One of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance provides a vast selection of digital assets at affordable pricing. For investors from the United States, it runs a separate site dubbed Binance.US. Popular U.S. online broker Robinhood offers a variety of different financial products, including stocks and ETFs, along with the sale of cryptocurrencies.
Including fees, security, accessible cryptocurrencies, and other features, compare the two in our thorough Binance vs Robinhood comparison.
Overview
Binance and Robinhood are two of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. Binance is known for its low fees and wide range of altcoins, while Robinhood is known for its user-friendly interface and no-fee trading. Both exchanges have their pros and cons, but overall, they are both great choices for those looking to trade cryptocurrencies.
What is Binance?
The Binance Exchange is a leading cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017 in Hong Kong. The head of Binance is Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ). He is the former manager of the Development Department at Blockchain.com, the co-founder and technical manager of the once famous exchange – OKCoin.
It features a strong focus on altcoin trading. Binance offers crypto-to-crypto trading in more than 600 cryptocurrencies and virtual tokens, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), and its own token Binance Coin (BNB).
In early July 2017, Binance raised capital through ICO fundraising. Thanks to the CEO’s huge profile, the Binance exchange project quickly gained attention from the community. Binance’s ICO round, which lasted from July 1 to July 21, 2017 raised $15 million and had over 20,000 signups in its early days.
What is Robinhood?
Robinhood is a cryptocurrency exchange that is more than a safe company above all else. Robinhood (ROBBIN) coin means the Robinhood Marketplace and its web and application experiences with its wholly owned subsidiaries including Robinhood Financial, Robinhood Securities and Robinhood Crypto.
All investments carry risks, including the possibility of capital loss. Robinhood Financial offers self-directed securities trading. Robinhood Financial is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Pros and Cons
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Binance Vs Robinhood: Which is Better?
Features
Binance
- Earning: Stablecoins can be deposited on Binance Earn in order to stake them or earn interest. Depending on the coin and the duration, the exchange offers investors options and interest rates for these coins.
- Binance Smart Pool: To maximize and boost their mining revenues, miners can switch between different cryptocurrencies with the help of the Binance Pool.
- Binance Labs: Promising firms in the pre-ICO stage are the focus of Binance Labs. It aids deserving cryptocurrency project teams by providing the necessary resources for advice, funding for development, and a launchpad for any essential listing and fundraising operations.
Robinhood
- Streamlined Interface: Robinhood is an incredibly beginner-friendly investing app. It makes trading stocks and ETFs simple and even opens the door for options trading. And for crypto, you can quickly spot trade popular coins with just a few taps.
- Commission-Free Crypto Trading: You don’t pay commissions for trading crypto on Robinhood. However, you still pay spread fees that vary depending on the crypto and market, and Robinhood charges a higher market rate to make money. This makes it tricky to figure out Robinhood’s true crypto costs, and costs are similar to Coinbase.
- IPO Access: Before now, only financial institutions could participate in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of companies. However, Robinhood has made it possible for users to access IPO more recently.
- Fractional Shares: Robinhood lets you purchase fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, so you can start investing with little money. And crypto trades just have a $1 minimum trade requirement.
Supported Currencies
Robinhood
Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, and Litecoin are the seven cryptocurrencies that Robinhood supports. The following cryptocurrencies are supported as well: ZCash, Bitcoin Gold, Dash, Lisk, Monero, NEO, OmiseGO, Qtum, Ripple, and Stellar.
Binance
The list of supported currencies on Binance is substantially longer. It provides non-US customers with access to more than 500 other currencies. For US-based users, the Binance exchange supported currencies list is much shorter, but still much wider than Robinhood.
In the US, Binance supports at least 52 altcoins. Apart from Bitcoin, the supported currency list of Binance includes BNB, BUSD, Ethereum, Tether US, 1 INCH, Aave, Cardano ADA, Algoard, and many more.
Staking, Credit Cards, Other Options
Staking
Robinhood
Staking on Robinhood exchange is one of the simplest ways to make your money work for you, as it doesn’t require any special skills or knowledge.
All you need to do is hold a minimum of $1,000 worth of eligible coins in your account for 30 days, and you’ll start earning rewards.
Binance
The staking pool is based on all of the funds that the users deposit into Binance, and the rewards are distributed according to the amount of each user’s stake.
