Is Binance safe? On the public record: the latest proof of reserves we could read on the official page (snapshot 2026-09-01) shows a BTC reserve ratio of 100.16% and USDT at 102.91%, and the SAFU user protection fund holds about US$1 billion. The global site is now run under contracts with three Nest companies in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and Binance holds licences from the ADGM FSRA, Dubai's VARA, the Central Bank of Bahrain and Japan's FSA (through Binance Japan). It is not on the EU MiCA register and paused most services for EU residents from July 2026. In November 2023 Binance pleaded guilty to US anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations and agreed to pay about US$4.3 billion; in 2019 attackers took 7,000 BTC from a hot wallet, and SAFU covered the loss in full with no user funds affected.
This review covers, as of 2026-10-24: licences and regulators, proof of reserves, security record, legal entity, products, fees and fees after rebate, KYC and restricted regions, pros and cons, who it suits, and how to claim Fee Otter's rebate. Binance's licences, reserve ratios and rules change, so check the official pages again before a big decision.
Quick verdict
- Reserves: snapshot on the 1st of each month, published by the 7th, Merkle tree plus zk-SNARK. Major coins are above 100%, but only just, and no accounting firm signs off.
- Licences: the global site is supervised in Abu Dhabi's ADGM. The global site holds no licence usable in the EU, the UK or the US (US users go to a separate company, Binance.US).
- Record: the 2019 hot wallet theft was absorbed by SAFU; in 2023 Binance settled with the US through a guilty plea and accepted an outside monitor; in March 2026 an Australian court ordered its derivatives subsidiary to pay AUD 10 million.
- Fees: regular users pay 0.10% on spot and 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker on USDⓈ-M futures. Sign up with code FEEOTTER and the rebate is 40% (20% automatic Binance rebate + 20% Fee Otter extra rebate), so a futures taker trade costs 0.03% net.
- Suits: people who want lots of coins, good liquidity on major pairs and P2P fiat routes. It doesn't suit residents of the EU, the UK, the US, Canada or the Netherlands, or anyone who needs a locally licensed platform.
Binance at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Contracting entities (global site) | Nest Exchange Limited, Nest Clearing and Custody Limited, Nest Trading Limited (all in ADGM, Abu Dhabi); terms effective 2026-07-21 |
| Main regulator | ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) |
| Main products | Spot, USDⓈ-M and COIN-M futures, options, margin, P2P, Earn, copy trading, trading bots, Alpha, Launchpool |
| Regular-user fees | Spot 0.10% (0.075% paying with BNB); USDⓈ-M futures 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker (10% off paying with BNB) |
| Proof of reserves | Merkle tree + zk-SNARK; 2026-09-01 snapshot BTC 100.16%, USDT 102.91% |
| SAFU fund | About US$1 billion (February 2026), topped back up to US$1 billion if it falls below US$800 million |
| KYC | New users must reach "Verified" to deposit and trade; review usually within 48 hours |
| Fee Otter rebate | 40% (20% automatic Binance rebate + 20% Fee Otter extra rebate), code FEEOTTER |
Sources: Binance licences page, Binance spot fee schedule, Binance futures fee structure, checked 2026-10-24; sources for the entities, reserves and SAFU are in the sections below.
Licences and regulators: which company, which licence
The same brand uses different companies and holds different licences in different places. Binance's licences page (checked 2026-10-24) describes the global site as three Nest companies in ADGM: Nest Exchange is a recognised investment exchange (derivatives), Nest Clearing and Custody is a recognised clearing house that also provides custody, and Nest Trading carries out regulated activities such as dealing as principal and agent, arranging deals, managing assets and money services.
