You’ll need to choose a reliable and reputable exchange to get into the cryptocurrency market. This article compares two of the most popular options: Coinbase vs Binance Guide. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each and what sets them apart.
Fortunately for traders, two best online exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, offer customers great service for years and continually improving their product offerings. Coinbase might still have less name recognition in the United States, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of alternative exchanges for traders to utilize to their advantage.
A Brief Look at Coinbase and Binance
Binance is the brainchild of Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, one of the most influential figureheads in the cryptocurrency industry. Zhao started Binance after developing high-frequency software and working as an executive executive-levels at another cryptocurrency exchange, OKCoin.
Binance launched in 2017 and quickly became the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and other cryptocurrencies with a lot of features like crypto porfolio or savings accounts. Until February 2020, the company was considered based in Malta. Still, after the small Eutinyn nation declared that Binance was not within its jurisdiction, the company has declined to declare other headquarters, noting that Bitcoin doesn’t have a central headquarters.
One of Binance’s calling cards is its plethora of trading pairs and massive overall liquidity. The exchange currently has over 500 cryptocurrencies and more than 1,200 trading pairs. This makes it one of the most comprehensive exchanges on the market for trading almost any digital asset imaginable.
However, one thing you won’t find on Binance is the ability to deposit, trade, or withdrawal US dollars with your debit card and credit card. Instead, the exchange utilizes Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar. While using USDT is a practical way to keep capital in the crypto market using a stable asset, without being able to trade in USD, Binance users are stuck finding another best online exchange to onboard or fund their account via a privately owned wallet.
Coinbase was an early entrant into the cryptocurrency industry. Founded by CEO Brian Armstrong in 2012, the company has quickly grown into an industry giant, generating over $2 billion in revenue each year from its 35 million users.
Since its inception, the exchange has processed more than $220 billion transactions. And because of its backing by big name investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and the New York Stock Exchange, Coinbase has consistently been well-regarded in the industry.
Coinbase shares, under the symbol COIN, were listed on April 14, 2021, on the Nasdaq exchange. Shares opened for trading at $381 before moving above $400 in relatively short order. Coinbase is valued at nearly $100 billion at the current price, making it the nation’s most valuable exchange. This is a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency industry and may persuade other popular crypto exchanges to follow Coinbase’s lead and go public.
Armstrong believes that Coinbase, along with all cryptocurrency exchanges, needs to be heavily scrutinized if the industry is going to succeed.
He said that we need to be held to a higher standard because digital currency is so new and interesting and powerful that it is attractive to many people out there to try to steal it. This displays Armstrong and his team’s commitment to providing users with a fully secure and state-of-the-art exchange platform.
Which Exchange Offers the Most Cryptocurrencies?
Although some cryptocurrency traders prefer sticking with the major currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, other traders are more interested in trading the altcoin flavor of the week. Regarding the number of supported cryptocurrencies and trading pairs available, Binance is hands down the winner.
Coinbase
Coinbase currently supports 64 cryptocurrencies on its platforms. Although most of those 64 cryptocurrencies will be supported on both Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, there are a few exceptions. GNT and LOOM are only supported on Coinbase Pro, not Coinbase, whereas BSV is only supported on Coinbase, not Coinbase Pro. In addition, there are occasionally some geographic restrictions.
Binance
Binance is the absolute king in supporting the widest variety of cryptocurrencies. Binance offers a support of over 500 cryptocurrencies and more than 1,200 trading pairs. Moreover, crypto traders can purchase best crypto with their debit card or credit card.
Verdict: When it comes to the number of listed cryptocurrencies, Binance is the clear winner. However, for an actual FIAT on/off ramp, Coinbase is the best choice. For those traders who want to trade against stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) simply, then Binance is likely the best option.
Coinbase vs Binance: How Do They Stack Up on Security?
Both platforms are considered the safest in the industry, but Coinbase is truly the gold standard for security.
