts are determined by your currency and method. Official Binance Website
Trade Fees
Your trading fee percentage will depend on your trading history in the past 30 days and the volume in the past 30 days. It will also impact the amount of BNB that you have.
Some people, like Maker orders (those that add liquidity to the market), will also get lower fees than taker orders (those that remove liquidity orders from the market).
The platform also encourages the use of its own native currency, the Binance Coin (BNB). Anybody who does so will receive a 25% discount on their trading fees. Binance also offers 0% trading on selected Bitcoin and Binance USD (BUSD) pairs.
Below is a chart that shows how VIP status and the 30-day trade volume are related to maker/taker.
| VIP | 30-Day Trade Volume (BUSD) | Maker/Taker |
| 0 | Below 1,000,000 | 0.10%/0.10% |
| 1 | 1,000,000 to 4,999,999 and at least 25 BNB | 0.09%/0.10% |
| 2 | 5,000,000 to 19,999,999 and at least 100 BNB | 0.08% / 0.10% |
| 3 | Between 20,000,000 and 119,999.999, with at least 250 BNB | 0.07% / 0.10% |
| 4 | 120,000,000 to 199.999.999 with at least 500 BNB | 0.07% / 0.09% |
| 5 | 200,000,000 to 499,999,999 and at least 1,000 BNB | 0.06% / 0.08% |
| 6 | 500,000,000 to 99,999,999999 and at most 1,750 BNB | 0.05% / 0.07% |
| 7 | Between 1,000,000,000 and 2,499,999.999999 and at most 3,000 BNB | 0.04% / 0.06% |
| 8 | Between 2,500,000,000 and 4,999,999.999999999 with at least 4,500 BNB | 0.03% / 0.05% |
| 9 | More than 5,000,000,000, and at least 5,500 BNB | 0.02% / 0.04% |
Security
Since Binance handles multiple sensitive and high stakes data, and it should be expected that the platform has good and robust security measures to protect its assets as well as their client base.
Binance includes two-factor authentication (2FA) via the Google Authenticator app or short message service for the customer side. It uses address whitelisting, device administration, and the ability restrict device access.
Binance claims that it has its own insurance fund. Binance stores 10% of trading fees in a safe fund. This insurance fund is supposed to protect against hacking losses, which Binance is well-versed in (more later).
Although this insurance does not provide the same protection as third-party insurance, it can give some protection.
Binance also keeps its most important security feature, its funds, offline, in cold storage. This is to avoid any contact with hackers.
That said, customers should still be wary of Binance since its security needs a better track record. The platform was hacked in early 2019 for $40 million in BTC. Another major hack occurred in October 2022. This time, it cost them $570 million in BNB.
There is a silver lining to this. Sometimes, it would be more beneficial for exchanges to experience these incidents so that they can determine which part of their security to fix. As for the customer side, at least they can see how the platform handles themselves and their customer base whenever these cases happen.
Binance quickly responded to the hack and reimbursed all those affected through their Secure Asset Fund for Users. This cold storage wallet has enough capital to cover losses.
Customer Service
Binance provides three options for customer support. You have three options for customer support: submit a ticket, chat with a representative, or reach out via Twitter.
You simply need to fill out a form on the Binance website for tickets. You will be able to get email assistance by submitting a ticket.
For support, all you need to do is tag or mention Binance (@BinanceHelpDesk). Binance has been known to encourage users to tweet their issues through this channel as it has more visibility.
If you need to get in touch with Binance directly, there is a chat box at the bottom right corner. You can access this on the Binance website.
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Binance Pros and Cons
Pros
- Low fees
One of the reasons why Binance is among the top choices for crypto exchanges is its low fees. This is no surprise. It is a no-brainer. Crypto traders and investors can keep more of their earnings and investments if the platform charges lower fees.
- You have the ability to make passive income in many different ways.
It is impossible to not desire passive income. Binance offers many opportunities to make passive income. It’s like being paid for nothing. That said, these opportunities also carry inherent risks in them. These opportunities are not for the weak-hearted. Official Binance Website
- There are many Cryptocurrencies to choose from: You can purchase everything from Bitcoin to Dogecoin, Etherium and more at Binance. With the addition of cryptos such as Fish (FISH) or Fanverse (FT), that number is increasing.
