Let’s find the answer to all these questions in our special edition of the Binance review.
Binance is currently the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the world and this is a complete review of Binance exchange. I have also covered about BNB (Binance coin) which is one of the highest growing crypto coins.
Before that,
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that many of us in the present, or at a certain point in the past, have come face to face with the paralyzing problem of too many choices. And needless to say, the crypto space today compliments that statement to the T!
Update: Binance futures is launched as invite basis. Use the link below to create a Binance futures account for free.
With more than 2100+ cryptocurrencies and +200 cryptocurrency exchanges to choose from, it can get traumatizing to choose the right ones. The plethora of options on cryptocurrency exchanges can be a headache for both newbies and experienced crypto enthusiasts.
Apart from that, with most of the exchanges being centralized, there is always a looming fear of getting hacked.
However, amidst all the fears and difficult choices to make, one centralized exchange has stood out and certainly made life easier – Binance.
Disclaimer: I have used Binance on numerous occasions and in this post, I am going to tell you everything I have noticed and also the things you need to know before getting started.
Note: Binance.com does not allow registration from USA. If you are from USA, You can either use Binance.us or one of these Binance alternatives.
What is Binance?
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Binance came into existence around 2017
Binance means “Binary Finance”, and as an exchange, it aims to power the future of crypto finance.
It is a centralized exchange and they’re based out of China. It claims to be a better alternative to many other centralized exchanges because they have identified the most major pain points of centralized exchanges and are working rapidly to provide solutions.
Problems That Binance Is Aiming To Solve
These are the following problems that Binance is claiming to solve:
Insecure platform
Poor market liquidity
Poor customer service
Poor internationalization and language support
Binance’s Answers To These Problems
Binance has introduced and is in the process of introducing, several features to counter these problems.
Some of the features that Binance has in place are:
Matching Engine – Binance’s matching engine, as claimed in their whitepaper, is capable of handling 1,400,000 orders/second, making Binance one of the fastest exchanges in the market today. So there is no risk of being “stuck” due to matching issues on Binance.
Device Coverage – They are providing cross-platform trading clients for:
● Web-based trading
● Android
● iOS and Mobile iOS app
● Mobile HTML5
● PC (Windows)
Multilingual Support – In their white paper, they promised that they will launch Binance on all of their user interfaces in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. They have already added support for their website in Japanese, Spanish, and Korean (along with English and Chinese). I would say this is a good start in just two months, and I am sure there will be more languages to come as adding full language support is explicitly mentioned in their whitepaper.
Features and Benefits of Binance:
Binance offers trading terminal for all kinds of traders. Be it a seasoned, hobbyist or pro traders. They started as a spot trading crypto exchange, and now they offer Margin and futures trading as well.
Binance lending:
Binance offers crypto lending feature where you can earn interest on your crypto holding. They support many coins including Bitcoin, Binance, Stable coins to name a few.
Many of you may be aware of proof of stake coins and you would be surprised to know that Binance also offers crypto staking features. One benefit I see here is, you can also discover some interesting projects that offer staking feature.
Crypto Sub-account (manage account for your friends, family or clients)
How often you wish to have multiple accounts on the same exchange? Well, the Binance sub-account feature is exactly for you. You can use it for creating and managing the binance account of your friends, family, and clients. You can create up to 200 sub-accounts under a single Binance account which is something remarkable.
Corporate account:
If you want to trade or use Binance exchange under a legal entity (Corporation, LLP, Pvt. limited) or any other, you can apply and open a corporate account as well.
Buy crypto assets using fiat currencies
Binance has started adding a lot of fiat payment options to enable users across the globe to be able to buy Crypto assets using their local bank account or credit card. The benefit that you get here is, they charge pretty low fees for the same and you can directly start trading or even earn interest.
Binance Pay:
Binance pay is the latest feature which was added in 2021. It works as a payment gateway and also you can use it for P2P payment. To use Binance pay, you need to have a verified Binance account, and then you can follow this video steps to start using Binance Pay.
Binance P2P:
Binance is one of the top P2P exchange platform as well. Once you have done your KYC, you can perform a P2P transaction with other interested traders. This video guide will help you get started with Binance P2P:
Tokenized Stocks:
In 2021, Binance added the option to trade tokenized stocks. With this new addition, Binance users can now get exposure to the traditional asset class directly on the Binance platform. To use the Binance tokenized stocks feature, you need to complete your KYC, and then you can start trading in these stocks.
Watch this video to learn everything about Binance tokenized stocks:
Binance Team
Binance’s team members have been in both the finance and crypto industry for many years. The team has worked on and operated a number of exchanges, and they have accumulated a large network of partners in this space.
Changpeng Zhao – CEO
Roger Wang – CTO
James Hofbauer – Chief Architect
Paul Jankunas – VP of Engineering
Allan Yan – Product Director
Sunny Li – Operations Director
They are clearly not newbies trying to run a scam exchange; they understand the risks and challenges very well.
In my opinion, the Binance exchange and BNB tokens are here to stay.
