Binance

Binance Key Points

• Account Creation Is Quick: The account creation process on Binance is simple and straightforward. It only took me up to 10 minutes to create an account and verify my membership.
• Safe and secure: The company has different measures to secure the use of your account. They use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) and SMS code validation for authorization.
• Great liquidity: Binance is highly liquid. Being one of the largest exchanges in the world, you will not be able to find a more liquid exchange.
• Decent Fees: Binance charges one of the lowest transaction fees on the market. They charge a flat rate of 0.1%. This is quite good. But other some exchanges that also offer 0.1% and actually lower their fees if the volume is high (though their honesty and trustworthiness is questionable)..
• Supported currencies: This exchange supports more than 300 coins and several other fiat currencies.
• Online Wallet: You can store your coins and fiat currencies through the Binance online wallet. While this is a great idea, offline storage is still the best to avoid hacks.

However for US users, this Binance exchange (the original) is no longer available to you. You must use the sister company Binance.US.

It has been alleged by the US government that Binance has deliberately established a complex corporate structure to avoid law suits and to “take advantage” of users. Hence, Binance has request that all US users buy and sell on Binance.US.

Binance Detailed Review

In this detailed review, I have placed emphasis on the below features and aspects of Binance. While this review is relatively comprehensive, I understand that some readers have an investment strategy that is dependent on specific requirements. If so, I encourage you to carry out further research.

• Daily Volume: $21b
• Coins: 321
• Fiat: 46
• Established: 2017

Deposit Methods

On Binance exchange, you can use fiat currencies to buy Bitcoin or altcoins. To do this, you must deposit fiat and cryptocurrencies into your Account, where it is held in escrow on your Binance dedicated wallet. The following are the ways you deposit to your account:

Credit/Debit Card

Recently, Binance partnered with Simplex to offer its users a way to buy cryptocurrencies with credit/debit cards. With your credit/debit card, you can buy up to 31 cryptocurrencies on Binance. However, there is a premium for accessing this service. Binance charges as high as 3.5% for all USD purchases. 

Binance offers a peer-to-peer trading service. This service directly connects buyers with sellers. The P2P trading service facilitates fiat currency payment, supported by a range of payment options for your convenience. 

SEPA/Wire Transfers

Binance integrates with third-party providers so that its users can buy cryptocurrencies with fiat currencies using wire transfers and SEPA. Purchasing cryptocurrencies via wirte transfers or SEPA does not attract any charges. However, this service only supports CAD, EUR, and AUD. It doesn’t support USD for deposits.

Peer to Peer Trading

In addition to the normal marketplace of trading, whereby monies and cryptocurrencies are deposited onto the Binance account, there is a peer-to-peer trading service. This service means that instead of depositing monies onto the Binance account, the monies is sent to an escrow (holding) account. The P2P trading service facilitates fiat currency payment, supported by a range of payment options for your convenience. This is very similar to Over The Counter (OTC) service whereby a buyer is specifically connected to a seller. Only, an OTC uses a broker. In this instance there is no broker. The buyer finds a specific seller, and funds are held in escrow and then released once both parties have completed the transaction.

Exclusive browser compatibility

Brave is a new browser that is competing against Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge and FireFox. Yes, the browser market is crowded, however Brave is specifc to ensuring user privacy. Brave has created a widget that integrates with a Binance user’s account. The benefit of using Brave is therefore the convenience of privacy linked into the Binance trading platforming. This creates a seamless, safe and secure browser and trading application, all combined into one.

Account Creation

The account creation process on Binance is relatively easy and straightforward. To create an account, you need to complete an application form, which will grant you a basic account where your withdrawal limit is pegged at 2 BTC per day.

Your account would be activated immediately. You can then log in to set up your SMS and 2FA authentication for extra security. I will dwell more on security and safety much later in the article.

While a basic account is good for a beginner, the 2 BTC per day limit is grossly insufficient for a more frequently or high dollar trader. To increase your Withdrawal limit from 2 BTC to 200 BTC, you need to submit additional documents for approval.

Here is how to create an account on the Binance platform

• Visit the Binance official website and click on “register”.
• Enter your email address and choose a strong password.
• Confirm your email address.
• Enter your mobile number and complete the SMS Authentication process.

Post-Sign-Up Verification

You need to provide the below information to complete the verification process:

• Residential address
• Country of residence
• Photo of your ID
• Selfie to verify your identity

Layout and Ease Of Use

Binance has an intuitive and user-friendly interface. This exchange is easy to use. In fact, it is great for beginners and simple trades. Additionally, it is rich in trending data and interactive graphs for strategic investment when you log into your dashboard.