Coinbase
Coinbase’s major security concern isn’t a direct on-platform issue. Instead, social media hacking has presented itself as a way to get Coinbase users to send cryptocurrency to nefarious actors. The exchange has done a good job of halting these transactions when they become apparent, but it’s a never-ending game of whack-a-mole with these concerns.
As long as Coinbase users don’t get sucked into potential scams on social media, Coinbase is as secure as it gets it helps users protect their accounts with many security practices such as 2-Factor-Authentication (2FA). The exchange claims 98% of all cryptocurrency is stored offline in cold storage to mitigate any online risk, and the data is encrypted and further distributed so as to create added layers of security.
Coinbase also has its own crypto hot wallet named Coinbase Wallet for traders to store their assests with highest security.
Read more: Best Crypto Wallets For Storing Coins In 2023: Hot Wallets & Cold Wallets
Binance
Through the Binance Academy, Binance offers users get a comprehensive education on how to combat security threats. Along with that, The platform also has enhanced security features like Address Management, which limits the number of wallet addresses used to withdraw funds. It requires email confirmation for new addresses to be added to the withdrawal whitelist as well as create a 2-Factor-Authentication before make a P2P trading.
Overall, Binance has displayed a resilience against hackers. The one major misstep by the exchange was when 7,000 Bitcoin (worth about $40 million at the time) was stolen in 2019. The company offered to cover user losses from the incident, showing its commitment to keeping users happy.
Verdict: Coinbase has long been seen as the industry standard for security and has never really had any hacks to speak of. This puts Coinbase at the top of the list for exchange security. Still, Binance provides its users with security that is almost on par with that of Coinbase but takes a slight hit due to a previous hack to its platform.
What Do Their Fees Look Like?
Coinbase
Coinbase trading fees on Coinbase Pro are in a tiered structure that starts at 0.50%, and although its fees also scale downward for higher volume traders, they do so at a slower pace than Binance (which we’ll get to next). Bank transfers also come with their fee of 1.49%, while ACH deposits can be done free of charge.
| Pricing Tier | Taker Fee | Maker Fee |
| <$10K | 0.50% | 0.50% |
| $10 – 50K | 0.35% | 0.35% |
| $50 – 100K | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| $100K – 1M | 0.20% | 0.10% |
| $1- 10M | 0.18% | 0.08% |
| $10 -50M | 0.15% | 0.05% |
| $50 – 100M | 0.10% | 0.00% |
| $100 – 300M | 0.07% | 0.00% |
| $300 – 500M | 0.06% | 0.00% |
| $500M – 1B | 0.05% | 0.00% |
| $1B+ | 0.04% | 0.00% |
Read more: Difference Between Maker vs Taker: Top Full Guide 2023.
Binance
Binance utilizes a fairly standard tiered trading fee structure. Yet, it does provide one of the better fee ranges on the market. At the lowest volume level, fees are 0.1% for both makers and takers and can be reduced to 0.02%/0.04% for makers/takers, respectively, at the highest volume level.
It is also vary depending on your paying methods. For example, you may pay a fee of 2% for every transaction with your credit card, debit card.
Also, Binance offers its users different ways to reduce their trading fees. By paying fees in the exchange’s native BNB token, Binance cuts trading fees by 25% (NOTE: this reduction in fee changes fairly often, so be sure to check the exchange website before placing a trade).
Additionally, users who refer their friends to the exchange can earn another 20% fee reduction. If both functions are utilized, traders pay 0.06% fees at the lowest trading level, well below all other exchanges.
