Binance Review: Availability, Fees and Regulatory Record

Binance is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume and among the cheapest to trade on, with a standard spot fee of 0.1% per side, but which Binance you can use depends on where you live. As of October 2026 Binance.com does not serve the United States, left Canada in 2023, and has no MiCA licence in the European Union after withdrawing its Greek application in June 2026. Its past is also heavy: a $4.3 billion US criminal settlement in November 2023 and a guilty plea by its founder.

This review is built from Binance’s own pages, regulator decisions and court records. It covers who runs the platform, where it is available, what trading really costs, how your coins are held, and the enforcement record a careful user should weigh. We do not give investment advice and we never quote live prices here.

Binance in one table

Who actually runs Binance

Changpeng Zhao, widely known as CZ, launched Binance in July 2017, and within months it was handling more spot volume than any rival. The company never had one fixed headquarters for long. Instead it works through a web of regional companies, and the one you sign a contract with depends on your country of residence.

Three names matter most. Binance.com is the global platform most people mean. Binance.US is a separate US company (BAM Trading Services) with its own app, terms and coin list; Binance.com accounts cannot be used from the US. A newer group of regulated companies sits in Abu Dhabi: in December 2025 Binance announced licensed entities under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market, and its licences page now names Nest Exchange Limited, Nest Clearing and Custody Limited and Nest Trading Limited.

Leadership changed after the US case. Zhao stepped down as chief executive when he pleaded guilty in November 2023, and Richard Teng took over. A US court sentenced Zhao to four months in prison in April 2024, and he received a presidential pardon in October 2025. The pardon does not undo the company’s own plea or the fines it paid.

Is Binance available where you live?

No single public list answers this, because each regional entity sets its own rules and Binance has entered and left markets often. The summary below covers the regions our readers ask about most. Treat it as a starting point and confirm on Binance’s site before you deposit anything.

European Union

The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) has applied in full since 30 December 2024, and the national transition periods ended by 1 July 2026. After that date a firm needs a MiCA licence as a crypto-asset service provider to keep serving EU clients. Binance had applied in Greece. On 24 June 2026 it said it had withdrawn that application to the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, would seek authorisation in a different member state, and would contact affected users directly, adding that some users may be affected depending on country and account status.

Those effects arrived on 1 July 2026. Emails to users in countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland said that from that date new registrations, deposits, buying, selling and trading, and Earn and staking products would stop for EU residents, while existing balances stayed available for withdrawal. If you live in the EU and still hold coins on Binance, the sensible step is to withdraw them to a wallet you control or to a MiCA-licensed exchange, and to check ESMA’s register of authorised crypto-asset service providers before choosing a replacement.

United Kingdom

The Financial Conduct Authority told Binance Markets Limited in June 2021 that it could not carry on regulated activities in the UK. When the UK’s financial promotions rules for cryptoassets took effect on 8 October 2023, Binance paused sign-ups for new UK users from 16 October 2023, while existing users kept access. UK readers should check Binance’s UK page for the current position before opening an account.

Canada

Binance announced its withdrawal from Canada on 12 May 2023, citing new rules on stablecoins and investor limits. A year later FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence unit, imposed an administrative monetary penalty of C$6,002,000 on Binance Holdings Limited for failing to register as a foreign money services business and failing to report large virtual currency transactions. Canadians generally use platforms registered with the Canadian Securities Administrators, such as Kraken or Coinbase.

United States

US residents cannot use Binance.com. The only Binance-branded option there is Binance.US, a smaller exchange with fewer coins and its own licensing state by state. The SEC sued both Binance.com’s parent and Binance.US in June 2023 and dropped that case in May 2025, so the remaining questions for US users are product range and state availability, not that lawsuit.

Sanctioned countries

Binance’s terms exclude residents of countries under international sanctions programmes. After its 2023 US plea, which included sanctions violations involving users in Iran, the firm agreed to a monitor and stricter screening, so expect accounts with sanctions links to be closed rather than tolerated.

What Binance charges: fees in real numbers

Headline fees on Binance are low, which is the main reason people use it. The spot fee page lists 0.1% for both maker and taker orders for regular users, with lower rates for VIP tiers that depend on 30-day volume and BNB holdings. Paying fees in BNB, Binance’s own token, cuts them by 25%, to 0.075%.

A worked example shows the scale. Say you buy €2,500 of ether on the spot market with a market order. At 0.1% the fee is €2.50; paid in BNB it drops to €1.875. If you later sell the same position, you pay a similar amount again, so a round trip costs about €5 at standard rates. On a platform charging 0.6% per side, the same round trip would cost €30.

Holding BNB just to save fees ties money to a single company’s token. On €2,500 a month of trading, the discount saves €0.625 per trade, which is small compared with how much a volatile token can move. We would not buy BNB for that reason alone.

Products: what you can do on Binance

The platform has grown far beyond a simple exchange. Most of what follows is optional, and several products carry risks that a beginner should understand first.

