Cryptocurrency, shortened as crypto, is any digital or virtual currency. To ensure that transactions are secure, cryptocurrency uses cryptography as a means of security.
Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central issuing or regulating power. Instead, they rely on a decentralized system for recording transactions and issuing new units. As such, it doesn’t rely on banks to do transactions.
So what does it use? 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. This is why cryptocurrency can only exist in the digital and virtual space, as it uses encryption methods that 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. Other cryptocurrency options include DogeCoin and Ethereum, BNB (Binance Coin), Tether and Solana.
Meanwhile, to have these currencies exchanged or traded, one would need the services of a cryptocurrency exchange or a digital currency exchange (DCE).
A Cryptocurrency Exchange is a business that allows customers trade digital currencies and cryptocurrencies for other assets, such as fiat money or other digital currencies.
Crypto exchanges have functions that are similar to online brokerage platforms. They provide you with the tools to buy and sell digital currencies and tokens for different kinds of cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Exchanges can accept credit card payments, wire transfers, or other forms of payment in exchange for digital currencies or cryptocurrencies.
One such dedicated cryptocurrency exchange is Binance.
Binance and Overview Binance Ventures
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.
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance continues to be one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Binance has the largest trading volume of any cryptocurrency exchange and offers users the most trading pairs in cryptocurrency.
Binance got its start in 2017 through Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. It was initially based in China but was quickly moved out of the country due to crypto restrictions getting stricter and stricter. Since then, it has moved from Japan and Malta but did not have a permanent place to call home.
However, news has come out that the company signed a memorandum with Bermuda and Malta to finally establish its home base. Binance Ventures
Binance’s popularity was due to its user base who liked the low fees, availability of cryptocurrencies and innovative products. Currently, the platform offers a multitude of 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.
In 2021, the company was investigated by the United States Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service on allegations of money laundering and tax offenses.
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. That said, the scope of this ban was limited, and that non-registered firms can still interact with UK consumers.
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. The Russian government justified this as a way to help them fight crime.
Binance Perks
Large Crypto Selection
Given that the company is among the biggest cryptocurrency platforms in the market. Hence, it is no surprise that many cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies are available. Some of them include decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, stable coins, alt coins, and 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
Trading currencies and tokens are not offered free on any platform. Binance is a trading platform that offers deals that are often as good as free. Comparable to other cryptocurrency exchanges, which charge commissions and fees, this is quite a difference. The highest spot trading fee so far is 0.1%.
The platform employs a maker/taker fee structure, and fees will vary depending on trading volume and Binance Coin (BNB) balance. The fees for trades that involve high volumes are generally lower. Binance Ventures
Users can get discounts on certain services, and this is not all. Such as:
- Trades using Binance (BNB), coins
- If you achieve Very Important Person (VIP status) by trading a certain amount of assets.
However, Binance users still have to pay additional fees. There will be different fees depending on the type of withdrawal and payment type. As a sample, you refer to the chart below
Type of payment | Fees |
|
|
In a later section, we will discuss fees.
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Passive Income on Crypto Assets
Binance lets you earn crypto assets. These come with different levels 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.
There are more available staking options available on the platform. They even pay higher rates than most other exchanges.
You can also earn income by adding liquidity to pairs of tokens, but this is a riskier option. 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 tools provide an easy way to customize your trading options. Setting a limit to buying or selling crypto at a specific price is easy. With its “convert” function, it even caters to beginners.
For veteran traders, the charting tools in the advanced trading interface are something to behold. There is also a Bitcoin futures section that can let people speculate on whether the price of Bitcoin will go up or down.
The platform allows you to sell leveraged tokens in connection to earning opportunities with inherent risk. Customers can multiply their currency positions by selling leveraged tokens. This strategy is risky because it can increase losses and even cause traders to lose their whole position.
Binance Shortcomings
This is not for newbies
Binance is not for beginners. Binance is complex platform designed for experienced traders. This platform’s goal is to maximize the profits of these traders.
We previously discussed the advanced trading tools and the risky opportunities Binance provides its users to earn passive income on their crypto holdings. The thing is, most of these features will only be useful when you know what those things mean and what you are doing.
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.
