Exchange

Binance

As we will see, Binance, to date, has firmly established itself as the most popular exchange in the world. This is due to the largest amount of liquidity present among all exchanges and to the very wide variety of cryptocurrencies that can be exchanged, and which continues to see new additions, together with a delisting of the less promising ones. User support plays a central role in company policies. Security, to date, has stood the test of time (unlike many competitors). This success is undoubtedly witnessed by the value acquired by the connected native token “Binance Coin” (BNB) which is now sailing to rank number 8 of the general coin market cap, and which has definitely made the fortune of its initial investors.

History of Binance

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao already started from a background of important experiences in the world of digital exchanges: from the creation of high-frequency trading systems, and through stakes in the Blockchain.info team, to having held the position of Chief Technology Officer at OKCoin (other crypto trading platform).

Biancance was originally founded in China, but later moved its servers out of China (Japan and Taiwan) as a result of the government ban on cryptocurrency trading. As of January 2018, in full Bitcoin bull run, Binance is already, in a very short time, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and boasts a market capitalization of around 1.3 billion dollars.

During 2018, Binance announces collaborations and memoranda of understanding with the government of Malta, with the intention of expanding its influence also in Europe.

At the beginning of 2019 it announces a new collaboration with Simplex, an Israeli payment processor that allows cryptocurrency purchases through the use of debit and credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard.

On May 7, 2019, Binance revealed that it had a major security breach that involved the theft of approximately 7,000 Bitcoins. Despite this, Changpeng Zhao declares that any breached account will be refunded in full, through the use of a security fund that Binance sets aside specifically for this type of event.

As you can see from the attached screenshot, at the time of writing this review Binance is still the number one exchange in the world, just ahead of Coinbase, and this is now a constant that has persisted for years.

Binance description

Like any standard exchange, it offers cryptocurrency trading, listing, fundraising and withdrawal services. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts willing to launch their own tokens can use the Binance Launchpad to raise funds for their ICO. Not only that, Binance also has a blockchain technology incubator called Binance Labs, which focuses on promoting promising pre-ICO projects. With it he helps the teams of the various projects also providing the necessary development funding, consulting resources, and a launchpad for all the ICO listing and fundraising exercises that will be needed.

To start trading, users must complete the necessary KYC requirements and after creating their own account they will be able to add the funds needed for the aforementioned operations within dedicated wallets provided directly by Binance.

Binance currently supports three types of trade orders: limit orders, market orders, and stop-limit orders. Limit orders are executed only at the limit price set by the trader, market orders are executed immediately at the best available price, while stop-limit orders become valid orders only when the price reaches a specified level.

Transaction and deposit / withdrawal costs

A platform above all known for trading from cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency (crypto-to-crypto), the Binance exchange has gained enormous popularity thanks to its low transaction fees, high liquidity and additional discounts if users pay the aforementioned costs with the token native BNB (Binance Coin).

Binance initially funded itself by launching its Binance Coin (BNB) through an ICO in July 2017. The success of this utility token has been exorbitant, from an ICO price of 10 cents, today worth almost $ 16, but spiked even 40 (a nice 400x). The BNB token still remains of maximum use to take advantage of low-cost transactions, moreover, it is destined to remain the main currency of future decentralized exchanges that Binance plans to implement on the traditional platform.

There is no commission for cryptocurrency deposits, which happens instead for the relative withdrawal and which necessarily varies from crypto to crypto (also because as we know each cryptocurrency has different fees for interacting with the mother blockchain).

For the sake of completeness, below is an overview of the fees applied by Binance on individual transactions:

Safety

Binance claims to use high security standards with multi-layered, multi-cluster architecture that also delivers high transaction processing throughput of approximately 1.4 million orders per second. While it is true that Binance, as we mentioned above, has suffered a Bitcoin theft in the past, the reliability towards the most famous exchange in the world has not diminished as users have not suffered financially as they have been fully compensated for the stolen goods. A famous hashtag also started from the episode that has become both the workhorse of corporate marketing #BinanceIsSAFU, and nicely the name of the fund used to restore the accounts of customers who had suffered the aforementioned hack (Secure Asset Fund for Users).