Rates can vary depending on the denomination, but they commonly range from 0.5% to 10%.Binance provides DeFi staking and Locked Staking to customers outside of the United States. Vechain Staking Rewards, XTZ Staking, ATOM Staking, ALGO Staking, QTUM, EOS, and ONE are some other staking alternatives.
For keeping your coins for predetermined amounts of time—in this case, 15, 30, or 90 days—locked staking offers higher interest rates. The interest rates on a sample of 64 locked staking coins and 11 total DeFi staking coins range from 1.49% to 33.12%. The coins you decide to invest in and the specified term will affect your rate.
Credit Cards
Robinhood offers two types of credit cards: the Robinhood Gold Card and the Robinhood Cash Management account.
- The Robinhood Gold Card: is a Visa-branded credit card that offers cash back on purchases. The card has no annual fee and a $500 credit limit. Cash back rewards can be redeemed for statement credits or deposited into a Robinhood account.
- The Robinhood Cash Management account: is a checking and savings account that offers a debit card and ATM access. The account has no monthly fees and offers 1% interest on balances up to $5,000.
Binance does not offer credit cards. This is because of the fact that crypto exchanges are not allowed to work with the banks that issue credit cards. The reason for this is that banks think that crypto exchanges do not have enough money to cover their customers’ credit card payments in case of fraud. As Binance does not accept credit cards, there are no fees associated with using credit cards on Binance.
Other Options: Beginner Friendliness
Robinhood
The services offered by Robinhood are designed with beginners in mind. On its official website, it features a section devoted to explaining the fundamentals of investing.
It shows how to examine a company and get ready before entering the world of investing, starting with the basics of the financial markets. It then gradually moves on to discuss ETFs, options trading, and the fundamentals of portfolio diversification.
Robinhood maintains the sign-up process easy for new investors while also making earnest attempts to cultivate an informed and conscious investor community.
Binance
Binance is extremely beginner friendly, as the exchange does not require any KYC (Know Your Customer) for level 1 users. This means that anyone can deposit and trade cryptocurrencies on Binance without having to provide any personal information.
Binance also has an extremely easy to use trading interface. The interface is designed to be as simple as possible, and it works very well.
Security
Robinhood
Robinhood keeps its cryptocurrency assets in a combination of offline (cold) and online (hot) storage, with the majority remaining in the safer cold storage and some retained online for regular operations.
Robinhood offers crime insurance, which is underwritten by certain Lloyd’s underwriters and arranged through Aon, a Lloyd’s licensed broker. Protection from theft-related damages, including cybersecurity breaches, is provided by this insurance.
In addition to adhering to the principles of the Bank Secrecy Act and the money transmitter legislation of several US states, Robinhood Crypto is a money services firm that falls within the jurisdiction of FinCEN.
Binance
Binance adheres to the two-factor authentication, or 2FA, policy to protect its users’ accounts.
In accordance with its 2FA policy, users may choose between SMS and Google authenticator, with Google authenticator being preferred because it is safer and immune to SIM swapping risks.
Additionally, you may add an anti-phishing code to all of your emails from Binance, which will let you determine if they are real or not.
Futhermore, it supports U2F-compliant authenticators, preventing access to the account unless the key is physically connected into the computer or wirelessly associated with it.
Geographic Availability
Robinhood
Robinhood is currently available in the United States and only to U.S. customers who are 18 years of age or older.
You can open an account if you have a U.S. mailing address, a U.S. Social Security number, and are of legal age in your state of residence. It also offers services to military members stationed overseas with a valid U.S. mailing address. The app isn’t available to anyone else.
Binance
Binance is currently available in more than 180 countries. Presently, there are more than 180 cryptocurrencies supported by Binance.
They have a comprehensive list of all the cryptocurrencies they support and plan to support in the future. The organization is not restricted to any specific geographic location, as it has facilities in various regions around the world. However, its main offices are located in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Fees
Robinhood
Robinhood crypto allows commission-free trading. When using Robinhood for crypto transactions, it might be challenging to determine the precise trade costs that you may wind up paying. Robinhood charges a payment for the order flow.
For the order flow, Robinhood charges a fee. In essence, market makers execute every deal on Robinhood. Market makers pay a charge to Robinhood that is based on a percentage of the deal. The normal value of this %, however, is not publicly disclosed.
Binance
In contrast, Binance has a very clear and organized fee structure. There are 10 categories for trading charge rates, ranging from VIP level 0 to VIP level 10. VIP level 0 refers to users with a balance of between 0 and 50 BNBs and a monthly transaction volume of less than 50 BTC.
