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.
So what does it use? It relies on a peer to peer system that allows anyone to send and receive money from anywhere. This currency exists purely as digital entries and is recorded on an online database that describes specific transactions.
Each time a transaction is done with cryptocurrency funds, it will be recorded in a public ledger. Every owner of cryptocurrency keeps their funds in a digital wallet.
Cryptocurrency is so named because of its use of encryption to keep and verify 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 used to store and transmit crypto data provides security and safety as transactions between wallets, and public ledgers are happening.
The first ever Cryptocurrency was called Bitcoin and was founded in 2009. It is still the most well-known cryptocurrency today. It is not the only cryptocurrency. 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. They provide you with the tools to buy and sell digital currencies and tokens for different kinds of cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Exchanges accept wire transfers and credit card payments in exchange for digital currencies.
Binance is one such dedicated cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance and Overview Binance Chief
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 was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao (“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.
However, news has come out that the company signed a memorandum with Bermuda and Malta to finally establish its home base. Binance Chief
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 also has its set of unique tokens and cryptocurrencies. One of which is BUSD, a stablecoin, and the other is BNB which is known as a strong performer due to 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. 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 Crypto Selection
Given that the company is among the biggest cryptocurrency platforms in the market. It is not surprising that there are many cryptocurrencies and digital currencies 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).
Binance offers support for popular cryptocurrencies like:
- 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. This is compared to other crypto exchanges that also charge fees and commissions. The highest spot trading fee so far 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. Binance Chief
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. 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 |
|
|
We can discuss more about fees in a later section.
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Passive income from crypto assets
Binance allows you to earn from your crypto assets. Of course, these come with varying degrees of risk. A few options include earning 50% APR or more on certain cryptos in its staking program or putting assets into flexible savings accounts for lower but more consistent rates.
There are more available staking options available on the platform. 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. It even accommodates beginner users with its “convert” function.
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.
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.
The Binance Shortcomings
Not for Newbies
Binance is not for beginners. Binance is complex platform designed for experienced traders. The general aim of the platform is to have these earners maximize their profits.
We have already discussed the risks Binance offers its users in order to make passive income from 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.
As for the risky opportunities, more often than not, this is where beginner traders and newbies 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 get the hang of the platform, you will find it very easy to manage your assets. Binance also has a simple interface that is suitable for beginners. 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. Binance Chief
Regulatory Attention
As covered in the overview, one of Binance’s main drawbacks is that it has been in the crosshairs of some countries. Major countries that have it in for Binance include Japan, the United Kingdom, 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.
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.
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’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
- Establish recurring purchases
- 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
- Access portfolio insights, plus live tracking and 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. When a trader suffers heavy losses or a continuous losing streak, the system reminds the user of the risk involved in derivatives trading. 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.
Signing Up to Your Binance Account
It takes just minutes to create and register your Binance account. 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 an Account”
- Confirm registration through email
For Verified Accounts
- Register for an unverified account.
- Login to your account
- Go to User Center and click Identity Verification
- Choose Personal
- Fill in your Details
- Select an ID type to verify document authenticity, such as a Passport and Driver’s licence
- Take a photo or upload a file of your document
- Take a picture of yourself
- Click confirm after you have uploaded the document and image.
- Binance will then review your submission as soon as they can. Binance Chief
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. Some of these tools include their real-time charting tools with moving averages and 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. They can view the order book and price charts. You can also choose from a variety of order types. They can stop orders, limit orders, stop-limit orders, stop-market orders, and trailing stop 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 provides a custodial wallet through its platform. Trust Wallet is also recommended by Binance, which supports thousands upon thousands of cryptocurrencies across all 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. 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. Binance users are still subjected to some fees needed for the platform.
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
The currency used to pay and the method of payment will determine how much deposit fees are charged. Although bank transfers are usually free, debit card payments will often incur fees.
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 crypto to a wallet or another exchange. These withdrawal fees and minimum amounts are determined by your currency and method. Binance Chief
Trading 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.
Maker orders, which add liquidity to the market, will get lower fees than taker or remover orders.
The platform also encourages the use of its own native currency, the 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 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 | 20,000,000 to 119,999,999 and 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 999,999,999 and at least 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 also uses address whitelisting, device management, and the ability to restrict device access.
Binance claims that it has its own insurance fund. Binance stores 10% of trading fees in a safe fund. This is meant to cover any losses from hacking, an incident that Binance is familiar with (more on that 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.
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. The customer side can at least see how the platform handles them and their customers when these incidents occur.
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 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.
To obtain tickets, you simply need to complete a form on Binance’s website. Submitting a ticket entitles you to receive email assistance.
For support, all you need to do is tag or mention Binance (@BinanceHelpDesk). Because it is more visible, Binance encourages users to tweet about their problems through this channel.
Lastly, Binance has a chat box on the bottom right corner of the support screen if you want a more direct approach. 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. This is no surprise. 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. It is like getting paid while doing nothing, and Binance has a lot of opportunities for doing so. These opportunities come with inherent risks. As such, these are not for the faint-hearted. Binance Chief
- Wide selection of Cryptocurrencies: From Bitcoin to Dogecoin and Etherium, there is no shortage of cryptocurrency you can buy from Binance. And that number is growing, with newly added cryptos like Fish(FISH) and Fanverse (FT).
BNB is the platform’s crypto. These multiple selections allow crypto traders and investors flexibility in their choices.
- Advanced Trading Tools
A trading platform will only be as good as the tools it provides its users. In the case of Binance, it gives users enough tools for a more flexible trading experience. As such, traders and investors will not have a hard time doing trade on the platform.
- Multiple ways of Depositing Money
If you don’t have any money to invest, trading is impossible. Binance makes it easier to start crypto trading by making it easy to deposit funds through its many ways.
- Flexible Order Types and Trading Options
Trading is like gambling. While assets and stocks may be worth a lot right now, you never know when they will lose value. Binance, one of the best trading platforms, should allow users to trade in any way they like. Binance Chief
Cons
- Platform can seem overwhelming to beginners.
Of course, multiple options and advanced tools are not always a good 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 been faced with numerous legal and regulatory issues. This is a major issue that many investors are considering switching to 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.
Binance U.S. has a smaller selection than the original Binance. Furthermore, it is also not available in some U.S. states like New York and Vermont.
- There is no built-in digital wallet
Many popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms include their digital wallets as part of the platform. 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 Binance Chief
Binance Last Thoughts
Let me start this final thought by saying that I am a noob when it comes to crypto. All my knowledge comes from a few youtube videos, an article here and there, and 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. Let me tell you…..
With confidence, I can say that Binance is not for beginners. Binance presented me with a lot of options that were overwhelming and intimidating. I had to get a friend to teach me what all the stuff was all about.
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 Chief
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. 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’re not new to crypto trading and have intermediate-level experience in trading.
- You want a service that charges low fees and carries many currencies.
- You are looking for a service with many advanced features.
- You are an institutional trader carrying a high or ultra-high net worth.
- You are not a citizen of the United States.
Does Bianance Offer 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. 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.
They are still controversial in crypto, and many prefer native assets. These assets, unlike CFD’s can be easily withdrawn to a personal account. However, CFDs have their advantages. They can be extremely liquid.