Cryptocurrencies supported by Binance

Binance supports the trading of over 150 coins, including popular ones such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and the native BNB token, but beware, despite the delisting of crypto projects in situations of decay, the list continues to grow inexorably. This large number of supported cryptocurrencies is so large that if you want to have a complete overview of them, for reasons of space, you need to visit their dedicated web page

Methods of buying cryptocurrencies

In addition to offering the famous crypto-to-crypto trading system, and therefore the relative possibility of directly depositing over 150 different types of cryptocurrencies, Binance also allows you to buy cryptocurrencies using your credit card. To do this, just move the mouse up on your profile icon. Once the drop-down menu is activated, click on “Buy with credit card”. On the next page, you will be able to select which coin you want to buy, which currency as well as the order amount. The total cost will be displayed based on the order amount and the current market price (all fees are included). If you prefer, you can first set the total charge and the order amount will be calculated automatically. When you’re ready, just click “Buy Now”. A window will then appear asking you to confirm the details of your order and “Go to payment”. At the end you will be asked to enter the details of your credit card (VISA, Mastercard) together with your personal data, and then click on “Pay now”.

Binance Customer Service

Binance’s customer service is one of the company’s strong points. At the moment there is no support telephone number that covers all languages, but there is certainly a very complete assistance section, in which it is possible to send specific requests. The response time is guaranteed in just 24 hours. More recruitment campaigns have been carried out among young people willing to approach the working world of digital currencies, these will initially lend their assistance in a completely voluntary manner, however, for the best there will materialize the possibility of future inclusion in the full-bodied Binance team. Volunteers are also referred to as “Binance Angels“.

Certainly, a live chat support option could not be missing.

In any case, the tutorials and automatic help that are made available by the website are so many and exhaustive that if the need for assistance ever arises, it would in all probability be possible to solve most of the requests also thanks only to a consultation of such material. In fact, a list of F.A.Q. truly complete, which goes from depositing coins to preventing phishing attacks, as well as a space dedicated to important announcements.

CoinBase

Coinbase.com is deserved success is due to a mix of simplified user interface, security and historical reputation. Coinbase makes it easy for anyone to buy and hold cryptocurrency, regardless of technical or financial knowledge. Perfect for getting started.

For those who have followed the Bitcoin boom since its inception, Coinbase is synonymous with regulation, security and reliability. With its 30 million active users, the platform born in 2012 in San Francisco is still one of the most important in the crypto landscape.

Even if over the years its success has been somewhat overshadowed by that of Binance, Coinbase remains among the most influential cryptocurrency platforms on the market: capable of giving a concrete boost to the value of the coins that it decides from time to time to include in its offer. The major products of the crypto scene are already tradable. However, there are still major products listed in the top 20 of CoinMarketCap such as NEO, BNB, TRX and XMR.

Positioning in the United States, where some of the most stringent digital currency laws exist, clearly makes integration more difficult.

What is Coinbase?

Speaking of exchanges referring to Coinbase is not entirely correct. The founders call it “a digital currency wallet and platform where sellers and consumers can transact with new digital currencies.”

The COINBASE.COM website (commonly called Coinbase Consumer) is the main platform of the project. Available in over 100 countries, it allows you to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies, since June 2012. The purchase is very simple and the user, after completing the registration (described by THIS tutorial), will not have to do anything else other than fund your account, select the crypto you prefer and buy it with a simple click. You can set a periodic purchase threshold, to buy gradually, reducing the risk of volatility.

Everything (also available in the form of a mobile App) is instantaneous and really intuitive: the main strength of the American giant, compared to the chaos of functions proposed by many rivals.In addition to buying, it is also possible to easily sell, transfer and manage your wallet, which remains well separated for each type of cryptocurrency.