| Region | Status | Source and date checked |
|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi ADGM | The three Nest companies are supervised by the FSRA (global site) | Binance licences page, 2026-10-24 |
| Dubai | Binance FZE holds a VARA virtual asset service provider licence | VARA public register, 2026-10-18 |
| Bahrain | Binance Bahrain holds a Category 4 crypto-asset service provider licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain | Binance announcement, 2026-10-18 |
| Japan | Binance Japan is registered with the FSA as a crypto-asset exchange service provider (Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00031); it is a separate Japanese platform | FSA register, 2026-09-30 edition, 2026-10-18 |
| EU | Not on ESMA's MiCA register; withdrew its Greek application on 2026-06-24 and said it would apply in another member state | ESMA MiCA register (2026-10-22 version), 2026-10-23 |
| UK | June 2023 FCA consumer warning: no entity in the Binance group holds any UK authorisation or registration | FCA warning, 2026-10-18 |
| US | The global site does not serve the US; Binance.US is a separate company (BAM Trading Services) | Binance list of prohibited countries, 2026-10-18 |
Country-by-country details and register links are in crypto exchange licences by country and MiCA-licensed exchanges. According to crypto.news, after withdrawing the Greek application Binance stopped new spot orders, deposits, new sign-ups and Earn products for EU residents from 2026-07-01, while keeping withdrawals open. Binance's own announcement only says "some users may be impacted" and does not list products or countries.
A licence belongs to one company in one jurisdiction. Binance's ADGM and VARA licences do not mean EU or UK users are protected by local regulation; where you live and which company you contract with decide which rules apply to you.
Legal and regulatory record
- US guilty plea (2023-11-21): Binance pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and sanctions violations, about US$4.3 billion in total, and accepted an outside monitor (US DOJ press release). Founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty personally and served a prison sentence; he received a presidential pardon on 2025-10-23 (The Block). The pardon is personal to him; the company's resolution is a separate matter.
- Australia (2026-03-27): Binance's Australian derivatives business (Oztures Trading) was ordered to pay AUD 10 million for classifying retail clients as wholesale (ASIC 26-055MR).
- UK: in 2023 the FCA cancelled Binance Markets Limited's permissions and issued a warning; no group entity holds UK authorisation today.
None of these were hacks. They affect where Binance can operate legally and which law covers your assets if something goes wrong. What users got back after past exchange failures is in crypto collapse history.
Proof of reserves and the SAFU fund
Binance snapshots all user balances at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month and publishes the result by the 7th. The latest period we read on the official page is the 2026-09-01 snapshot, covering 54 assets: BTC 100.16%, ETH 100.00%, USDT 102.91%, USDC 112.06%, BNB 100.51% (official page read on 2026-09-28). When we opened the official proof of reserves page again on 2026-10-24, the data only loaded after the page ran in a browser, so we could not read the October period. Newer monthly snapshots are on Binance's proof of reserves page.
Verification uses a Merkle tree plus a zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proof. Beyond confirming your balance was counted, it proves every account's net balance is zero or higher, which rules out fake accounts with negative balances shrinking total liabilities. The verification field on the official page reads zk-SNARKs, and no accounting firm is listed. Steps to verify it yourself are in Binance proof of reserves, and other exchanges are compared in crypto exchange proof of reserves compared.
SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) is an emergency fund Binance set up itself in July 2018. The SAFU FAQ (updated 2026-02-02) puts it at about US$1 billion, with public BTC and USDC addresses, and says Binance tops it back up to US$1 billion if it falls below US$800 million. Losses that may be covered include compromised login credentials caused by a flaw in Binance's systems or security protocols; claims go through support within 90 days of the loss. Binance has full discretion over how SAFU is used, and losses from phishing or from giving someone your password or codes are not among the situations it describes.
Security record: has Binance been hacked?
| Date | Incident | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-05-07 | Attackers used phishing, viruses and other methods to obtain many users' API keys and 2FA codes, then withdrew 7,000 BTC in one transaction, hitting only the BTC hot wallet, about 2% of Binance's BTC | SAFU covered it in full and user funds were not affected; deposits and withdrawals paused for about a week while trading continued (Binance announcement at the time) |
| 2022-10-06 | An exploit of BNB Chain's cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, minted 2 million BNB | This happened on BNB Chain, not in Binance exchange accounts; validators paused the chain for several hours and part of the funds were frozen (The Block) |
How other exchanges handled hacks and what users got back is in exchange hacks and who got repaid. Protection you can switch on yourself: an anti-phishing code, a withdrawal whitelist (up to 200 addresses) and a waiting period for new whitelist addresses (24, 48 or 72 hours).
