Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange registered in the Cayman Islands. Founded in 2017, it is today the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies.
Originally, the company behind Binance was based in China. As the Chinese government began regulating cryptocurrency trading, Binance moved its headquarters abroad.
For legal reasons, Binance does not serve traders in the United States.
Short facts about Binance
Established: 2017
Founders: Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Yi He
Subsidiaries: CoinMarketCap
Website: Binance.com
Crypto coins issued by Binance
In addition to facilitating cryptocurreny trading, Binance has developed and issued two cryptocurrencies: Binance Coin (BNB) and BinanceUSD (BUSD).
Binance Coin – Build ´N Build – BNB
This cryptocurrency started as an Etherum token and later moved to the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to become BNB Chain. BNB Chain uses Proof-of-Staked Authority, which a combination of Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-Authority. There are 21 approved validators for BNB Chain, and the cryptocurrency has been rather heavily criticised within the crypto community for its level of centralization.
White paper: BNB Whitepaper
Initial release: July 2017
Website: bnbchain.org
Block explorer: bscan.com
Supply limit: 200,000,000
BinanceUSD – BUSD
BinanceUSD is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. According to Binance, it is backed 1:1 by a reserve of US dollars. It was founded as a collaboration between Binance and Paxos, and Paxos is the cryptocurrency issuer. Allegedly, Paxos holds the USD reserves partially in cash deposited in US bank accounts and partially in the form of US Treasuries.
BUSD is natively issued on the Ethereum blockchain.
Initial release: September 10, 2019
Website: binance.com/en/busd
Block explorer: etherscan.io
Supply limit: none
History of Binance
Background
The cryptocurrency exchange Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, in 2017. Zhao is a developer with a history of creating high-frequency trading software. In 2005, he founded Fusion Systems in Shanghai, a company that built high-frequency trading systems for stock brokers. In 2013, Zhao joined Blockchain.info´s cryptocurrency wallet team. Zhao´s resume also includes a shorter stint as CTO at OKCoin, a platform for spot trading crypto-fiat.
Simplex collaboration
In 2019, Binance partnered with the Israel-based payment processor Simplex to enable cryptocurrency purchases with debit and credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard. The permitted cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ether (Ethereum), Litecoin, and XRP.
2017 Bitcoin theft
In May 2019, Binance revealed that hackers had stolen 7,000 Bitcoins in a large scale security breach. At the time, 7,000 Bitcoins were worth around 40 million USD. According to the official statement, hackers had used a combination of techniques to accomplish the theft, including phishing and viruses, and structured their transactions in a way that made them pass the security checks.
In response to the theft, Binance temporarily halted withdrawals and deposits, but permitted trading to continue. They also pledged to reimburse customers through the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU).
Perpetual futures contracts with leverage
Binance began offering perpetual futures contracts in September 2019, and permitted leverage as high as 125 times the value of the contracts.
CoinMarketCap
Binance acquired CoinMarketCap in March 2020.
Forbes
In February 2022, Binance took a 200 million USD stake in Forbes.
Response to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine
In March 2022, Binance refused to ban Russian users, citing financial freedom. Later, Binance softened their approach.
Binance has donated 10 million USD to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Blocking Bitcoin withdrawals
On 13 June, 2022, Binance announced a temporary Bitcoin withdrawal halt, as a response to major falls in the market price of cryptocurrencies. The withdrawal suspension lasted for 2 hours.
Binance invested 500 million USD towards Elon Musk´s acquisition of Twitter, a deal completed in October 2022.