Binance vs. Coinbase – An Overview

In the last decade or so, cryptocurrency has taken both the financial and computing worlds by storm. While many new and innovative use cases of Blockchain technology have recently started coming to the fore, many more internet users are starting to partake in cryptocurrency trading, buying, and selling.

To supplement this growing demand, cryptocurrency exchanges have also had to fast evolve to meet the needs of both experienced and amateur crypto traders. Two of the most widely used and well-known cryptocurrency exchanges today are Binance and Coinbase. Both platforms are similar in functionality and purpose but differ in many important ways.

This article will serve as a review of both Binance and Coinbase by comparing the two platforms with regards to four distinct categories. These are security, fees and costs, crypto offering, and platform quality. By comparing Binance and Coinbase with one another according to these four categories, you can come to a much better understanding of which one of these platforms is right for you.

1. Security

Security is obviously a very important aspect of any cryptocurrency exchange service. Here’s how Binance and Coinbase compare in terms of security.

Binance

Like other cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance makes use of two-factor authentication, giving it an all-important layer of security. However, when it comes to registering an account with Binance, the platform has relatively lax requirements for signing up. There are no stringent documentation or verification steps that a new user needs to go through before they can start trading on the Binance exchange.

While these lax registration requirements do not pose a threat to an individual user’s security, it does have the downside of making it easier for hackers to use Binance for unsavory means. This potentially creates a risk for the platform as a whole because users could misuse the exchange for things like money laundering or even hacking into the exchange to steal the cryptocurrency that is on there.

So even though Binance is the largest crypto trading platform in the world by volume, there is a lack of transparency on the site due to the lax registration requirements. Despite this, given that so many people trust Binance with their cryptocurrency, the site is still relatively safe to use.

Coinbase

Coinbase also uses two-factor authentication to sign in to the platform, providing that first important layer of security. Moreover, according to the site, 98% of their cryptocurrency is in cold storage, making it almost impossible to hack into and steal by unsavory characters. Along with the encryption used to store data, Coinbase is made more secure than Binance via its stringent registration requirements, which reduces the overall risks of using the platform to trade crypto.

Coinbase is also very transparent about its security features and regularly updates the site’s blog with information about the security features and how they help the user. All in all, these features make Coinbase a much more secure crypto trading platform than Binance.

2. Fees and Costs

Another important feature that needs looking into when comparing crypto exchange platforms is the fees and costs involved. Here’s how the fees and costs of Binance and Coinbase compare with one another.

Binance

Importantly, Binance does not charge any fees for making deposits onto the platform and the easiest way to make a deposit is by transferring your cryptocurrency from somewhere else onto Binance’s website or app. Moreover, there are withdrawal fees in place for those who withdraw cryptocurrency from the exchange but these fees are very reasonable.

When it comes to trading fees, Binance has some of the lowest out there. If you are just using the platform for its basic trading functionality, the highest fee you will be charged is 0.1%. Moreover, depending on if you have high volumes or qualify for some of Binance’s special programs and perks, these fees only get lower from there.

Binance can afford to have such low withdrawal and trading fees as it is the biggest crypto trading platform by volume in the world. For credit card transactions, however, Binance does have slightly higher fees but this is usually not recommended due to the low returns on your withdrawal.

Coinbase

Compared to the Binance exchange, Coinbase is pretty costly. In fact, despite its popularity in the crypto world, Coinbase happens to be one of the more expensive crypto exchange platforms to use out there. For example, if you want to buy just $10 worth of bitcoin on Coinbase’s basic trading platform, Coinbase will charge a flat fee of 99 cents, or 10%.

Depending on the payment method used and the amount of cryptocurrency you choose to buy, the withdrawal fees can vary from anywhere between 1.5 to 4%, which is still much higher than Binance’s 0.1%. Therefore, overall, Coinbase is a much more costly option than Binance.

3. Crypto Offering

An important aspect of any crypto exchange is the number of different cryptocurrencies that they offer for buying and selling. Here’s how Binance and Coinbase compare in terms of the crypto offering.

Binance

Binance offers over 200 different cryptocurrencies on its platform for both buying and selling, which essentially amounts to all the cryptocurrencies you could ever want. Many experienced crypto traders will tell you that if a particular currency is not offered on the Binance exchange it isn’t worth investing in any way. Overall, Binance appears to have the best crypto offering of any cryptocurrency exchange service out there.

Coinbase

Coinbase controls the cryptocurrencies offered on their platform a little more closely than Binance does. Currently, Coinbase offers around 50 different cryptocurrencies to buy and sell which includes all of the main ones as well as a few alternate coins as well. That being said, Coinbase does not have as wide a selection of cryptocurrencies to choose from as Binance.

4. Platform Quality

Platform quality is a very important aspect of any cryptocurrency exchange and often the quality of the platform and how easy it is to understand and use is what can make or break a crypto exchange. Here’s how the platform qualities of Binance and Coinbase compare with one another.

Binance

While Binance’s exchange platform is highly comprehensive and offers a lot of important data for cryptocurrency traders, it is not the easiest to use. Binance’s platform has a ton of features that if you do manage to understand will help set you apart from the average crypto trader.

These features include real-time exchange data, candle-stick charts, and much more. Moreover, given that Binance is the largest crypto exchange platform by volume, the site offers a lot of useful data about real-time transactions and how they are affecting exchange rates.

Finally, Binance has a lot of advanced trading features including limit buy and sell orders, trading futures, trading derivatives, and even margin trading. All in all, while Binance is a high-quality platform with many advanced trading features, it does take the average trader a bit of getting used to and hence is not recommended for beginners.

Coinbase

Coinbase on the other hand has a very simply designed platform and is a lot easier to use than Binance. The layout of the site is very straightforward and it does contain a lot of advanced trading features which could potentially confuse a beginner crypto trader.

While Coinbase is without a doubt much more user-friendly and straightforward to use than Binance, Coinbase Pro does have advanced trading functionality which is similar to the features found on Binance. However, just like the trading functionality of Binance, Coinbase Pro is better suited for experienced traders.

Conclusion

Both Binance and Coinbase have proven to be extremely popular crypto exchange platforms as each one offers a wide variety of features for crypto traders. While Coinbase is much more secure than Binance, Binance has much lower transaction and withdrawal fees than Coinbase. Moreover, although Binance offers many more coins than Coinbase does, Coinbase is much easier to use than Binance.

Whether you choose Binance or Coinbase for your cryptocurrency trading is entirely up to you. Now that you know how the two platforms compare with regards to these four key categories, however, you can choose the platform that is best suited to your crypto trading needs.

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