Binance is the undisputed largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It was founded in 2017 and currently has its founder, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, as its CEO.
Another top choice in this category is Coinbase. Coinbase is an American company that owns and operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. It was founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and is one of the top choices of cryptocurrency investors and traders.
There is, however, some confusion as to which to choose, especially among newcomers and people looking to switch from one exchange to another.
Regardless of one’s reason for choosing a new cryptocurrency exchange, there are a few factors to consider before making a choice. Some of these factors include
- Ease of use.
- Fees and cost of transactions.
- Relative safety of the investment.
- Number of coins to choose from.
- Control over one’s trades
In the following sections, we tabulate these categories and attempt to compare the two exchanges.
Ease Of Use
Binance is easy enough to use. But the number of choices available to its users can add unnecessary complexity to its interface. This can prove to be overwhelming to newcomers.
As far as beginners go, Coinbase offers fewer choices, making it easier for the inexperienced to make their way around. Newcomers and the experienced alike can enjoy convenient and easy trading.
In this category, the winner depends on your experience with the market and how many choices you are willing to consider.
Fees And Cost Of Transactions
In this category, Binance offers lower fees than Coinbase.
Binance takes 0.10% commission on spot trading and 4.5% on debit card transactions. Coinbase, on the other hand, takes 0.5% per trade and 3.99% for credit card purchases. Wire transfers cost $10 for deposits and $25 for withdrawals.
As far as this category goes, Binance wins.
Relative Safety Of Investments
Binance offers two-factor authentication via SMS or Google Authenticator, FDIC-insured USD balances for US accounts, U2F security via a hardware key, cold storage, address whitelisting, and device management.
Coinbase, however, offers two-factor authentication via SMS or google authentication app, insurance in case Coinbase is ever breached, cold storage, fingerprint logins, FDIC insurance of up to $250k on balances, and AES-256 encryption for its digital wallets.
In this category, Coinbase wins.
Number OF Coins To Choose From
While Coinbase offers only 44 coins, Binance offers over 500 for global traders and 60 for US-based traders.
Binance offers more than tenfold choices compared to Coinbase, but both offer all the major currencies, including bitcoin, Ethereum Cardano, and Uniswap, to mention a few.
Binance wins in this category.
Control Over One’s Trades
Coinbase only offers to buy, sell, receive, send, and exchange options. Binance, on the other hand, offers
- Margin trading
- Peer-to-peer trading
- OCO or “One cancels the other” orders
- Limit orders
- Market orders
- Stop limit orders
- Trailing stop orders
In this category, Binance offers more control over one’s trades than Coinbase.
Final verdict
Coinbase is far less complicated to understand than Binance and is the perfect choice for beginners. It has a cleaner interface and more significant advantages as far as security goes.
Binance, on the other hand, has lower fees and is great for experienced traders who already know their way around the crypto market. It offers greater trading options, allowing its users greater control over how their trades open, close, and generally execute. The only downside is that using Binance has a steeper learning curve.
In Conclusion
In all, it is essential to understand that the crypto market is a highly volatile one. Trading cryptocurrencies is subject to a lot of risks that newcomers, as well as the experienced, might find overwhelming.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not a recommendation to invest in cryptocurrencies.