Pairings

In total, the number of cryptocurrencies available to deposit, withdraw, or trade on the Binance platform is almost 200, including the following major coins:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• Binance Coin (BNB)
• Binance USD (BUSD)
• Basic Attention Token (BAT)
• Cosmos (TOM)
• Dash (EOS)
• Stellar Lumens (XLM)
• Tether (USDT)
• True USD (USDT)
• Tron (TRX)
• Paxos Standard (PAX)
• Nano (NANO)

Using the following payment methods, cryptocurrencies can be traded on Binance for fiat currencies or other cryptos:

• SEPA
• Credit/Debit card
• Wire Transfers

Customer Support

The Binance Customer Support is relatively good. The easiest way to log a query is via the email contact form. Due to the sheer growth in demand, you may have to wait for at least one hour before getting a response from the customer support team. This is not ideal, however, this customer support turn around time is in fact much better than a lot of other exchanges.

There is an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to tap into, but the responses are generally automated. Binance is multilingual – they support about 15 languages. This is a great advantage for Binance since they have users from all over the world.

Safety And Security

When it comes to the issue of safety and security, Binance stands tall compared to other cryptocurrency exchanges. The company protects investors’ or traders’ personal information and assets.

Security measures adopted by Binance include:

• Yubikey 2FA: This is a hardware device available for users to protect their accounts.
• SMS Authentication: This safety measure is used during withdrawals or account modification. However, I found out from some reviews that traders complain of a faulty SMS/2FA confirmation.
• Email Address and Google Authentication: This measure is also used for withdrawals and account modification.

In addition, Binance adopts the following measures to further protect customers’ funds:

• Device Management: This feature allows users to view devices permitted to access their accounts. You may also delete any unwanted device here.
• Address Management: This security measure gives users the option to allow withdrawals to only whitelisted addresses.
• Anti-Phishing: Anti-Phishing will help you identify original Binance emails from phishing attempts.

Liquidity

Liquidity is an important factor in the financial market, including the cryptocurrency market. Binance has great liquidity compared to its competitors. Great liquidity means that you will be able to easily find a buyer/seller. (Low liquidity means, that you might have to wait a while to find any buyer of seller thus wasting time to complete a transaction).

Fees 

The fees charged by Binance are one of the reasons why most traders prefer it to other exchanges. They charge a flat rate of 0.1%. If you use their futures trading platform, you will even enjoy a lower transaction rate, starting from 0.02% for makers and 0.04% for takers. 

Incredibly, other big exchanges charge traders above 0.2%, which is a sizeable difference if you intend to place large orders. Additionally, if you work with BNB, Binance’s native coin, an additional discount starting at 50% awaits you.

Binance doesn’t charge for a deposit, except for blockchain fees that are paid by the sender. For withdrawals, their fees are competitive. The company regularly updates its withdrawal fees in a bid to offer a fair price. 

Binance Limits

The limit structure of Binance is very simple. They have only withdrawal limits. If you have a Level 1 verified account, you can withdraw your earnings up to 2 BTC every 24 hours. However, the withdrawal limit for Level 2 verified account holders is 100 BTC every 24 hours. 

To upgrade your account from Level 1 to Level 2, you will complete a basic KYC form on the Binance platform and also provide proof of ID and address. 

Conclusion

To be honest, there is a lot to like about Binance. A responsive exchange, low fees, as well as, knowledgeable developers that have created an extremely reliable platform leaving most buyers and sellers happy. So far, in its short life, buyers and sellers of bitcoin consider Binance a comprehensive success. 

From my experience with Binance and with all of the above facts, I can confidently say Binance is good when it comes to security, liquidity, customer support, deposit/withdrawal, trade volume, as well as, community initiatives. 

The company has received favorable reviews from the cryptocurrency community. They accept all categories of traders from across the world. Binance Exchange partnered with a payment giant, Simplex, to offer wire transfer and credit/debit card cryptocurrency purchases at a premium. 

Please note, Cryptocurrency enthusiasts in the US must trade on the Binance.US platform. This platform complies with US trade regulations.

About Binance

Binance was established in July 2017 by developer Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ). It is headquartered in Hong Kong. Binance was created by Zhao’s tech company, Beijie Technology, after a successful initial coin offering (ICO) that raised about $15 million from investors.

Investors who participated in the ICO got Binance Coin (BNB). BNB is the native coin of the Binance network. It can be used to trade other coins and pay for fees on Binance. During the ICO, the initial value of BNB was $0.1. But as Binance continued to gain popularity, the coin appreciated in price.

Today, Binance is a ‘go-to’ exchange for most traders due to its 24-hour trading volumes on Coinmarketcap. Binance has a strong social media presence. They have an account on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and VK.com