For fiat withdrawals to your bank account, there are no deposit or withdrawal fees if using ACH transfers and a $15 fee for domestic wire transfers. Cryptocurrency withdrawals account come with a fee dependent on the cryptocurrency. For instance, Bitcoin withdrawals will cost 0.005 BTC, while Ethereum withdrawals cost 0.013 ETH.
| Level | 30d Trade Volume (BTC) | &/or | BNB Balance | Maker / Taker | Maker / Taker
BNB 25% off |
Maker / Taker
BNB x Referral 25% off x Kickback 20% |
| VIP 0 | < 50 BTC | or | ≥ 0 BNB | 0.1000% / 0.1000% | 0.0750% / 0.0750% | 0.0600% /0.0600% |
| VIP 1 | ≥ 50 BTC | & | ≥ 50 BNB | 0.0900% / 0.1000% | 0.0675% / 0.0750% | 0.0540% /0.0600% |
| VIP 2 | ≥ 500 BTC | & | ≥ 200 BNB | 0.0800% / 0.1000% | 0.0600% / 0.0750% | 0.0480% /0.0600% |
| VIP 3 | ≥ 1500 BTC | & | ≥ 500 BNB | 0.0700% / 0.1000% | 0.0525% / 0.0750% | 0.0420% /0.0600% |
| VIP 4 | ≥ 4500 BTC | & | ≥ 1000 BNB | 0.0700% / 0.0900% | 0.0525% / 0.0675% | 0.0420% /0.0540% |
| VIP 5 | ≥ 10000 BTC | & | ≥ 2000 BNB | 0.0600% / 0.0800% | 0.0450% / 0.0600% | 0.0360% /0.0480% |
| VIP 6 | ≥ 20000 BTC | & | ≥ 3500 BNB | 0.0500% / 0.0700% | 0.0375% / 0.0525% | 0.0300% /0.0420% |
| VIP 7 | ≥ 40000 BTC | & | ≥ 6000 BNB | 0.0400% / 0.0600% | 0.0300% / 0.0450% | 0.0240% /0.0360% |
| VIP 8 | ≥ 80000 BTC | & | ≥ 9000 BNB | 0.0300% / 0.0500% | 0.0225% / 0.0375% | 0.0180% /0.0300% |
| VIP 9 | ≥ 150000 BTC | & | ≥ 11000 BNB | 0.0200% / 0.0400% | 0.0150% / 0.0300% | 0.0120% /0.0240% |
Source: https://www.binance.com/en/fee/schedule
Verdict: Traders willing to pay trading fees in BNB and utilize the referral bonus will be rewarded with Binance. Even without these incentives, Binance’s trading fee structure still comes out on top as compared to Coinbase. If trading fees top your list of importance, Binance is the no-brainer choice.
What Is Liquidity Like on Each Platform?
Both Binance and Coinbase are among the best in the industry for providing liquidity.
Coinbase
Coinbase Pro comes in second place behind Binance in terms of the daily volume. Because Coinbase offers users a direct way to deposit US dollars or other fiat currencies from their bank account into the exchange to buy best crypto, the BTC/USD and ETH/USD markets make up more trading volume than any other trading pairs. The same is true when it comes to Euro traders as well. Therefore, while there is significant liquidity on Coinbase, it mostly comes from fiat-to-crypto trading, not from crypto-to-crypto trading like Binance.
Binance
Binance currently has a daily trading volume of about $20 billion, making it the largest exchange in the industry. However, with such a wide array of trading pairs, this liquidity is spread across a wide market, and therefore doesn’t provide as much liquidity for any single market as one might think. Tether (USDT) is one of the most widely used tokens on the exchange, likely because the exchange doesn’t allow for US dollar deposits and trading.
If we do a direct comparison of BTC-USD on Coinbase vs. BTC-USDT on Binance, we see that the Binance pair has roughly 2-3x the volume. However, both volumes are quite high, and the markets are extremely liquid.
Verdict: Want fiat-to-crypto trading liquidity? Stick with Coinbase. Looking to maximize crypto-to-crypto liquidity? Head over to Binance in long term. It’s that simple.
How Is the User Experience?
Coinbase
Coinbase Pro is an in-depth trading platform for active traders. But this is a separate interface from Coinbase itself, a slightly cumbersome feature of the way the company decided to structure these two distinct platforms. Luckily, Coinbase makes up for it with its Coinbase Pro mobile app, which consistently gets rave reviews from traders who love the ease of use and speed of trading on the app.