Products: what you can do on Binance
- Spot and margin: a large number of listed coins and pairs; some new tokens trade in the Alpha area first, see Binance Alpha Points.
- Futures: USDⓈ-M and COIN-M perpetual and delivery contracts, plus options; rules in the Binance futures guide.
- Copy trading and bots: Binance copy trading, Binance trading bots.
- P2P and fiat: a P2P market with many fiat currencies, see the Binance P2P guide.
- Earn and token events: flexible and locked products, Dual Investment, HODLer Airdrops and Launchpool, see Binance Earn. Exchange earn products are not bank deposits and carry no deposit insurance.
Fees and what you pay after the rebate
| Trade type | Regular user (VIP 0) | Paying with BNB | After 40% rebate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot maker / taker | 0.10% | 0.075% | 0.06% (0.045% with BNB, then the rebate) |
| USDⓈ-M futures maker | 0.02% | 0.018% | 0.012% |
| USDⓈ-M futures taker | 0.05% | 0.045% | 0.03% |
Sources: Binance spot fee schedule (0.100%, 0.075% with BNB) and Binance futures fee structure (regular users 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker, 10% off paying with BNB), checked 2026-10-24. The BNB discount and the rebate stack; the maths is in BNB discount × 40% rebate.
Binance pays no referral commission on invitees at VIP 3 or above, so the rebate stops once you reach VIP 3; at VIP 1 and VIP 2 you still get both. High-volume traders should work out which side pays more; tier thresholds are in Binance VIP fee tiers.
KYC and restricted regions
Binance's identity verification FAQ (updated 2026-06-05) says every new user must reach "Verified" before depositing or trading, and documents are usually reviewed within 48 hours. Unverified existing accounts become "Withdraw Only": withdrawals, order cancellation, position closing and redemption only. One identity can verify one personal account; to separate funds, use sub-accounts. The minimum age is 18 (or the local age of majority, whichever is higher). Steps are in Binance KYC verification, and sign-up rules across exchanges in crypto exchange sign-up requirements.
The Binance list of prohibited countries (updated 2026-01-05) excludes the United States (including US citizens), Canada, the Netherlands, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Crimea and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. A place missing from the list does not mean everything works there: most services for EU residents have been paused since July 2026. Indonesia is not on the list, but crypto trading there may only be carried out by OJK-licensed firms, and OJK's Satgas PASTI task force included Binance in its June 2026 list of entities submitted for blocking (OJK press release, 2026-06-22). The big four are compared in restricted countries of the big four exchanges.
Binance pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Many listed coins and pairs, deep liquidity on major pairs | US guilty plea in 2023 for about US$4.3 billion, plus regulatory actions in several countries |
| Monthly proof of reserves you can check yourself with zk-SNARK tooling | Reserve ratios sit just above 100%, with no accounting firm named |
| SAFU of about US$1 billion; the 2019 incident was covered in full | Whether and how SAFU pays out is Binance's decision |
| Licences in ADGM, Dubai VARA, Bahrain and elsewhere | Not on the EU MiCA register; the global site is unavailable in the UK and US |
| Paying spot fees with BNB saves 25%, and the 40% rebate stacks on top | No referral commission at VIP 3 and above, so large traders get no rebate |
Who is Binance for?
It suits people who trade smaller or newly listed coins, care about slippage on large orders, need P2P fiat on- and off-ramps, or use spot, futures, copy trading and Earn together. For regular traders at VIP 0 to VIP 2, signing up with the code gives a 40% rebate and a net futures taker fee of 0.03%.
It doesn't suit people living in a country on the prohibited list or in the EU, large traders at VIP 3 or above who rely on rebates to cut costs, or anyone who needs a local regulator to protect client assets. Keep only the money you are actively trading on an exchange, and move long-term holdings to your own wallet.
How to claim the Binance rebate
Sign up with code FEEOTTER and the Binance rebate totals 40% (20% refunded automatically by Binance to your account + 20% Fee Otter extra rebate). The extra rebate is paid as USDT on BEP20; you can request a withdrawal once your available balance reaches 1 USDT, and the 0.015 USDT network fee per withdrawal is paid by you.
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