The huge market selection and the in-depth dashboards presented by the platform can also be overwhelming and difficult to navigate, especially if you are just getting started in crypto investing.
Once you are comfortable with the platform, it will be very simple to manage your assets. Binance also has a simple interface that is suitable for beginners. It also provides a sizable educational resource.
While Binance is not that beginner friendly, it still has a lot of resources to help those who want to learn. It is still not a platform where you just buy Bitcoin and then sit back and relax. Binance Ventures
Regulatory Attention
As covered in the overview, one of Binance’s main drawbacks is that it has been in the crosshairs of some countries. It is currently in the crosshairs of several countries, including Japan, Canada, Singapore and Thailand.
The United States authorities are investigating the platform for potential money laundering, tax evasion, and even insider trading. So far, no charges have been filed, and Binance has denied any wrongdoing. Should anything come out of this, only time will tell.
In response, Binance has taken steps to strengthen its compliance team and keep regulators onside. 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.
Not Available in the U.S.
Due to US regulations, Binance.US was created as a separate platform for U.S. customers. This U.S. version of Binance has fewer features and cryptocurrencies offered.
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 is not available in Hawaii, New York or Texas.
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How it All Works
Now that we’ve seen some of the good and the bad of Binance, we can finally talk about how it works.
As we know, Binance functions as a cryptocurrency exchange. It offers a wide range of services. Some of these include:
- Buy, Sell, or trade cryptocurrency
- Establish recurring purchases
- Earn passive income
- Access advanced features such as crypto derivative products, limits orders, and peer-to-peer trading
- 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
- Its tax reporting tool will help you keep track of all your tax obligations
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. On their side, Binance does warn users of the risks involved with investing in the platform.
The system also features an anti-addiction feature in case traders get too involved with trading. When a trader suffers heavy losses or a continuous losing streak, the system reminds the user of the risk involved in derivatives trading. It encourages them to rest and hold back on their trading activities.
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.
Signing Up to Your Binance Account
Creating and registering your very own Binance account is simple and can be done within a few minutes. You are also given the choice of two types of accounts: Verified and unverified accounts.
For unverified users
- Click the register button on the Binance homepage
- Enter Email address
- Create a password
- Accept Binance’s Terms of Use
- Click “Create an Account”
- Confirm registration through email
For Verified Accounts
- Register for an unverified account.
- Log in to your account
- Go to User Center and click Identity Verification
- Select Personal
- Fill in your Details
- Choose an ID type for document verification, such as a Passport or Driver’s license
- Upload a file or take a picture of the document
- Take a photo of yourself
- Click confirm after you have uploaded the document and image.
- Binance will then review your submission as soon as they can. Binance Ventures
To verify your account, you will need to wait for Binance to send an email.
Trading Experience
Binance provides a wide range of trading tools, as we have already mentioned. Some of these tools include their real-time charting tools with moving averages and exponential moving averages. Trading is also convenient and accessible, as users can place trades through the Binance app, Binance website, or Binance desktop app.
The platform allows traders to view their trade history and portfolios. They can view the 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.
Also, users can choose different trading views to easily comprehend data or view them in a way they prefer. Views range from classic to margin and OTC views.
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Trust Wallet
Binance offers a custodial wallet on its platform. It also recommends Trust Wallet, which supports thousands of cryptocurrencies on most major blockchains. It’s easy to transfer funds from Binance to a Trust Wallet, or another external crypto wallet.
Usually, withdrawals are complete within 10 minutes, and even the costs are minimal. To verify your account, you will need to enter some personal information. You can use Binance on a variety of platforms, including mobile and desktop.
Fees
Binance is known for its low fees. However, this does not mean that users are free from all charges. Users of Binance are still required to pay fees for using the platform.
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
The currency used to pay and the method of payment will determine how much deposit fees are charged. While it is usually free to make a bank transfer, fees will usually be there for debit card payments.
Depending on your country, Binance might allow credit or debit card payments, bank transfers, and peer-to-peer payments.
You can withdraw money as a fiat currency from a bank account. You can also withdraw cryptocurrency to a wallet, or another exchange. Fees for these withdrawals and minimum amounts will be based on your method and currency. Binance Ventures
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. The amount of BNB you hold will also matter.