Here’s why:
From a subjective economics point of view, Binance’s business model makes sense, and it is based on the simple law of supply and demand. So it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the price of BNB will continue to go up because people want to get a fee discount while trading on the Binance exchange.
Another observation is that Binance is expanding very fast and is already in the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges by volume – a feat worth mentioning for a 3-month old exchange.
It’s clear from their business model that the price of BNB will be strictly driven by their business profits that will eventually be used to destroy 50% of all BNB tokens. To achieve this, they are doing a lot of innovative and creative stuff like the Binance Angel Program, the Community Coin Per Month, the Binance API Coding Competition, and various giveaways.
Binance is the only exchange that gives NeoGAS to its NEO HODLers which is a good adoption sign for NEO and Binance investors.
They are launching themselves in various international languages across all platforms which is a good strategy for mass adoption.
And last but not least, the way Binance is expanding and its volume is growing day by day, in 2021 they are #1 exchange by volume. In just 2 months, they have built a list of 50 cryptocurrencies that are being traded with a nominal 0.1% trading fee – far cheaper than most of its competition.
Binance Exchange Review 2021
Binance started in China in mid-2017 but shifted base to Hong Kong and now in Malta after the China government banned cryptocurrency exchanges.
It is a centralized exchange but a reliable one because despite handling the volume it does on a regular basis, there have been no reports of it or going down.
Binance, being a centralized exchange like Bittrex and Poloniex, adopted a unique way of funding themselves through the ICO, which concluded in July 2017. And with the money raised, Binance has to an extent and continues to solve the pain points of centralized exchanges that they had identified and elucidated in their white paper.
Binance offers both (Crypto-to-crypto) and (fiat-to-crypto) exchange, and you will find a very good market for these pairs with enormous volume and liquidity on Binance.
Currently, Binance is #1 exchange in terms of volume on CoinGecko.
They have their native Binance tokens too which I will explain further in this article.
Binance Registration, Login and Security
Binance’s registration process is quite straightforward and your account gets activated immediately. To get started with Binance, you need to register using your email ID following which you will be granted the basic account in which you have a withdrawal limit of 2 BTC per day.
After you register, you can log in using your email ID and password to be able to see the screen below, where you can, and MUST, setup your 2FA and SMS authentication for extra security (highly recommended to do so).
You can also use this dashboard to submit additional KYC documents to increase your withdrawal limit from 2 BTC to 200 BTC.
Binance Dashboard
After you log in and have set up all the security measures, go to Binance’s home page to see this dashboard.
Binance Dashboard
On this dashboard, you can see markets for BTC, ETH, BNB, and USTD.
Binance’s dashboard also gives you access to both advanced and basic dashboard versions. The main difference between the advanced and basic version is that the former has more charting tools and compact UI with more parameters to analyze whereas the latter has a more open UI and less charting features.
The basic version looks like this:
The Binance mobile app is absolutely fantastic, to say the least. I came across the Binance app when I was searching for options to trade on the go.
To reiterate, the Binance trading apps for both iOS and Android is the best you can find in the market.
To use the mobile app, you need to create an account on Binance for which you can register here. Once you are registered, you can download their iOS or Android app and start trading cryptos from your smartphone.
(Android App | iOS App)
Do watch this video tutorial to get hold of how to use Binance mobile apps.
The fee structure on Binance is also very competitive compared to its peer exchanges.
The standard trading fee is 0.1%. However, to withdraw different currencies, this fee schedule is applicable.
Binance-Withdrawal-Fees
Also, you can reduce your trading fee significantly if are a HODLer of Binance tokens (i.e. BNB). When you use BNB to pay for fees, you will receive a significant discount (as per below).
Fee-Binance
You can enable this feature of 50% trading fee reduction from their dashboard here.
Not just this, holding Binance tokens itself is rewarding because their price appreciation is almost certain in the long run considering Binance burns a decent amount of BNB tokens every quarter to economically reward its holders.
Here is the updated trading fees of Binance, as per March 2020:
Note: I have been a HODLer of BNB tokens ever since it was $2 per token.
Also read: 6 Best Exchange Coins & Tokens in the Crypto world (2021)
Binance Supported Cryptocurrencies
Binance supports a flurry of cryptocurrencies and has enormous volumes on it. Needless to say, you don’t need to worry about the liquidity of your funds.
You will find all the popular cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, DASH, LTC, NEO, ETC, XRP etc on Binance and also some rare gems like Sushi, FTT, UNI.
The volume on this exchange that has more than 260 cryptocurrencies listed on it is 165,711 BTC ($ 1.4 billion), an impressive figure.
Binance-Exchange
Binance Supported Countries
The Binance exchange is accessible to users all around the world. However, there are certain parts of the world that have a high concentration of their user base:
Binance Supported Countries
These are their latest traffic stats which show that Binance is accessible in most countries.
Update: Binance is no more available for U.S. Citizens. Check out Binance alternatives for U.S. Users.
Binance Support
The support is also exemplary if you compare it with its peer exchanges. To emphasize, Binance provides support in 7 languages!
As of now, there is no customer care number, but they do have a support portal where you can submit your requests. Expect the turnaround time to be 24-hours.
