Binance Review – The Rise of the World’s Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange
What is Binance?
Binance, and how it has become one of the most popular exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies. We will then explain some of the advantages of using Binance, as well as some disadvantages, too.
Binance has become one of the most popular and largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Its meteoric rise to fame is proportional to its rapid growth! The platform is an exchange for crypto-crypto trades only. It was created in 2017 in China by Changpeng Zhao who is known to work on high frequency trading software before. The firm later moved to Japan and then now to Malta because of former stricter regulations.
Before its launch Binance raised money for operation by offering an initial coin offering (ICO), much akin to crowdfunding but with cryptocurrency. Later ICO was named to Binance Coin (BNB).
Binance has a lot to offer and traders prefer it over other platforms, however still there is room for improvement when it comes to customers service or user interface. This review will highlight the good and not so good from the world’s biggest crypto platform.
Binance features
Binance offers multiple of features as listed below:
- High Volume Trading
Huge volume of cryptos being sold every second. This means you have a high chance of getting better rates for your assets - Suitable for All
From beginners to highly seasoned traders, everybody can find a niche for themselves on the platform. - Low Fees
Binance fees are as low as 0.1% on every trade - Multiple Coin Wallet
The platform has more than 150 digital coins on the exchange that can be bought, traded and sold. - Prizes
Image getting Maserati as a prize. The platform is notorious for giving free coins and prizes to its seasoned users. - Best Practiced Security
Claims industry leading security practices and customized protection mechanisms. - ICO Launchpad
Binance shows appreciation for new coins and lot of crypto companies favor Binance for its ready acceptance. As soon as ICO finished if an asset is worth it, you’d find it on Binance.
How does it work?
Binance works like any typical crypto currency exchange that works on blockchain network. In concept the platform offers users to buy and sell listed digital assets and charge a transaction price.
Binance has two trading versions that are offered on the platform. One being Basic and other being Advance mode. The Basic is still not something a complete noob could use, you still need to have some knowledge and know-how of trading to make efficient trades. The Advanced version is for more seasoned trader who know their art. The Advanced version offers more in depth technical analysis, charts, trends and breakdown of digital currency in real time.
Which currencies does it support?
The platform offers more than 150 digital assets. Popular ones include:
Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Binance USD (BUSD)
- Basic Attention Token (BAT)
- Cosmos (ATOM)
- Dash (DASH)
- EOS (EOS)
- Nano (NANO)
- Paxos Standard (PAX)
- TRON (TRX)
- TrueUSD (TUSD)
- Tether (USDT)
- Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Which countries does it support?
Binance operates globally and is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. The company has partnered up with several other local platforms lending their branding and technology support and establishing them as partners. These Binance brand companies operate in their jurisdiction and are regulated by their local authority. Binance has a presence in over 180 countries through its partners.
Is Binance safe?
Binance security has been a hot button topic in the cryptocurrency world. The platform claims to be secure, uses well-established security protocols and a multi-tier multi-architecture for protection. One would like to assume their funds are not being taken for granted.
Binance went through the ordeal of an attempted hack in 2018, when some hackers tried to accumulate people’s login through phishing websites, secretly installing APIs on affected accounts. They converted user’s altcoins to Bitcoin and purchased Viacon in large amounts, pumping the price sky-high. Afterward, they sold their own Viacon supply at a high price before converting it to Bitcoin and moving it to their wallet. However, the attempt was caught and the only people who lost funds were hackers. The funds generated in the hack were donated to charity.
This event has made people believe that Binance is not joking around with their security. Binance even went ahead and offered a bounty for anyone who would help catch the hackers.
Binance since then has two more security breaches, once when customer data KYC was hacked and another when 7000 Bitcoins were hacked. The company compensated all losses.
Is Binance regulated?
Regulation is somewhat a grey area when it comes to Binance. Binance moved from China in 2017, and then from Japan to Malta because of the former’s stricter cryptocurrency regulations. The Binance partners have a separate entity of Binance like Binance Jersey, Binance Lite Australia, etc are legal entities that are subjected to regulations of their native countries.
Payment methods
Binance allows users to make:
- Visa & MasterCard: for purchase of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and XRP tokens
- Debit and Credit card payments for other cryptocurrencies via a partnership with Simplex.
- Bank transfers
- Peer-To-Peer (P2P) transfers
- BPAY
- SEPA
- Faster Payments
Binance fees structure
Trading Fees:
One every trade a user makes, Binance charges 0.1% – this is one of the lowest trading fees by industry standards. If you choose to pay through Binance token you get 50% discount on trading fee which makes it further one of the lowest fees for a crypto exchange.
Deposit Fees:
No fees
Withdrawal fees:
Depends on the coin being withdrawn
Transaction Limits
Transaction limits are only for withdrawals, and are based of two levels.
