Binance review: score, licensing and risks
Binance is the largest exchange in the world by volume and the cheapest to trade on, with liquidity nothing else matches. It is also the one with the most serious regulatory history: a 4.3 billion dollar US settlement in 2023, a founder who served time, and as of August 2026 no MiCA authorisation after withdrawing its Greek application days before the deadline. The product is excellent. The counterparty question is real. Treat it as a trading venue rather than a vault.
The facts
- FOUNDED
- 2017
- HEADQUARTERS
- No stated global headquarters
- CUSTODY
- Custodial. Maintains the SAFU emergency insurance fund.
- MiCA / EEA
- NOT authorised at the time of writing. Binance withdrew its MiCA application in Greece on 24 June 2026, days before the 1 July CASP deadline, and is pursuing authorisation in another member state. EEA users are in limbo. Check your own status before depositing.
- US ACCESS
- No. US residents must use Binance.US, a separate company with far fewer assets and its own history of trouble.
- PROOF OF RESERVES
- Yes. Merkle tree proof of reserves published regularly across a wide asset list.
- FEES
- Around 0.10 percent maker and taker at entry tier, dropping further with BNB fee discounts. Among the cheapest anywhere.
- ASSETS
- 350 plus spot, plus the deepest derivatives book in crypto
How the score breaks down
Each dimension is explained on the methodology page.
Where it is strong and where it is not
- Deepest liquidity in the industry by a wide margin
- Cheapest headline fees of any major venue
- Enormous asset and derivatives coverage
- The SAFU fund has actually paid out
- No MiCA authorisation as of August 2026, so EEA access is uncertain
- A 4.3 billion dollar US settlement is not a small compliance footnote
- No stated headquarters, which makes it unclear which regulator you would ever appeal to
- Support is largely automated
Incident history
Lost around 7,000 BTC in a hot wallet breach. Covered in full from the SAFU fund and no customer lost money.
Settled with US authorities for 4.3 billion dollars over anti money laundering and sanctions failures. Founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down and later served a prison sentence.
Named alongside several other venues in an ICIJ investigation into the movement of criminally derived crypto.