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. Each owner of a cryptocurrency has their funds stored in a digital wallet.
Cryptocurrency is so named because of its use of encryption to keep and verify transactions. Cryptocurrency can only exist digitally and virtually because it uses encryption methods 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.
Bitcoin was the first Cryptocurrency and was established in 2009. It remains the best known 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.
The functions of crypto exchanges are very similar to those offered by 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.
Binance is one such dedicated cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance and Overview Binance Metamask Academy
Beau Troxclair’s YouTube channel 0xBeau has a video review of Binance. For those who like a visual experience, this is the video. To get a comprehensive overview of Binance, you may still want to check out our article below.
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance continues to be one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It has the highest trading volume of any crypto exchange by offering users the most cryptocurrency trading pairs.
Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao (“CZ” Zhao). It was initially based in China but was quickly moved out of the country due to crypto restrictions getting stricter and stricter. 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. Binance Metamask Academy
Binance’s popularity came from a user base that preferred its low fees, many available 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.
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. 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.
Also, in the same year, Binance was said to have shared client data, including names and addresses, 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. You can get decentralized finance tokens (DeFi), stable coins, alt currencies, and other popular cryptos.
A few examples of this include:
- 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. Binance is a trading platform that offers deals that are often as good as free. This is compared to other crypto exchanges that also charge fees and commissions. So far, the highest spot trading fee 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 Metamask Academy
What’s more, is that users can also get fee discounts for some services. Such as:
- Using Binance (BNB) coins in trades
- You can become a Very Important Person (VIP) by trading certain assets.
However, Binance users still have to pay additional fees. There will be different fees depending on the type of withdrawal and payment type. The chart below is an example.
| Payment Type | Fees |
|
|
In a later section, we will discuss fees.
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Passive income from crypto assets
Binance allows you to earn from your 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. It is up to you to decide if these risks are worth taking. 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. Setting a limit to buying or selling crypto at a specific price is easy. With its “convert” function, it even caters to beginners.
The advanced trading interface has a lot of charting options that are a delight for veteran traders. 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. As stated, this is a risky strategy because it can multiply losses and may even cause traders to lose their entire position.
Binance Shortcomings
This is 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.
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. 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 Metamask Academy
Pay attention to regulatory matters
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 currently investigating the platform in regard to possible money laundering, tax fraud, and insider trading. Binance has not been charged and no criminal charges have been filed. 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.
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 trades more than 120 cryptocurrencies, but does not offer futures trading. It is also not available in all countries. 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
- Set up recurring buys
- Earn passive income
- Access advanced features such as crypto derivative products, limits orders, and peer-to-peer trading
- Trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
- Participate in Binance’s Launchpad and Launchpool to get exposure to new cryptos
- 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. 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. 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 just reminders. Retail investors will ultimately decide how to manage risk and where they should invest 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. You are also given the choice of two types of accounts: Verified and unverified accounts.
For unverified users
- Register on the Binance homepage
- Enter your email address
- Create a password
- Accept Binance’s Terms and Conditions of Use
- Click “Create an Account”
- Confirm registration through email
For Verified Accounts
- Register for an unverified account.
- Login to your account
- Click Identity Verification in the User Center
- 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 picture of yourself
- After uploading the required document and photo, click confirm.
- Binance will then review it as soon as possible. Binance Metamask Academy
From then on, you will have to wait for an email from Binance to ensure that your account has been verified.
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. They can stop orders, limit orders, stop-limit orders, stop-market orders, and trailing stop orders.
Also, users can choose different trading views to easily comprehend data or view them in a way 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. Trust Wallet is also recommended by Binance, which supports thousands upon thousands of cryptocurrencies across all major blockchains. It is easy to withdraw from Binance to a Trust Wallet or other external crypto wallet.
Withdrawals are usually completed in 10 minutes and the fees are very low. 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. Although bank transfers are usually free, debit card payments will often incur fees.
Depending on your country, Binance might allow credit or debit card payments, bank transfers, and peer-to-peer payments.
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 Metamask Academy
Trading Fees
The trading volume and trading history over the last 30 days will determine the percentage of your trading fees. 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). Anybody who does so will receive a 25% discount on their trading fees. Binance offers 0% trading for selected Bitcoin and Binance USD pairs (BUSD).
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 and 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 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 | 2,500,000,000 to 4,999,999,999 and 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 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 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.
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. Another major hack occurred in October 2022. This time, it cost them $570 million in BNB.
However, there is a bright side to this; sometimes, it would be better to have exchanges experience these incidents so they know which part of their security they should focus on and 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
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.
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.
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 & 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. 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.
Whoever does not want to earn passive income. It is like getting paid while doing nothing, and Binance has a lot of opportunities for doing so. That said, these opportunities also carry inherent risks in them. As such, these are not for the faint-hearted. Binance Metamask Academy
- 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.
The platform even has its crypto in the form of BNB. 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. 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. Binance makes it easier to start crypto trading by making it easy to deposit funds through its many ways.
- Flexible trading Options and Order Types
Bear in mind, trading is like a gamble. The assets and stock own may be valuable now, but you will never know when their values will drop. As such excellent trading platforms like Binance should provide users the flexibility to do their trades in a matter, they see fit. Binance Metamask Academy
Cons
- Platform can be overwhelming for beginner users.
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. Binance’s numerous options can even be intimidating to some traders who are more experienced.
- Issues with Regulation 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.
- 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. Furthermore, it is also not available in some U.S. states like New York and Vermont.
- There is no built-in digital wallet
Most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms have their digital wallets built-in and included in. For some reason, Binance does not. 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 Metamask Academy
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. 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 had to get a friend to teach me what all the stuff was all about.
With his assistance, and some tutorials from Binance Support, it was easy to get my bearings and start trading. Though it still gets confusing, I’m getting the hang of it.
Right now, I hope I bet on the right horse, not the wrong one.
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Common Questions about Binance Binance Metamask Academy
Is Binance Safe?
Yes, it is safe, but it does not have a good 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. 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?
To be honest, it is difficult to pinpoint which platform is right for you until you read their reviews and try the services yourself.
You may find Binance a good fit for you, if you:
- 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.
- An institutional trader is one with a 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).
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.
Does Binance Offer CFD Trading?
Unlike FOREX trading, Binance does offer CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading.
These are still controversial in the crypto industry, as many prefer to own native assets. These assets, unlike CFD’s can be easily withdrawn to a personal account. That said, CFDs do have their advantage. For one, they can be very liquid.