Why Binance?

Binance is an exchange that hosts crypto-to-crypto trades. This means that they do not accept real-world money, such as U.S Dollars (USD) or Euros (EUR). The exchange was first created in 2017 and was originally located in China. However, as cryptocurrency laws are very strict in China, the exchange has since moved to Japan, a country that loves digital currency!

The man who created Binance is called Changpeng Zao, however, he is well known as CZ. Interestingly, CZ used to build some of the trading systems that are used in the Tokyo stock exchange. I guess he used this experience to help make Binance what it is today!

Before Binance opened their exchange, they raised money through an initial coin offering (ICO). This is very similar to crowdfunding, where people can invest to help a company get started.

However, an ICO is still different, as people invest cryptocurrency instead of real-world money. The Binance ICO raised the equivalent of $15 million, and in return, they gave investors their own cryptocurrency token, which is named the Binance Coin (BNB). Even though it’s called Binance “Coin”, it is actually a token, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Binance has had a very successful start since it was created in 2017. They are now averaging more than $1 billion in daily trades, making them the largest exchange for alt-coin trading. In fact, Binance grew so quickly, that in January 2018 they had to suspend new registrations. This was because too many people were trying to open a Binance account.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Binance

Before registering a new account at an exchange for the first time, it is important to consider their advantages and disadvantages. This will ensure that you’re choosing the right exchange for you.

Advantages of Binance

First up, let's discuss the actual advantages of this crypto trading platform.

-Huge List of Alt-Coins
One of the main reasons why the Binance exchange is so popular is because they list so many different cryptocurrencies.

There are more than 100 different cryptocurrencies available at Binance. They range from well-known coins such as Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), to smaller coins like CyberMiles (CMT) and ZCoin (XZC).

-Low Fees
Another excellent feature of the exchange is that when trading crypto-to-crypto, Binance fees are one of the lowest in the industry. Customers are charged 0.1% on every trade, meaning if you traded 1 ETH, you would only be charged 0.001 ETH!

Deposits are always free, but withdrawals do cost money. However, most exchanges operate in the same way. Withdrawal fees are different for each cryptocurrency, and change depending on their value.

For example, at the time of writing, for every Litecoin (LTC) that you want to withdraw, it would cost you 0.01 LTC in fees. However, if the value of Litecoin increased, so would the withdrawal fee. This is because the fee is fixed to the price of Litecoin, and not top the price of USD (or your local currency).

There are no limits to the value of deposits you make, but if you want to withdraw more than 2 BTC worth of cryptocurrency, then you would need to verify your account further. This can be done by submitting identification, such as your passport.

-Prizes
Regular traders on Binance exchange have the chance to win prizes. These prizes change all the time, and have so far included free cryptocurrencies, such as Waves (WAVES) and Ontology (ONT). They have even a gave away a Maserati car! How cool is that!

-ICO Launchpad
Binance is well known for listing new cryptocurrencies as soon as their ICO has finished. This shows that many crypto companies view Binance as their favorite exchange. Binance doesn’t just list any old cryptocurrency though, it has to really prove itself as a solid cryptocurrency for Binance to list it.

-Security
Binance takes security very seriously, and customers are asked to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) when they register an account. 2FA is an extra level of security that sends a special code to your mobile phone every time you want to log in, trade, or withdraw funds.

-High Volume Trading
As Binance has become one of the most popular exchanges to buy, trade and sell cryptocurrencies, there are lots of trades happening all the time. This is an important factor as it means you have a better chance of selling your cryptocurrency immediately, if and when you need to.

For example, if you wanted to buy a cryptocurrency, but it has a low trading volume, then it’s harder to buy because there aren’t that many sellers. However, if lots of people looking to sell that coin, it will be easy to buy.

Disadvantages of Binance

Now that we've discussed some of their advantages in this Binance review, let’s take a look at some of the exchange’s less-than-ideal points.

-Customer Support
There are mixed reviews on the customer support offered by Binance exchange. Although you can contact Binance by email or live chat, some users have reported long delays. This might be because the exchange has a large number of customers, however, and thus, we hope that Binance will improve their response times. There is also no phone support, which is something offered by other popular exchanges like Coinbase.