• Spot trading: the core order book with hundreds of pairs. Limit orders let you set the price; market orders fill at whatever is available.
• Convert: a one-screen swap between coins. Easy, but the cost sits inside the quoted rate.
• P2P: a marketplace where users buy and sell crypto from each other for local currency. Binance holds the crypto in escrow during the trade, but payment disputes and fraud attempts are common, so stick to verified counterparties.
• Earn: savings, staking and structured products. Returns are not guaranteed, some products lock your coins for a period, and the coins are held by Binance while they earn.
• Futures and margin: leveraged trading where losses can exceed what you expect. Availability is restricted in several countries, and we do not recommend leverage to anyone learning the basics.
• Binance Wallet: a self-custody wallet inside the app, separate from your exchange balance. You hold the recovery phrase; Binance cannot restore it.

How Binance holds your coins

Coins on any exchange are held by the exchange, not by you. Binance keeps customer assets in its own wallets, and your account shows a claim on them. That arrangement is convenient for trading but means you depend on the firm staying solvent and honest.

Two measures address that risk in part. First, Binance publishes a Proof of Reserves, launched in November 2022 after the collapse of FTX: it lets you check that your balance is included in a Merkle tree of user liabilities and compares those liabilities with on-chain holdings for each listed asset. It does not show all of the company’s debts, so it is evidence of reserves, not a full audit. Second, Binance created SAFU, its Secure Asset Fund for Users, in July 2018, funded by a share of trading fees as an emergency reserve.

That fund was used once in public view. On 7 May 2019 attackers stole 7,000 BTC from a Binance hot wallet, and the exchange said SAFU would cover the loss so users were not out of pocket. The incident is a fair reminder that hot wallets are a target. For anything you are not actively trading, a wallet you control is the safer home; our crypto wallets guide explains the options.

Account security settings worth turning on

1. Use an authenticator app or a hardware security key for two-factor authentication rather than SMS.
2. Enable the withdrawal whitelist so funds can only leave to addresses you have saved.
3. Set an anti-phishing code, which Binance then shows in its genuine emails.
4. Review active devices and API keys every few months and delete anything you do not recognise.

The enforcement record, in order

Binance’s legal history is longer than most exchanges’. It matters for users because past failures explain today’s strict identity checks, account reviews and country exits.

Within the November 2023 resolution, the Treasury Department’s FinCEN took $3.4 billion and its Office of Foreign Assets Control about $968 million, alongside the criminal fine and forfeiture. Prosecutors said Binance had put growth ahead of US anti-money-laundering law and processed transactions involving users in sanctioned jurisdictions. As part of the deal, Binance accepted an independent compliance monitor.

What does that mean for an ordinary account? Expect full identity verification (mandatory since August 2021), source-of-funds questions on large deposits, and sudden reviews if your transactions touch addresses linked to sanctions or fraud. Those checks are tighter than they were before 2023, which is a cost in convenience and a gain in safety.

BNB: the exchange’s own token

BNB started in 2017 as a fee-discount token and now also pays gas on BNB Smart Chain, Binance’s own blockchain. Its value depends heavily on Binance’s business, so problems at the company tend to hit BNB too. We explain coins, not trades: if you are weighing whether to hold it, read our coin directory on how to research any token, and never treat the fee discount as a reason on its own.

Opening and verifying an account

1. Confirm your entity. Go to the official binance.com site (or Binance.US in the US) and check that your country can register.
2. Sign up with an email you control and a unique password, then add an authenticator app straight away.
3. Complete identity checks. Expect a government ID, a selfie or video check and sometimes proof of address.
4. Fund the account by bank transfer where it is offered; card purchases cost more.
5. Place a limit order for your first purchase so you pay the maker rate and avoid slippage.
6. Move long-term holdings out to your own wallet once you are comfortable sending crypto.

Scam accounts impersonate Binance support constantly. Real staff never ask for your password, two-factor codes or recovery phrase, and Binance’s own site has a verification tool for checking whether an email address, phone number or social account is official.

Sending crypto out: avoid the costly mistakes

Withdrawals are where most beginner losses happen, and they are usually self-inflicted. Many coins exist on several networks: USDT, for instance, runs on Ethereum, Tron, BNB Smart Chain and others, and an address on one chain will not receive tokens sent on another. Some assets, such as XRP, also need a destination tag or memo.

• Copy the receiving address from the destination app, never from a chat message or an old screenshot.
• Pick the network the recipient names, even if another one is cheaper.
• Add the memo or tag when the recipient asks for one.
• Send a small test amount first, and wait for it to arrive before sending the rest.

Who Binance suits, and who should look elsewhere

Binance suits experienced users in countries it fully serves who want deep liquidity, a large coin list and low fees, and who understand custody risk. It is harder to recommend if you live in the EU while its MiCA status is unsettled, if you are in Canada or the UK, or if you prefer a firm with a cleaner regulatory record.

Alternatives differ in useful ways. Kraken holds a MiCA licence through Ireland and registration in Canada. Coinbase Advanced, which replaced Coinbase Pro, is run by a US-listed company. KuCoin and HTX (formerly Huobi) have large coin lists but their own enforcement histories. Our exchange comparison sets them side by side, and the Bitcoin guide covers what you are buying before you choose where.