Binance
Binance is much more comprehensive than your traditional cryptocurrency exchange. There are a lot of different functions of the platform which provide value to users. These features might not be applicable to all traders, but it’s always good to see additional tools that some users might find helpful.
Verdict: Binance is more than a basic cryptocurrency exchange. It provides users an entire spectrum of crypto-related products that make it a one-stop shop for trading and more. Regarding trading, the platforms look relatively the same, and there isn’t much to distinguish one from the other.
As for mobile, Coinbase gets a slight edge for having a more comprehensive mobile wallet and exchange app in one, while Binance users can download the Binance mobile trading app but are directed to utilize Trust Wallet for mobile cryptocurrency storage.
How Do They Perform on Customer Service?
Unfortunately, customer support is one area that has fallen a bit short in the cryptocurrency industry. Exchanges don’t have enough personnel to handle all the emails from current and prospective customers. All that being said, when it comes to customer assistances, there are some big differences between Coinbase and Binance.
Coinbase
One part of the cryptocurrency industry that takes some getting used to is that there is no live phone support. There is a help center on Coinbase’s website where customers can check to see if their particular issue has already been answered. If it hasn’t, customers will have to fill out a customer support form to get help.
Given the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, especially in 2021, customers should expect to wait at least 24 hours for a response, regardless of the urgency.
Binance
Binance doesn’t offer a support telephone line, which is unfortunate for those who see this as a necessary piece of customer service. The exchange does claim that its representatives are available 24/7 via email or online messaging, which could prove useful for traders who are up at all hours of the day and/or night.
Verdict: This one comes down to preference. Neither exchange offers support in live phone, even for urgent matters. However, if you prefer to know that you can receive help 24/7, Binance might be a better choice for customer service.
What Else Is There to Consider?
Coinbase has had trouble keeping up with a surge in demand and has been working to scale its platform to account for demand spikes for the last several years. Recently, as the price of Bitcoin soared, the Coinbase mobile app and the online platform went down, and users were unable to load the exchange.
While the company is certain to continue working towards meeting demand increases, it’s a somewhat worrisome sign that Coinbase was unable to handle the influx of activity on its platform. Binance, meanwhile, announced a major upgrade to its trading engine in June 2020.
While originally US-based users could utilize the standard Binance.com trading platform, the exchange is phasing out such usage and moving toward nation-based platforms. Binance.us is the new US-based platform that residents can utilize.
Although, there are currently certain state-level restrictions that limit who can use the new platform, which is constantly changing. Eventually, Binance.com will no longer be available for US traders, who will be forced to utilize Binance.us, which is unfortunate, as the current US platform has significantly less exchange liquidity than the original exchange.
Some hypothesize that Binance is also acting in nefarious ways by reportedly creating a complex business structure in an attempt to evade United States regulators. However, these claims are unsubstantiated at this time.
Conclusion
Both Binance and Coinbase are two of the most well-regarded cryptocurrency exchanges on the planet. Coinbase’s start in the United States might make it a more well-known name domestically. Still, Binance is quickly eating into its market share and bringing a robust global exchange with tons of trading liquidity and volume.
Currently, Coinbase still might be the exchange of choice for US-residents, as Binance users in the country can’t yet deposit fiat currency on the exchange. However, that doesn’t mean Binance isn’t without its own merits. The exchange has significantly higher volume and liquidity than Coinbase — albeit only for crypto-to-crypto exchaging — making it a great choice for traders looking to access a wide variety of trading pairs.
For many traders, utilizing the benefits of both best crypto exchanges could be of value. In the case of using both exchanges, it’s a great idea to have real-time insight and analysis across exchanges to ensure the best possible price trades in real-time. Working with CoveTrader will allow you to trade with precision across multiple exchanges — including Binance, Coinbase, and several others — on an easy-to-use platform. CoveTrader is the go-to tool for cross-platform trading for traders of all levels.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is not investment advice from Cove Markets. Cryptocurrency investment activities are yet to be recognized and protected by the laws in some countries. Cryptocurrencies always contain financial risks.
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