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).
It also encourages users to use their native currency, Binance Coin (BNB). Anyone doing so can get a 25% discount on the trading fee. 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 | Less than 1,000,000 | 0.10%/0.10% |
1 | 1,000,000 to 4999,999 with 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 | Between 200,000,000 and 499,999.999 and at most 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 | 1,000,000,000 to 2,499,999,999 and at least 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
Binance is a platform that handles sensitive and high-stakes data. It should be expected that it has strong security measures to protect their assets and clients.
Binance offers two-factor authentication via the Google Authenticator app, or a short message service for customers. 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).
This insurance is not the same as having a third party doing it, but it does give users some protection.
Binance also keeps its most important security feature, its funds, offline, in cold storage. This is to avoid any contact with hackers.
Customers should be cautious about Binance, however, as it has a poor track record in security. The platform was hacked in early 2019 for $40 million in BTC. It also suffered another major hack in October 2022, this time costing 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.
In Binance’s case, they quickly responded and immediately reimbursed anyone affected by the hack through their Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU). This cold storage wallet keeps enough capital to cover users’ losses.
Customer Service
In terms of customer support, Binance offers three basic options. 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. Submitting a ticket entitles you to receive email assistance.
If you are approaching them through Twitter, you only need to tag or mention Binance on their Twitter account (@BinanceHelpDesk) for support. Because it is more visible, Binance encourages users to tweet about their problems through this channel.
If you need to get in touch with Binance directly, there is a chat box at the bottom right corner. This can be accessed on the Binance website.
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Binance Pros and Cons
Pros
- Low fees
Low fees are one of the main reasons Binance is a top choice for crypto exchanges. It is a no-brainer. After all, if a platform asks for lower fees, crypto traders and investors get to keep more of their investments and earnings to themselves.
- Ability to earn passive income in many 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. Binance Ventures
- Wide selection of Cryptocurrencies: From Bitcoin to Dogecoin and Etherium, there is no shortage of cryptocurrency you can buy from Binance. With the addition of cryptos such as Fish (FISH) or Fanverse (FT), that number is increasing.
BNB is the platform’s crypto. This allows crypto investors and traders flexibility in making their selections.
- 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 trading Options and Order Types
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. Binance Ventures
Cons
- Platform can be overwhelming for beginner users.
Multiple options and advanced tools can be a bad thing. A multitude of choices can overwhelm beginners and make it difficult to choose from. Binance’s numerous options can even be intimidating to some traders who are more experienced.
- Regulation issues in many countries
Binance has been faced with numerous legal and regulatory 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.
- Not available in the United States
Due to issues with the United States regulatory bodies, Binance was somewhat banned in the country. That is why the parent company created Binance U.S., a U.S.-exclusive version of the platform.
However, Binance U.S. is more limited 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. Binance doesn’t have one. Instead, it recommends Trust Wallet, a third-party service. While it has a good reputation, there might be issues as they can only offer limited support Binance Ventures
Binance Last Thoughts
Let me begin by saying that I’m a complete beginner when it comes crypto. My knowledge is based on a few YouTube videos, articles here and there, as well as some Reddit threads.
I chose Binance for the main reason that many choose the platform, and that is because of its low fees. I joined cryptocurrency to find out what all the fuss was about. I am not planning to take this seriously (yet).
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…..
So with confidence, I can honestly back the opinion that Binance is not beginner friendly. Binance presented me with a lot of options that were overwhelming and intimidating. 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. Though it still gets confusing, I’m getting the hang of it.
As of right now, I want to bet on the right horse and not the wrong one.
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Binance Frequently Asked Questions Binance Ventures
Binance is safe?
Yes, it is safe, but it does not have a good track record.
Binance does have its own security measures, but it has been hacked twice. Although the company increased its security, it will be determined if they can withstand attacks.
How Would 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.
- An institutional trader is one with a 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).
It lacks the currency pairing required to join FOREX. A company must have access to thousands of currency pairings in order to be able enter FOREX-only markets. It is a far cry from Binance, which only has over 50 currency pairings.
CFD trading is offered by Binance
Binance offers CFD (Contracts For Difference) trading.
These are still controversial in the crypto industry, as many prefer to own 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.