You can also use their live chat support option as shown here in the restricted operating hours.
Apart from that, their FAQ section is quite robust and if you go through it well, you may not really need to contact their support.
Binance Initiatives
Additionally, the Binance exchange keeps on holding various competitions, prize distributions and other initiatives for its users, some of which are:
Binance Angel Program,
Binance launchpad
Community Coin Per Month,
Binance API Coding Competition,
Free Airdrops
Claim NeoGAS on Binance
Soft staking
Now they have launched 3rd party project reports that are having insights of institutions to aid investors to make better decisions.
Binance coin: Everything You Need to Know
BNB Coin Total Supply & Business Model
The first question that came to my mind while reading Binance’s whitepaper was:
What’s the need of an ICO for an exchange?
The answer to this is based on their unique business model, which is self-sustaining and easy to understand without any complex mathematical formulas that you generally find in a whitepaper.
But before discussing their business model, it’s important to understand their token economics.
Binance Coin (i.e. BNB) is an ERC20 token with a fixed supply of 200 million. Out of this total supply, 100 million BNB tokens were distributed during the ICO.
Here is what the final allocation breakup looks like:
Binance-ICO
In my opinion, one of the reasons for having an ICO for Binance was to accelerate the development process while catalyzing its mass adoption through fee incentivization for its users. This puts everyone in a win-win situation.
This fee incentivization is made possible by BNB tokens which are an integral part of this exchange. You can use BNB to pay for any fees on the platform, including but not limited to:
Exchange Fees
Withdrawal fees
Listing fees
Any other fee
Apart from this, when you use BNB to pay for fees, you will receive a significant discount according to the below-shown schedule. You can see their fee structure in detail here.
Fee-Binance
And last but not least, to ensure that everyone participating with Binance ends up in a win-win situation, every quarter they will use 20% of their profits to buy back BNB and destroy them until they eventually buy 50% of all the BNB (100M) back.
They announce all buy-back transactions on the blockchain and will eventually destroy 100M BNB, leaving 100M BNB in circulation.
This is meant to drive up the price of BNB tokens.
How to buy BNB Coin (Binance coin)?
The best place to buy Binance coin is from Binance exchange itself.
Click here to buy Binance coin
Once you have registered an account, click on funds and add funds using credit card/debit card.
First, deposit BTC or other coins in Binance.
Deposite-BTC-inBinance
Once the coins are deposited in your Binance account, go to the trade section and select BTC/BNB trading pair from the right-hand side of the dashboard.
On the left-hand side, you will see the order book and the prices at which buying/selling is taking place. You can select your buy price accordingly from the left order book and place your order by putting the relevant amount of BNB coin you want to buy.
Below is a list of established cryptocurrency exchanges listing BNB:
Binance (obviously) -Supported pairs are BNB/BTC, BNB/ETH
In 2021, there are many supported pair for BNB token.
Conclusion: Is Binance Legit & Safe?
Keeping all these facts in mind and my experience, I can confidently say that no exchange even comes close to Binance in terms of security, volume, and community initiatives.
Also, as I said, their mobile apps are an absolute delight to use.
Even during the crypto mad rush in December 2017 when exchanges like Bittrex and Bitfinex closed their doors, Binance was the last exchange that stopped taking new registrations.
I’d say, to conclude, if you have not used Binance yet, you should start right away.
Create Free Account on Binance
Have you used Binance for buying, selling, and/or trading BTC/ETH? How has your experience been? Let us know in the comments section below. Want me to review any other cryptocurrency exchange? Let me know in the comments.
Is Binance US safe?
Binance.us is an extension of Binance for the US citizens, and it is a legit website. They don’t have same number of tokens like Binance.com, but the volume of Binance us is growing steadily.
Does Binance require KYC?
For a withdrawal up to 2BTC a day, Binance does not require KYC. If your withdrawal requirement is more than 2 BTC a day, then you are suggested to get KYC done, which increases your daily withdrawal limit to 100 BTC.
Does Binance work in India?
Yes, Binance works in India and there is no issues reported by any Indian users related to Binance. In fact, Binance own Wazirx which is one of the biggest Indian exchange.
Is Binance P2P safe?
Binance launched P2P feature somewhere in 2020, and it is safe to use. However, to use Binance P2P feature, you need to complete your KYC.
Can you use Binance in the US with a VPN?
If you wish to circumvent the rules, that is your own prerogative, but also your own risk. If you are not a US citizen but you are living in USA, and still wants to access Binance, you can use any VPN like NordVPN that let you hide your location, and have a kill-switch feature. A better thing to do is to use Binance.us which allows users from USA to access Binance website. (this is not a financial or legal advice)
Which portfolio manager works with Binance?
Almost all the reliable crypto portfolio apps support Binance. You can use the Binance API key to automatically sync with the portfolio manager. CoinStats, Blockfolio are some of the easy-to-use Portfolio managers for Binance with the auto-sync feature.
Which is the best tax software for Binance
Cointracker and Koinly are two best software for tax accounting for Binance. You can read about crypto tax softwares here.
