Binance started off as a crypto exchange in 2017. Today, it is probably the biggest player in the 2.6 trillion dollar crypto industry. The Binance ecosystem includes multiple crypto exchanges, multiple cryptocurrencies (Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), Bitcoin BEP2 (BTCB)), the Trust Wallet and its TWT token, a Token Launchpad, and more.
1. What I love about Binance
Binance operates two blockchains that run in parallel:
- The high transaction capacity Binance Chain (BC)
- Binance Smart Chain (BSC) which has smart contract functionality and implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
BSC has gained massive traction in 2021 mainly because of Ethereum’s slow speeds and high costs. Creating tokens on BSC is simple and cheap. But there is a caveat here — validation is done by a small number of validators and this makes it quite centralised.
I also love the Binance cryptos, especially BNB and BUSD.
Binance Coin (BNB) was issued as part of Binance’s initial coin offering (ICO). Its first use case was discounted trading fees on the Binance exchange. Did you know that 90 percent of Binance employees earn a portion of their income in BNB?
BNB is the third-largest crypto with a market capitalisation of over $82 billion (roughly Rs. 6,14,414 crore) and a daily trading volume of over $2.6 billion (roughly Rs. 19,481 crore).
BUSD is a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued jointly by Binance and Paxos. BUSD is one of the few stablecoins approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
I am also a fan of Trust Wallet, a popular mobile wallet that supports 53 blockchains and more than a million digital assets. It was acquired by Binance in 2018.
2. What I hate about Binance
Binance has three crypto exchanges:
- Binance.com – the original and largest crypto exchange by volume.
- Binance.us – which was created after Binance was banned in the US in 2019 on regulatory grounds.
- Binance DEX, a decentralized exchange built on Binance Chain.
Of late, I have come to hate the Binance.com crypto exchange due to its glitches and outages.
In fact, a group of derivative traders are suing Binance for trading losses suffered due to outages of the platform. This case could set a global precedent on the liability of exchanges.
A few days ago Bitcoin prices suddenly plunged 87 percent on Binance’s US exchange — from $65,000 to $8,200.
3. What I fear about Binance
Binance is facing legal troubles across the world — Canada, Cayman Islands, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the UK, and the USA.
It’s not just problems with regulators. Hundreds of investors are expected to take part in proceedings against Binance, seeking damages for money they lost during a major outage.
Binance says it has no official headquarters. That has made it difficult for investors to figure out how, and where, to take the company to court. Swiss private equity firm Liti Capital has promised to provide a minimum of $5 million in funding for the case.
Binance is probably the most important part of the crypto ecosystem and its legal problems could have a massive negative impact on crypto prices.
Rohas Nagpal is the author of the Future Money Playbook and Chief Blockchain Architect at the Wrapped Asset Project. He is also an amateur boxer and a retired hacker. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
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