Binance review

4.2Last reviewed 2026-08-12

Binance is the biggest place to buy bitcoin, with more trading volume and deeper liquidity than any other exchange, so large orders fill with minimal slippage. The base spot fee of 0.1% is among the lowest of any major platform, identity verification is mandatory for everyone, and the exchange publishes quarterly proof-of-reserves attestations so you can check that customer bitcoin is fully backed. On the three things this site ranks on it wins fees outright, since no major platform charges less to buy, and it matches or beats most on local payment support. The security record is where it gives ground, and that is why it does not lead every market where it is available.

The caveats are real. Binance pleaded guilty to US federal charges in November 2023 and paid a $4.3 billion settlement over anti-money laundering and sanctions failures. Founder Changpeng Zhao resigned as CEO, served a four month sentence in 2024, and received a presidential pardon in October 2025, but the settlement still bars him from an executive role and he has said he will not return. Richard Teng now runs the company, which operates under an independent compliance monitor.

Availability also shifts by market. Naira services in Nigeria ended in 2024, and the legal dispute with Nigerian authorities is still unresolved, so Nigerians cannot buy bitcoin with naira on Binance. Elsewhere the platform supports bank transfers including SEPA, card purchases, and a large P2P market. If you only want bitcoin, ignore the futures, token launches, and promotional clutter: the spot market is the part worth using.

Visit BinanceOpens www.binance.comReferral link: signing up is credited to us and may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Founded: 2017
Fees: Spot trading starts at 0.1% maker and taker, with a 25% discount for paying fees in BNB. Card purchases and instant buys cost more because a spread and processing fee are added.
KYC: Required
Payment methods: Credit or debit card, P2P trade, Local bank transfer, Wire transfer
Status: Operating

How you can pay on Binance

Every deposit rail Binance supports in at least one market. Which of them you can use depends on your country; the country guides below list the exact methods per market.

Domestic bank rail: Bancontact BLIK CliQ Elixir EPS Express Elixir FAST instant transfer Fawri / Fawri+FPS (Faster Payment System)Furikomi bank transfer Havale/EFT IMPS Instant EFT Instant peso transfer (CBU/CVU)InstaPay Klarna Local bank transfer Multicaixa Express NEFT Pago Móvil PayID / Osko PesaLink PESONet Pix PromptPay PSE QR payment SINPE Móvil Sofort SPEI TED UPI
SEPA (euro area): SEPA Instant SEPA transfer
International wire: Wire transfer
Card: Credit or debit card Elcart
Pay wallet: Apple Pay Google Pay
Local e-wallet: Daviplata Nequi
Peer-to-peer: P2P trade

As published by Binance: Bank transfer (SEPA and other local rails), Debit and credit cards, P2P marketplace with local payment options, Apple Pay and Google Pay (via payment providers).

Where Binance offers each rail, country by country

Pros and cons

What works

Deepest bitcoin liquidity of any exchange, so large orders fill with minimal slippage
Base spot fee of 0.1% is among the lowest of any major platform
Wide range of deposit methods across most countries, including SEPA and a large P2P market
Quarterly proof-of-reserves attestations let you verify customer assets are backed

What to watch

Pleaded guilty to US anti-money laundering and sanctions failures in November 2023 and paid a $4.3 billion settlement
Operates under an independent compliance monitor, and availability shifts as it exits or re-enters markets
Naira services in Nigeria ended in 2024 and the dispute with Nigerian authorities is unresolved
The huge product surface (futures, token launches, promos) is easy to get lost in if you only want bitcoin

Fees in detail

maker: 0.1% at the base tier, falling with 30-day volume and BNB holdings
taker: 0.1% at the base tier, falling with 30-day volume and BNB holdings
spread note: Instant buy and card purchases include a spread on top of the disclosed fee; the spot order book is the cheap way in.
deposit note: SEPA and many local bank transfer methods are free or low cost; card deposits carry a processing fee.
withdrawal note: Bitcoin withdrawals charge a network-based fee that varies with congestion.

Every Binance cost, by rail and by country

What it costs to use Binance

Binance costs by action, with conditions where they apply.
What you do	What it costs
Buy bitcoin on the spot market	0.100% maker and 0.100% taker at the entry VIP 0 tierConfirmed against Binance's published spot fee schedule. Nine VIP tiers below it cut the rate as 30 day volume and BNB holdings rise.
Pay your trading fees in BNB	25% off, so 0.075% maker and 0.075% takerA standing line on the published fee schedule rather than a promotion. You have to hold BNB and switch the setting on. It is the cheapest way a normal buyer gets below 0.1%.

Binance's security and regulatory record

Everything on the record we could date and source, newest first, including the parts that count against it.

