Any digital or virtual currency, also known as cryptocurrency, can be abbreviated to crypto. 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. As such, it doesn’t rely on banks to do transactions.
So what does it use? It relies on a peer to peer system that allows anyone to send and receive money from 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 is still the most well-known cryptocurrency today. However, it is not the only cryptocurrency that exists. Other cryptocurrency options include DogeCoin and Ethereum, BNB (Binance Coin), Tether and Solana.
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 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 How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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 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. Since then, it has moved from Japan and Malta but did not have a permanent place to call 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. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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.
That said, Binance is not without its issues and dark side.
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. 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. It is not surprising that there are many cryptocurrencies and digital currencies 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).
Binance offers support for popular cryptocurrencies like:
- 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. 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. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
Users can get discounts on certain services, and this is not all. These include:
- Trades using Binance (BNB), coins
- You can become a Very Important Person (VIP) by trading certain assets.
That said, Binance users are still subject to other 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 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.
The platform offers more staking options. 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. Before you jump into these opportunities, you need to be aware of what is at stake.
Advanced Trading Tools
Binance’s advanced trading tools provide an easy way to customize 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.
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.
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
Not for Newbies
Binance is definitely 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 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. To understand the hidden and inherent risks that trades can carry, it takes years of experience.
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. You also have a lot of educational resources.
Binance isn’t very beginner-friendly, but it has many resources that can help those who are interested. Binance is not the place where you can just buy Bitcoin and then relax. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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. This could be difficult as many of the products that Binance customers love are also those that attract 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 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 offers a wide range of services. Some of these include:
- Trade, buy, and sell 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)
- 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. 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 responsible traders should be critical and keep themselves in check to avoid harmful excesses like compulsive trading or 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
- Set up 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
- Please 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
- After uploading the required document and photo, click confirm.
- Binance will then review it as soon as possible. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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. 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.
The platform allows traders to view their trade history and portfolios. 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. Views range from classic to 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’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
We all know that one of Binance’s selling points is 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
Deposit fees depend on the currency and method of payment. 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 cryptocurrency to a wallet, or another exchange. Fees for these withdrawals and minimum amounts will be based on your method and currency. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
Trade 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.
Maker orders, which add liquidity to the market, will get lower fees than taker or remover orders.
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 offers 0% trading for selected Bitcoin and Binance USD pairs (BUSD).
The chart below shows how VIP status, the 30-day trade volume, and maker/taker are related.
| 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 | 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 999,999,999 and at least 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 | 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 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 also claims to have its own insurance fund made by storing 10% of all trading fees in a secure 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 done to prevent hackers from getting in touch.
That said, customers should still be wary of Binance since its security needs a better track record. In early 2019, the platform was hacked 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.
Binance quickly responded to the hack and reimbursed all those affected through their Secure Asset Fund for Users. This cold storage wallet keeps enough capital to cover users’ losses.
Customer Service
Binance provides three options for customer support. You can submit a ticket, ask a basic question through chat, and 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). 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
One of the reasons why Binance is among the top choices for crypto exchanges is its low fees. 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.
Whoever does not want to earn 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. As such, these are not for the faint-hearted. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
- 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
The tools that a trading platform provides to its users will determine how good it is. 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
You cannot start trading if you have no money at stake. 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
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. How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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.
- Issues with Regulation 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.
That said, the platform has been trying hard to remedy these regulatory issues and doing its best to meet the requirements to comply with and solve these 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. 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.
- No built-in digital wallet available
Many popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms include their digital wallets as part of the platform. 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 How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
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 joined cryptocurrency to find out what all the fuss was about. This is not something I intend to take seriously.
Creating my account from scratch and verifying it took no time. In a matter of minutes I was able to view the UI and all the features offered by the platform. Let me tell you…..
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.
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 How To Open A Binance Account In South Africa
Binance is 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 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.
You may find Binance a good fit for you, if you:
- 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 live outside the U.S.
Does Bianance Offer FOREX Trading?
Binance doesn’t offer Forex trading (Foreign Exchange Trading) traditional Forex.
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?
Binance offers 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. However, CFDs have their advantages. For one, they can be very liquid.