Binance

Is Binance safe?

Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, and it is solvent by its own published numbers. But on every measure that protects you if something goes wrong, it is weaker than the licensed exchanges. It pleaded guilty to US criminal charges in 2023, it has no public audited accounts, and on 1 July 2026 it stopped serving most customers in the European Union because it did not have a MiCAMiCAThe EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which requires crypto exchanges and other providers to be licensed and supervised.More in the glossary licence. Its global platform does now have a home regulator, in Abu Dhabi. We score it 52/100.

What Binance does well is operational security. It has not lost customer money to a hack since 2019, and it keeps a large emergency fund.

The 2023 guilty plea

In November 2023 Binance Holdings pleaded guilty in Seattle to three federal crimes: failing to maintain an effective anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary programme, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and violating US sanctions law. The Justice Department said Binance had let US users trade with users in Iran and other sanctioned places, and had processed transactions linked to illegal drug markets, ransomware and terrorist groups without reporting them.

The total cost was about $4.3 billion, split across the Justice Department, the Treasury's FinCEN and OFAC, and the CFTC. Binance accepted an independent compliance monitor for three years and a FinCEN monitor for five. Reports in 2025 said Binance was negotiating to end the DOJ monitorship early. In February 2026 The New York Times reported that Binance employees had found about $1.7 billion in crypto sent to Iranian entities, and in April 2026 the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations asked the Justice Department whether the monitor had reported misconduct and whether early termination had been discussed. These are reports and questions, not findings; we found no new charges as of October 2026.

Founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as chief executive and pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation. He served four months in prison in 2024 and paid a $50 million fine. President Trump pardoned him; the Justice Department's clemency list dates the pardon 21 October 2025. A pardon removes the criminal penalty but does not change what the company admitted in court. A separate SEC lawsuit was dismissed on 29 May 2025.

Leaving the EU

The EU's MiCAMiCAThe EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which requires crypto exchanges and other providers to be licensed and supervised.More in the glossary rules gave exchanges until 30 June 2026 to get a licence in at least one member state. Binance applied in Greece but withdrew that application on 24 June 2026, and told users in France, Italy, Spain, Poland and other EU countries that it would stop providing crypto services from 1 July. It said funds remain safe and withdrawable, and that it intends to apply elsewhere.

For EU residents the practical point is simple: if you still have a balance on Binance, withdraw it to a licensed exchange or your own wallet. You are now a customer of an unlicensed provider in your country.

Regulated in Abu Dhabi since 2026

For most of its history the main Binance exchange had no home regulator. That changed when the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) authorised Binance.com's global platform. Binance announced the approval on 8 December 2025 and said the regulated business would start on 5 January 2026. The site footer now names three ADGM firms: Nest Exchange Limited, a recognised investment exchange for spot and derivatives trading; Nest Clearing and Custody Limited, a recognised clearing house that also holds customers' digital assets; and Nest Trading Limited, a broker-dealer for over-the-counterOver-the-counterA medicine you can buy without a prescription, in a pharmacy or shop, with directions on the pack for safe use without a doctor.More in the glossary trades and conversions.

This is a real licence with capital, custody and conduct rules, and it is the main reason licensing scores higher than in our earlier review. It does not replace the licences that matter most for many readers: Binance still has none in the EU, the UK or the US. We have not seen a published description of how Nest Clearing and Custody keeps customer assets apart from Binance's own money.

Proof of reserves: useful but limited

Binance publishes a proof of reservesProof of reservesA report in which a crypto exchange shows that it holds enough coins to cover all customer balances, ideally checked by an outside firm.More in the glossary snapshot on the first day of each month. A Merkle treeMerkle treeA way to combine many records into one short code, so that each person can check their own record is included without seeing anyone else's.More in the glossary lets you confirm your balance was counted, and a zk-SNARK proof is meant to show no account has a hidden negative balance. The snapshot of 1 October 2026 showed reserve ratios of 100.35% for bitcoin, 100.00% for ether and 103.88% for USDT.

The limits matter. The audit firm Mazars stopped doing these checks for Binance and other exchanges in December 2022, and no accountant has signed them since. The method counts customer balances, not Binance's other debts. And because Binance publishes no audited financial statements, there is no outside view of the company as a whole.

Custody and the SAFU fund

Binance's Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) was set up in 2018 and paid for the 2019 hack, when about 7,000 BTC was taken from a hot walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary. In February 2026 it held about $1 billion in BTC and USDC, with a promise to top it up if it falls below $800 million.

A fund is not the same as legal segregation. In its 2023 lawsuit, since dropped, the SEC alleged that customer money had been commingled with company money through affiliated trading firms. Binance denied that any customer funds were misused. In a Binance insolvency, it is unclear which court would rule on your claim. Trust Wallet, which Binance bought in 2018, is a separate self-custodySelf-custodyHolding crypto in a wallet where you alone control the private keys, rather than leaving it with an exchange or another company.More in the glossary product with its own record; see our Trust Wallet page. The keyless wallet inside the Binance app is scored on our Binance Wallet page.

How to use Binance more safely

1. Turn on a passkeyPasskeyA way to sign in without a password. Your device holds a key tied to one website or app and unlocks it with your fingerprint, face or PIN.More in the glossary or hardware security key and an authenticator app; switch off SMS as a 2FATwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary method.
2. Turn on the withdrawal whitelist and an anti-phishing code, which appears in genuine Binance emails.
3. Keep only what you are actively trading on the exchange. With its regulatory history, Binance is a place to trade, not to store savings.
4. Ignore "Binance support" contacts on Telegram or WhatsApp; impersonation scams are common.

How we scored it

Legal record (15) is the weakest factor by far, because of the 2023 guilty plea. Licensing (50) rests on the Abu Dhabi licence for the global platform; Binance has no licence in the EU, the UK or the US. Security history (72) is its best factor: one hot-walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary hack, fully covered. Compare OKX and Bybit, which are offshore exchanges with similar trade-offs.