Level 1: verified accounts can withdraw up to 2 BTC every 24 hours.
Level 2: verified accounts can withdraw 100 BTC every 24 hours. For this further Verification is required, the user will be asked for more identity proof documents.
Transaction Speeds on Deposits & Withdrawal
Binance only deals with crypto deposits and withdrawal the transaction time depends on block chain network for the coin.
How to start trading on Binance
To start trading on Binance you have to make a basic account by supply information asked for Level 1 account. With level one you can only withdraw 2 BTC daily. To upgrade to Level 2 and enjoy the luxury of withdrawing up to 100BTC daily you will have to supply Binance with your photo ID.
Verification of the identity and account activation depends on how busy the platform is. Once verified you can fund your account with crypto of your choice however it’s best to stick to BTC or ETH.
Verfication on Binance
Verification on Binance is pretty straight forward. New customers have to go through a KYC document verification.
For verification you will asked for the following documents:
- Single or multiple forms of government issued ID documents as a Passport, Driver’s Licence, or Medicare card
- Your residential address
Your mobile number (Your account will be pegged to your mobile number, if in case you change your mobile number you will have to go through the verification process again)
Depositing and withdrawing on Binance
Deposits:
You can choose to fund the account through crypto or by converting fiat to crypto. Best and easiest way is to deposit funds in Bitcoin or Ethereum using unique address. You can also convert your fiat for which Binance supports over 10 fiat currencies such as the USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, RUB, TRY, NGN, UAH, KZT and INR.
Withdrawals:
Withdrawals can be done in Crypto or Fiat. You can either withdraw to your assets to external wallet for which you need a valid address. The withdrawal time will depend on the network congestion.
Binance offers leverage
Binance is one of the cryptocurrency trading platforms that offer leverage. Users can activate their margin trading option to use leverage for trading, this means they can borrow funds to trade in a better position. Binance supplies funds in margin wallet to use for collateral. The amount that can be borrowed is determined by the amount of coins available in the margin wallet, using a fixed rate of 5:1 (5x). Users wanting to transfer out all of their assets will first need to clear any debts in this regard.
Binance saving accounts
Binance follows a similar pattern to BlockFi and Nexo. It offers customers a savings account. Customers holding on to funds can get an interest rate of up to 7% APY on selected coins. These funds should be USDT, BTC, and BUSD.
Does Binance have a wallet?
Binance offers an all-encompassing online wallet called the Trust Wallet. It makes using and storing cryptocurrency super easy. It is free with no hidden charges. It is a decentralized wallet system which means only you know what is in your wallet and owns the private keys to it. It is highly secured and offers the ability to store several multi coins – up to 40.
Binance customer services
Binance had explosive growth from its launch to current position. The company had to deal with the rapid growth and some areas like customers services did suffer. When there is a lot to love about Binance, users still complains about how slow the customer services team is, long delays in conflict resolution, emails going unanswered etc. Something that is seen common with large firms trading at large volume, there is just so much to keep track of.
When in a pinch ser can make inquiries from the site’s email contact form or talk to the customer service chat bot. Most of the answers are usually automated. The platform has done well to integrate multi language response system. The website is multilingual and supports up to 15 languages. There is also a great library of FAQ questions on the website that carries a ton of information.
Binance coin
Binance Coin is their ICO. The coin can be can be used to pays fees for which you get 50% discount. The idea behind Binance Coin is that it will be a major feature when Binance hopes to be a global decentralized exchange – it then will be used as Binance currency.
Binance interface
Binance has a comprehensive detailed interface. It is easy to use but it tends to be bit overwhelming with all the information it is trying to display. The platform user experience is satisfactory and experienced traders like its in-depth analysis tools. It has two different view modes, discussed as follows:
Basic View
The Basic view is simple design with nice very clearly laid out information. You can quickly view prices, easy comprehending graphs, trading history and buy and sell buttons.
Advanced View:
On advanced view you can see a dark theme and trading charts are larger. The current prices are dislayed with easy buy and sell buttons.
Does Binance have an app?
Yes – Putting cryptocurrency in the palm of your hands with their app. Binance does have a mobile app for both platforms ios and android. The app has dark and lite features and is made with great user experience design. You can easily make trades, buy and sell cryptos of your choice through this app.
Bottom line
Binance seems to be a solid, secure and very promising platform to trade cryptocurrency for Australian residents.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- It’s secure
- It offers 150+ cryptos
- Low or no-fee deposits and withdrawal
- Easy buy directly from upto 10 fiats
- Has a secure wallet
- Live Chat support
- User friendly interface
- Has a Mobile app
Cons:
- Security is a question
- Long delays from customer response team
- 2FA SMS fails