summary: Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange providing a platform to trade over 350 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and BNB.
content: Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. The platform allows its users to buy, sell, deposit, transfer, and store over 350+ cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Polygon, Avalanche, Dogecoin, and BNB. It was founded by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He in 2017 and was registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance users can trade on the platform using computers and mobile devices. The app is available for both IOS and Android devices. Overview Founded in 2017 and based in Malta, Binance Is a centralized global cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, deposit, and transfer over 350+ cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Polygon, Avalanche, Dogecoin, and BNB. It is considered to be the largest crypto exchange by total trading volume. Binance offers its users Basic and advanced trading including Spot, Futures, and Margin Trading. Binance is a mashup of the words ‘binary’ and ‘finance’. The Binance platform offers cryptocurrency products and services, including trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation, decentralization and infrastructure solutions, and more, also supporting over 40 different languages. In September 2020, Binance launched the Binance Smart Chain in parallel to the Binance Chain. The Binance Smart Chain was created to support Smart contracts, allowing its users to create DApps, tokens, and mint NFTs on the blockchain. Binance sees itself as a vibrant global community powered by Binance users from all walks of life, who come together both in real life and online to pursue their passions and advance the crypto cause. The platform also offers its users a suite of products for users to grow their crypto holdings by earning, which includes Binance Earn, Simple Earn, Defi Staking, Liquidity Farming, Dual Investment, Auto-Invest, and many more. History 2017 - 2018 CEO Changpeng Zhao had previously founded Fusion Systems in 2005 in Shanghai; the company built high-frequency trading systems for brokers. In 2013 he joined Blockchain.info as the third cryptocurrency wallet team member. He also worked at OKCoin as CTO for less than a year, a platform for spot trading between fiat and digital assets. The company was founded in China but moved its servers and headquarters out of China and into Japan in advance of the Chinese government's ban on cryptocurrency trading in September 2017. By March 2018 the company had established offices in Taiwan. In July 2017, Binance raised a total of $15 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum during the sale of its native token in an ICO. As of January 2018, it was the largest crypto exchange with a BNB market capitalization of $1.3 billion. In March 2018, Binance announced its intentions to open an office in Malta after stricter regulations in Japan and China. In April 2018, Binance launched its blockchain (Binance Chain) with the sole aim of creating a high-speed blockchain able to support large transactions at a lower cost compared to the Ethereum blockchain. Ever since then, Binance has been the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of the trading volume. Binance also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Bermuda. Months later, a similar memorandum was signed with the Malta Stock Exchange to develop a platform for trading security tokens. In 2019, the company announced Binance Jersey, an independent entity from its parent Binance.com exchange, to expand its European influence. Jersey-based exchange offers fiat-to-cryptocurrency pairs, including the Euro and the British pound. In August 2018, Binance along with three other big exchanges raised $32 million for a stablecoin project. The idea of stablecoins is to provide a cryptocurrency without the notorious volatility of Bitcoin and other popular digital assets. In October 2018, Binance Uganda launched as the first fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange of Binance. In December 2018, Changpeng Zhao revealed Binance's plans for 2019, including the launch of Binance Chain, a blockchain made by Binance, as well as a native high-performance decentralized exchange that will feature 1-second transaction confirmation times, enabling true instant transactions. 2019 - 2021 In January 2019, Binance announced that it had partnered with Israel-based payment processor Simplex to enable cryptocurrency purchases with debit and credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard. The purchases are subject to Simplex’s local bank policies and are limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP. On May 7, 2019, Binance revealed that it had been the victim of a “large scale security breach” in which hackers had stolen 7,000 Bitcoin worth around US$ 40 million at the time. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said "the hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses, and other attacks” and structured their transactions “in a way that passed our existing security checks.” Binance halted further withdrawals and deposits but allowed trading to continue. The site pledged to reimburse customers through its secure asset fund. On February 21, 2020, the Malta Financial Services Authority issued a public statement responding to media reports referring to Binance as a ‘Malta-based cryptocurrency’ company. The statement noted that Binance “is not authorized by the MFSA to operate in the cryptocurrency sphere and is therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the MFSA.” The MFSA added that it was “assessing if Binance has any activities in Malta which may not fall within the realm of regulatory oversight”. On June 24, 2021, Binance launched Binance NFT, a marketplace for digital items tied to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). 2022 - Present In February 2022, Binance committed a US$10 million minimum donation, which was increased to $20 million, to help the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine through its Binance Charity Foundation. It issued a charity crypto card in early May to help Ukrainian refugees. Binance also announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to build a strategic partnership with YG Entertainment Inc. (YG), one of South Korea’s leading multinational entertainment corporations. As part of the strategic partnership, Binance and YG will cooperate on a range of blockchain projects, including collaborations in the NFT space. Binance will provide the NFT platform and technology infrastructure while YG will supply NFT content and gaming assets. !91f80913-01fb-4da3-bc41-f88912e778a0 (1).pngOn 27 May 2022, Binance announced that Binance Italy has received regulatory approval in Italy through registration as a Cryptocurrency Service Provider with the ‘Organismo Agenti e Mediatori’ (OAM), as required by the Italian legislation on crypto-asset. In May 2022, Binance announced that Binance Bahrain received a Category 4 license as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). The Category 4 license will allow Binance Bahrain to provide a full range of crypto-asset exchange services. In June 2022, Binance teamed up with two big names in the entertainment industry. on the 23 of June, Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance team up for a legendary NFT partnership, and on the 30th, TikTok Star Khaby Lame and Binance team up to drive crypto awareness. On June 23, 2022, Binance announced in a press release that they had signed a multi-year NFT partnership with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Through the partnership, Binance will launch a “global campaign aiming to give Ronaldo’s fans an introduction to Web3” with a “compelling entry point into the world of NFTs.” Throughout the agreement, Ronaldo and Binance will create a series of collections for sale exclusively on the Binance NFT platform. On November 18, 2022, the first NFT collection was released on Binance CR7 NFT with feature designs created in collaboration with Ronaldo. "Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the world's best footballers and has transcended sport to become an icon in multiple industries. He has amassed one of the world's most dedicated fan bases through his authenticity, talent, and charity work," said Binance Founder and CEO. On 08 July 2022, Binance celebrated its Fifth Anniversary with an in-person event that took place in Paris, France. In August 2022, Binance secures preliminary regulatory approval from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) to operate in Kazakhstan. As of September 2022, Binance was considered the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, with a $76 billion daily trading volume on the exchange and a record of 90 million customers worldwide. In February 2023, Binance completed the integration of Binance-Peg BUSD on the Optimism network. Deposits and withdrawals for Binance-Peg BUSD are now open on the Optimism network. Users may now transfer BUSD and Binance-Peg BUSD across the Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, TRON, and Optimism networks. Binance also launched a new batch of Cloud Mining products for BTC mining. Users can purchase hashrates, and start accumulating mining rewards in their Funding Wallets. Products Binance Pay Binance Pay is a contactless, borderless and secure cryptocurrency payment technology designed by Binance. Using Binance pay, users can send and spend crypto at ZERO fees, Shop and pay with crypto at stores and businesses that support Binance Pay, and also Send crypto to friends and family. Bin