2026-06-25Licence
Failed to obtain a MiCA licence and stopped serving EU clients
Binance withdrew its licence application from Greece's regulator ahead of the 30 June 2026 deadline for authorisation under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, and told EU users it would stop providing crypto asset services across EU markets from 1 July 2026. It said customer assets remain safe and secure and accessible at all times, and that it intends to seek licensing through another member state. If you are in the EU, confirm Binance can legally serve you before opening an account.
Euronews, 25 June 2026
2025-12-08Licence
Abu Dhabi regulator licensed the main Binance.com platform
ADGM's Financial Services Regulatory Authority approved three Binance entities covering the global platform: Nest Services Limited as a recognised investment exchange permitted to operate a multilateral trading facility for spot and derivatives trading, Nest Clearing and Custody Limited as a recognised clearing house for clearing, settlement, custody and CSD services, and BCI Limited as a broker dealer covering OTC and conversion business. Regulated activities were set to begin on 5 January 2026.
ADGM announcement, 8 December 2025
2025-10-10Outage
Pricing failure forced liquidations, 283 million dollars repaid
During the market crash of 10 October 2025, three assets widely used as collateral came adrift from their benchmarks on Binance: Ethena's USDe, the BNSOL staked Solana token and Binance's own wrapped staked ether, wBETH. Positions backed by them were liquidated between roughly 8:50pm and 10:00pm UTC. Binance attributed the falls to a display error and to overall market conditions, said its core trading systems stayed operational throughout, and reimbursed about 283 million dollars to affected margin, futures and loan users by 13 October 2025.
Yahoo Finance, 13 October 2025
2025-05-29Resolved
SEC dropped its 2023 lawsuit against Binance and its founder
The SEC sued Binance, Binance.US and Changpeng Zhao in 2023, alleging they illegally served high value US customers, commingled and diverted customer funds and offered unregistered securities. The case was dismissed on 29 May 2025 after nearly two years, part of a broader reversal of crypto enforcement under SEC chair Paul Atkins. It ended the last major US securities action against the exchange.
Banking Dive, 30 May 2025
2024-10-23Enforcement
Nigeria held a Binance compliance executive for eight months
Tigran Gambaryan, Binance's head of financial crime compliance, was detained in Nigeria from February 2024 on money laundering and tax evasion charges and held at Kuje prison outside Abuja, where he contracted malaria and suffered a herniated disc. A Nigerian court dropped the charges on 23 October 2024 on humanitarian grounds so he could seek medical treatment abroad. Nadeem Anjarwalla, the Binance regional manager detained with him, escaped and fled the country after about a month. Nigerian officials said they would continue to pursue a tax evasion case against Binance itself.
The Record, 23 October 2024
2024-04-30Enforcement
Founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to four months in prison
US District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle sentenced Zhao to four months for failing to take required anti money laundering measures at Binance. Prosecutors had sought three years, more than double the guideline range. Zhao was also fined 50 million dollars.
Al Jazeera, 30 April 2024
2023-11-21Enforcement
Guilty plea and a 4.3 billion dollar US resolution over AML and sanctions
Binance pleaded guilty to conspiring to breach the Bank Secrecy Act, running an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating US sanctions law, and agreed to pay more than 4.3 billion dollars. The CFTC order alone required 1.35 billion dollars in disgorgement and a 1.35 billion dollar civil penalty from Binance, plus 150 million dollars from founder Changpeng Zhao, finding the exchange operated an unregistered derivatives venue for US customers, failed to apply know your customer controls and intentionally undermined the safeguards meant to keep those customers out. The Justice Department, FinCEN and OFAC brought parallel actions over money laundering, sanctions and Bank Secrecy Act breaches, making up the balance of the total. Zhao resigned as CEO. This was a criminal guilty plea, not a civil settlement.
CFTC press release 8825-23
2022-12-16Proof of reserves
Auditor Mazars quit proof of reserves work and pulled the report
Mazars had certified that on 22 November 2022 Binance held enough bitcoin and wrapped bitcoin to cover all user balances on the exchange. Weeks later it suspended proof of reserves work for crypto clients and deleted the website hosting the reports. The attestation covered bitcoin only and did not establish whether customer assets were segregated from Binance's own balance sheet. Binance now self publishes reserve reports using Merkle tree and zk-SNARK verification, with no independent auditor named on them.
TechCrunch, 16 December 2022
2021-06-25Enforcement
UK regulator barred Binance Markets Limited from regulated activity
The FCA imposed requirements on Binance Markets Limited on 25 June 2021 and warned consumers the next day that the firm was not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK, and that no other entity in the Binance Group held any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence. The FCA says the firm complied with all aspects of the requirements. Binance Markets Limited's permissions were cancelled on 30 May 2023 and it is no longer authorised by the FCA.
FCA consumer warning
2019-05-07Breach
Hackers took 7,000 BTC from a hot wallet, repaid in full
Attackers combined phishing and malware to harvest user API keys and 2FA codes, then drained about 7,000 BTC, worth roughly 40.8 million dollars, from a hot wallet holding around 2 percent of the exchange's total holdings. Binance covered the entire loss from its Secure Asset Fund for Users, so no customer lost money. Deposits and withdrawals were suspended while the wallets were rebuilt.
Finance Magnates, 8 May 2019

The Binance record by kind, and compared with its alternatives

Where we recommend Binance

Countries where Binance ranks in our local guide, each with its rank, the payment methods it takes there and the legal position. Availability beyond these is possible but unverified by us.

Not available to residents of 5 countries by its own list: Canada, Cuba, Iran, Netherlands, United States.

All 182 countries with rank, rails and legal status

Frequently asked questions

Is Binance safe to use after the US settlement?

Binance pleaded guilty to US charges in November 2023, paid $4.3 billion, and now operates under an independent compliance monitor with mandatory KYC. It publishes quarterly proof-of-reserves attestations. That makes it more accountable than before, but keeping long-term savings in self-custody is still the safer habit.

Does Binance require identity verification?

Yes. KYC is mandatory for all users, and there is no unverified tier. You will need a government ID and usually a liveness check before you can deposit or trade.

Can I use Binance in Nigeria?

Not with naira. Binance ended naira deposits and withdrawals in 2024 during a dispute with Nigerian authorities that is still unresolved. Nigerians looking for a regulated local option can consider Luno, which joined the Nigerian SEC's incubation program in July 2026.

What does it cost to buy bitcoin on Binance?

Spot trades start at 0.1% for both maker and taker, with a 25% discount if you pay fees in BNB. Card purchases and instant buys cost more because a spread and processing fee are added.