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Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange originally 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 operations abroad.
For legal reasons, Binance does not serve traders in the United States directly, directing US users instead to its separate partner entity, Binance.US.
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 cryptocurrency trading, Binance has developed and issued BNB (formerly Binance Coin) and historically partnered to offer the stablecoin BinanceUSD (BUSD).
Binance Coin – Build ´N Build – BNB
This cryptocurrency started as an Ethereum token and later moved to the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to become BNB Chain. BNB Chain uses Proof-of-Staked Authority, which is a combination of Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-Authority. The cryptocurrency has faced criticism within parts of the crypto community regarding its validator structure and degree of centralization.
White paper: BNB Whitepaper
Initial release: July 2017
Website: bnbchain.org
Block explorer: bscscan.com
Supply limit: 200,000,000 (decreasing via auto-burn mechanisms)
BinanceUSD – BUSD
BinanceUSD was a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. It was backed 1:1 by reserves of US dollars and US Treasuries held by its issuer, Paxos Trust Company. Following regulatory directives from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in February 2023, Paxos ceased minting new BUSD, and Binance subsequently phased out support for the stablecoin.
BUSD was natively issued on the Ethereum blockchain.
Initial release: September 10, 2019
Website: [binance.com/en/busd](https://binance.com/en/busd)
Block explorer: etherscan.io
Supply limit: none
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History of Binance
Background
The cryptocurrency exchange Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, and Yi He 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 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 initial supported cryptocurrencies were Bitcoin, Ether (Ethereum), Litecoin, and XRP.
2019 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 bypassed security checks.
In response to the theft, Binance temporarily halted withdrawals and deposits, but permitted trading to continue. They also reimbursed affected customers through the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU).
Perpetual futures contracts with leverage
Binance began offering perpetual futures contracts in September 2019, and originally permitted leverage as high as 125 times the value of the contracts before lowering leverage limits for newer accounts.
CoinMarketCap
Binance acquired CoinMarketCap in March 2020.
Forbes
In February 2022, Binance committed to a 200 million USD strategic investment in Forbes as part of its planned public listing via a SPAC, though Forbes subsequently called off the transaction.
Response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In March 2022, Binance initially resisted blanket bans on non-sanctioned Russian users, citing financial inclusion, before progressively restricting account limits in compliance with international sanctions and ultimately exiting the Russian market entirely in September 2023.
Binance has donated 10 million USD to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Blocking Bitcoin withdrawals
On 13 June 2022, Binance temporarily halted Bitcoin on-chain withdrawals due to transaction backlog issues following extreme market volatility. The suspension lasted for approximately two hours.
Binance invested 500 million USD towards Elon Musk´s acquisition of Twitter (later rebranded to X), a deal completed in October 2022.