BNB is the platform’s crypto. These multiple selections allow crypto traders and investors flexibility in their choices.
- Advanced Trading Tools
The tools that a trading platform provides to its users will determine how good it is. Binance provides enough tools to allow users to trade more easily. Investors and traders will have no trouble trading on the platform.
- There are many ways to deposit money
If you don’t have any money to invest, trading is impossible. That is why, Binance allows for easier access and start to crypto trading through its multitude of ways to deposit funds
- Flexible Order Types and Trading Options
Bear in mind, trading is like a gamble. While assets and stocks may be worth a lot right now, you never know when they will lose value. As such excellent trading platforms like Binance should provide users the flexibility to do their trades in a matter, they see fit. Official Binance Website
Cons
- Platform can seem overwhelming to beginners.
Multiple options and advanced tools can be a bad thing. A multitude of choices can overwhelm beginners and make it difficult to choose from. Some experienced traders even claim they are intimidated by Binance’s many available options.
- Regulation issues in many countries
Binance has faced several regulatory and legal issues. In fact, this is a glaring issue that has multiple investors considering other exchanges.
Despite this, the platform is working hard to resolve these regulatory issues.
- It is not available in the United States
Due to issues with the United States regulatory bodies, Binance was somewhat banned in the country. Binance U.S. was created by the parent company to provide a U.S-exclusive version.
Binance U.S. has a smaller selection than the original Binance. It is not available in certain states, such as New York and Vermont.
- No built-in digital wallet available
Most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms have their digital wallets built-in and included in. For some reason, Binance does not. Rather it recommends a third-party service called Trust Wallet. While it has a good reputation, there might be issues as they can only offer limited support Official Binance Website
Binance Last Thoughts
Let me start this final thought by saying that I am a noob when it comes to crypto. My knowledge is based on a few YouTube videos, articles here and there, as well as some Reddit threads.
Binance was the best platform for me because it charges very low fees. I entered cryptocurrency because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. This is not something I intend to take seriously.
It took me no time to create my account and verify it. Within just a few minutes, I could look at the UI and everything the platform offers. And here is what I have to say…..
With confidence, I can say that Binance is not for beginners. I can tell you that the myriad of choices presented to me by Binance was pretty intimidating and overwhelming. I needed a friend to help me understand the complexities of all this stuff.
So with his help, along with some tutorials found in Binance Support, I was able to get some of my bearings and begin trading. Although it is still confusing at times, I am slowly getting the hang of trading.
Right now, I hope I bet on the right horse, not the wrong one.
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Binance Frequently Asked Questions Official Binance Website
Is Binance Safe?
It is safe but not with a great track record.
While Binance has its own set of key security features, it still is a blight on its record that it was hacked twice. The company did beef up its security, but in the end, time will judge if these security measures can survive attacks.
How do you decide if Binance is right for you?
It is hard to determine which platform is right for your needs until you have read the reviews and tried the services for yourself.
However, for the sake of having an answer, you may deem Binance is a right fit for you if:
- You are not a newbie in crypto trading, and you have intermediate to the advanced crypto trading experience.
- You need a service that is affordable and can accept many currencies.
- You’re looking for advanced features in your service.
- You are an institutional trader carrying a high or ultra-high net worth.
- You are not a citizen of the United States.
Bianance offers FOREX trading
No, Binance does not offer traditional Forex (Foreign Exchange Trading).
The main reason is that it lacks the amount of currency pairing needed to join the FOREX exchange. A company must have access to thousands of currency pairings in order to be able enter FOREX-only markets. This is quite a distance from Binance which has only 50 currency pairs.
CFD trading is offered by Binance
Binance offers CFD (Contracts For Difference) trading.
They are still controversial in crypto, and many prefer native assets. Unlike CFD’s, these assets can easily be withdrawn to a personal wallet. That said, CFDs do have their advantage. For one, they can be very liquid.