The VIP 9 level is reserved for those with a monthly transaction volume more than 15,000 BTC and/or a balance of at least 11,000 BNB. Between VIP 9 and VIP 0, the maker fees range from 0.0200% to 0.1000%, whereas these fees for takers range from 0.0400% to 0.1000%. BNB holders are entitled to a 25% trading fee discount and a 10% discount on the charge for trading USDS-M futures.
Ease of Use
Robinhood
Robinhood is fairly easy to use. The app is designed in a way that makes it simple to navigate and find the information that you need. Additionally, the company provides helpful customer support in case you have any questions or run into any problems.
Binance
Binance is easier to use than Robinhood. It has a more user-friendly interface and provides more features and tools for users.
If you are looking for an easy to use platform, then Robinhood is the better option. Binance is a more advanced platform that offers more features and options.
Interest Rates
Robinhood
If you want to trade with Robinhood, here are the main interest rates that you need to know.
- Cash Management Interest Rate: This is the interest rate that Robinhood pays you on your uninvested cash. The current Robinhood interest rate is 0.30% APY. This is a pretty good interest rate when compared to other brokers. In fact, it’s one of the highest interest rates that brokers offer.
- Margin Interest Rate: The Robinhood margin interest rate is 5% and this is a bit high when compared to other brokers. For example, E-Trade has a margin interest rate of 4.25%.
- Robinhood Commissions: Robinhood doesn’t charge any commissions for stock or ETF trades. This is a great feature because most other brokers charge $5-$7 per trade.
Binance
Binance doesn’t charge any fees for deposits, but it does charge a 0.1% fee on all trades. There is also a 0.1% withdraw fee. However, if you hold Binance coin (BNB), then the fees are reduced by 25%. For example, if you were to use BNB to pay your trading fees, then it would only cost you 0.075% instead of 0.1%.
At a Glance
ROBINHOOD BINANCE
HEADQUARTERS: Menlo Park, California, USA No central headquarters
COMPANY TYPE: Trading and investment app Crypto exchange, interest-bearing
FEES: No fees Maker: .02-.1% Taker: .04-.1%
SECURITY: Medium Medium
BEGINNER FRIENDLY: Yes Yes
VERIFICATION REQUIRED: Yes Yes
PROPRIETARY TOKEN: No Yes (VGX)
ON-SITE WALLET: No Yes (BNB)
BUY/DEPOSIT METHODS: ACH transfer Fiat currency, stablecoins
SELL/WITHDRAW METHODS: No way to withdraw crypto Crypto
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2013 2017
FIAT TRADING: Yes Yes (stablecoins only)
GOLD OR PRECIOUS METALS: No No
FAQs
How Do Binance and Robinhood Work?
Binance and Robinhood are both online brokerages that allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that offers a wide variety of digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more.
Is It Safe to Hold Cryptocurrency in the Binance or Robinhood Exchanges?
While both Binance and Robinhood are legitimate exchanges with a good reputation, they are not insured against hacking or theft. This means that if your account is hacked or your funds are stolen, you may not be able to recover them.
That said, both exchanges have implemented a number of security measures to protect their users’ funds. For example, Binance requires all withdrawals to be confirmed via email, and Robinhood offers two-factor authentication for all accounts.
Ultimately, whether or not it is safe to hold cryptocurrency in Binance or Robinhood depends on your own risk tolerance. If you are comfortable with the risks, then these exchanges can be a good option for storing your coins. However, if you are not comfortable with the risks, you may want to consider using a more secure wallet.
Who Should Use Binance or Robinhood?
Binance is the better choice for those who want to trade cryptocurrencies. It has a wide range of coins available, low fees, and advanced features such as margin trading. Robinhood is a good choice for those who want to trade stocks and other securities. It has no trading fees, but it doesn’t have as many features as Binance.
Which One Should You Choose?
Both Robinhood and Binance are good exchanges for crypto users, depending on what you want to do with your coinsto make the appropriate choice.
Robinhood is best for buying and selling popular coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, while Binance is better for buying and selling a wider variety of altcoins. Robinhood is also better for U.S. users, as Binance only offers its services to a handful of countries.
Conclusion
Binance and Robinhood are both popular online brokerages that offer commission-free trading. Binance offers a wider range of assets to trade, including cryptocurrencies, while Robinhood is more focused on stocks and ETFs. Both platforms have their pros and cons, but Binance is generally the better choice for beginning investors.