Supported cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Ripple (XRP)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Litecoin (LTC)
EOS (EOS)
Tezos (XTZ)
Chainlink (Link)
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Dash (DASH)
Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Cosmos (ATOM)
Zcash (ZEC)
DAI (DAI)
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Ox (ZRX)
Augur (REP)
Orchid (OXT)

Commissions

The fees applied to strangations mostly depend on the host country. European customers are charged a 1.49% commission (For amounts over € 70 or $ 100) for purchases made via SEPA bank transfer. SEPA bank transfers are usually cleared within 1-3 business days. Purchases made with a credit or debit card carry a 3.99% fee. Sending cryptocurrency to another user (limit set to 0.001) is free.

Payments supported

Coinbase has strict limits on the transaction and deposit amounts we can handle. The limit depends on the age of your account, the purchase history, the more or less deep verification status and the payment method chosen. Note: there are several options to top up your account and invest but their availability depends on the country where we are located:

Bank account (repeated investments)
Debit card (small amounts)
Bank transfer (large sums)
PayPal

Supported fiat currencies

It is possible to deposit multiple forms of fiat currency on Coinbase and use it to purchase cryptocurrency. Alternatively, you can resell the cryptocurrency in the portfolio in exchange for any type of supported fiat currency.

The Fiat currencies supported by Coinbase include: USD ($), GBP (£), EUR (€), SGD, CAD…

Affiliate program

The affiliate program, initially not present, allows customers who wish to promote Coinbase on the web to round up with extra income. You can earn 50% on commissions, for every user brought on board for the first 3 months after registration. The consumer option “invite friends“, allows you to earn € 9.19 in bitcoins from each registration.

Is Coinbase Safe?

Services tend to become slow or even inaccessible whenever the price of Bitcoin skyrockets, with visits suddenly overloading the site. It has happened more than once in the past and obviously finding a site down in time of need is not a pleasant situation. That said, Coinbase technicians point out that the platform is backed by the highest security standards, because only 2% of all cryptocurrency is actually kept on the online exchange: the rest is all stored in secure offline storage servers.

Insurance

The entire business is insured by the famous Loyd’s of London. The “insurance” item in the customer FAQ states that each investor’s digital assets are still insured, up to $ 250,000.

Customer care

In case of problems, an assistance service is active 24 hours a day (7 days a week) but the support in Italian is not available. Coinbase assistance can be contacted by calling 0808 168 4635 (UK). Alternatively, you can write an e-mail message and open a ticket but it is good to keep in mind that it is a chat managed by a bot. The wait for an answer is approximately 48-72 hours.

The reputation of the Coinbase help center is generally positive. However, on the web there are opinions of users who did not appreciate receiving “predefined answers” and in depth, limited to the English language. This is perhaps the only drawback to keep in mind, the technical feature left a little behind, of a giant that has made its user-friendly its greatest asset.

In this article we talked about how to sign up for the platform to get started. It should be noted, however, that over the years Coinbase’s offer has been diversified with more products.

COINBASE PRO (formerly known as GDAX) is the professional trading platform. Dedicated to more experienced users, it provides a series of tools that allow traders to buy / sell cryptocurrencies and tokens by placing orders (MARKET, LIMIT and STOP). By operating with Coinbase Pro no spreads will be applied but only commissions based on the trading volume.

COINBASE WALLET is the Coinbase mobile wallet, available for iOS and Android, alternative to Ledger Nano or Trezon One. Store and protect cryptocurrencies on your smartphone. Unlike Coinbase.com which contains private keys for users, Coinbase Wallet provides a mnemonic phrase (SEED) that allows you to extract the keys of each cryptocurrency within the wallet.

COINBASE CARD is the Coinbase prepaid credit card. Through the app also called Coinbase Card, available on the App Store and Google Play Store, it is possible to request a Visa-branded card that allows you to spend the cryptocurrencies stored on Coinbase.com.

COINBASE EARN It is an educational program that allows you to earn tokens just by watching short videos: lessons that explain how the most successful virtual coins work. To enroll in the internal training system and earn free digital currencies, you need to put yourself on a waiting list.