How Safe is Binance Exchange

February 16, 2019 by Ramaa Mohan

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Like the cryptocurrency market is flooded with new products and platforms everyday, it also has a large selection of exchanges that users can pick and choose from. The process, however, of choosing the right exchange is one that is arduous and hard. Choosing the right exchange to trust with your digital assets and their

Choosing the right exchange to trust with your digital assets and their storage is a critical choice that every cryptocurrency holder must make. The stakes of this decision are quite high, because it, in the cryptocurrency market, is literally life or death.

In the choice of cryptocurrency exchanges and the wallet services that they provide, Binance is a fairly new one. The exchange was founded in 2017 and shot to fame in less than a year’s time with its introductory offer. The exchange slashed transaction fees for all its members and it came at a time when the transaction fees across platforms were skyrocketing.

Binance is the cryptocurrency market’s newest exchange and in under a year has come upto the second largest exchange in terms of daily trading volume. The exchange, though initially known only for its low transaction fee prices, has proved in the last year that it is worth its weight.

Binance; the Full Package

Binance was started in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao or known more popularly as CZ. The exchange’s initial headquarters was in Shanghai, China. However, following the blanket ban that was released by the Chinese government, the exchange moved to the more crypto-friendly island of Hong Kong.

But after sometime, the exchange then relocated its headquarters to Tokyo. Which, as well, did not last long. There was a little bit of friction between the exchange and the Japanese government’s cryptocurrency regulations, so the exchange decided and announced that they are, once again, moving their headquarters to the crypto-island nation Malta.

Market Capitalisation

Being an exchange that is just over a year old, Binance has fared quite well in the cryptocurrency market. It has managed to attract enough traffic and volume and has a good market capitalisation of around $786,591,526 USD. The exchange owes all of its initial popularity to its introductory offer in which it had slashed transaction fees for all users and members on the exchange. And since has appeared in the first two places in all exchange evaluations.

Transaction Fees and Other Fees

The initial success that the exchange saw was because it completely slashed transaction fees. The exchange came at a time when transaction fees were skyrocketing and transacting in any cryptocurrency was proving to be far too expensive. To tackle that, as an introductory offer, Binance slashed transaction fees for all members. But a couple of months in the exchange discontinued the service and now levies a 0.1% transaction fee from every trader, customer and member.

The platform does not levy any charges for storing coins on the platform using their in-house wallet application.

Centralised or decentralised?

Binance is a centralised exchange, like many of its competitors. Meaning there is a structure of hierarchy in the company and exchange and all coins and member data is stored, managed and controlled by the company itself. So if the company is hacked or/and the platform is breached, all members on the platform run the risk of losing their assets.

Supported Coins and Trades

Binance only deals, allows and facilitates crypto-crypto pairs and does not accept or deal with any fiat currencies. In spite of which the exchange is home to many a crypto trader and remains one of the most liquid exchanges in the market. The exchanges deals with 300+ coins and tokens, including Bitcoin and the top ten. The exchange also supports ERC20 Standard tokens that are built for projects on the Ethereum Network.

Privacy

The cryptocurrency market and the industry is a very anonymity centric place. It is the crux of the cryptocurrency market and its underlying technology; the Blockchain. However, being a centralised exchange, Binance has very low privacy. This is because to unlock the highest account level without withdrawal limits, it is essential for the user to have submitted identity documentation for verification.But for people who have no use for high withdrawal limits, a simple email ID will do to get started.

Daily Limits

Every exchange imposes a daily limit on how much can be withdrawn, bought and sold. Binance too has a bunch of limits based on the account type and level of each member. If the account is unverified, meaning no documents of identification have been submitted, the member has to adhere to a limit of 2 BTC per day. But if the user has completed the verification process, the limit is as high as 100 BTC a day.

Adherence to Taxation Laws

Binance is a global exchange platform. Meaning, it is a service for the entire planet barring the countries that have out-rightly banned the cryptocurrency market. So taxation laws apply based on where the user/member is accessing the platform for their transactions.

The exchange has had a tough time with regulations in countries. It has relocated its headquarter three times. But as they say, the third time seems to be the charm for them too. Their third location is Malta where the exchange has been welcomed with open arms. Even the Prime Minister of the country has come out and welcomed the exchange to head their operations out of Malta.

Payment Options

The exchange, at the moment, does not accept credit or debit cards. That functionality has not been added yet, but the exchange has promised time and time again that they will. A popular way that people buy coins is to buy them on other exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms and then depositing them into the Binance platform. After the deposition of funds onto the platform, making crypto-crypto pairs users multiply their digital assets and holdings.

Wallet Service?

Binance, being a centralised exchange, offers wallet services to its users and members. It is vastly subscribed to as a service. And being the second largest exchange by volume, the wallets on Binance hold a large chunk of cryptocurrency assets.

Also, Read Sequoia Capital is Suing Crypto Exchange Binance

Security and Security History

The security features and an exchange’s security history is something that every cryptocurrency trader has to keep in mind before dipping their toes into the exchange. It is essential to see and make sure that the security that an exchange is providing is enough and is a good fit for your portfolio. Binance on all accounts, delivers here too.

Binance has a 2 step authentication process for all members and users. The first is a PIN or password set by the user and the second is the private keys which will be requested before processing of any transaction.

Binance’s security history is spotless. The exchange has never been hacked and neither has the platform been breached. The one time that the exchange was suspected of being “hacked”, a third party API was misusing its access privileges for a pump and dump drive.

Over all, Binance is one of the most secure exchanges in the market at this point. Their wallet services are secure and safe, their transaction fees are quite low as well. Binance is a safe option for cryptocurrency traders and users and is probably one of the safest bets out there.