Coinbase vs Binance | The Benefits Of Using Both Exchanges

coinbase vs binance image
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
10 min read
Fact checked

Trying to decide between Coinbase vs Binance? We've compared these two exchanges across a variety of key metrics including trading fees, products and services, deposit methods and more. Read on to find out which exchange is the best fit for your individual needs!

Coinbase

Trade +240 Cryptocurrencies

Earn 5% Interest On USDC

Great UX & Beginner Friendly

Safest Crypto Exchange

Visit Coinbase
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Binance

+350 cryptocurrencies

0.1.% Spot Fees & 125X Leverage

Spot, Futures, Perps, Margin

Cheap Deposits/Withdrawals

Visit Binance
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

Coinbase vs Binance Overview

Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
Founded
2012
2017
2018
Registered
United States
Cayman Islands
Seychelles
Countries N/A
OFAC
US, CA, UK, CN, ML, JP
OFAC
Users
120M
150M
6M
Cryptos
+200
+350
1780
Spot Fees
0.4%-0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
KYC Required
Yes
Yes
No
Best for
Earning USDC Interest
Great All Around
Altcoins & 200X Leverage
Rating
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk

Coinbase and Binance are two of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsa and is based in the United States.

Coinbase offers a range of services such as spot trading, recurring buys, staking and Coinbase Learn & Earn, an educational program that rewards users for learning about cryptocurrencies.

The exchange caters to both retail and institutional investors with its advanced trading platform, Coinbase Pro, offering additional features and lower fees.

Coinbase exchange
Coinbase exchange

Coinbase has over 100 million users mainly based in the North America, Europe and Asia and the platform offers a solid range of over 200 cryptocurrencies that users can buy, sell, trade and earn yield on.

Coinbase app
Coinbase app

Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and is registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance is one of the largest and most popular trading platforms worldwide with a footprint across more than 180 countries.

The exchange offers a comprehensive suite of trading and financial services, including spot trading, futures trading, staking, earn products, launchpad, its own smart chain and much more.

These products and services are however not available to users in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and OFAC countries.

Binance exchange
Binance exchange

Binance supports over 350 cryptocurrencies, numerous trading pairs, and is the most liquid exchange in the world. Binance has over 150 million users worldwide and the Binance Android app has been downloaded over 50 million times.

Binance app
Binance app

While Coinbase and Binance offer similar services, they have different strengths. Coinbase is a good choice for beginners who want an easy to use and well regulated exchange to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase is also a good place to learn about cryptocurrencies thanks to its user-friendly interface and educational resources. Binance is the better choice for users who want access to a wider range of cryptocurrencies and trading options not available in the United States.

Coinbase vs Binance Signup & KYC

Before you can start trading on either Coinbase or Binance, you'll need to go through a Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process to verify your identity.

Let's start with Binance. Creating an account on Binance takes less than a minute. However, to unlock full account privileges, you'll need to complete the KYC process.

This involves submitting all the required information such as your country of residence, address and a government ID. The verification process on Binance can be as short as 15 minutes, but in some cases, it can take up to 2-3 business days.

KYC on Binance
KYC on Binance

KYC is also required on Coinbas before users can start trading. The signup process is just as quick and easy as Binance's, taking only about a minute to complete.

Once the account has been opened, users can move on to the KYC process which involves entering some personal information and uploading an ID.

Coinbase signup
Coinbase signup

It takes a few minutes to submit the required documents and they will be verified by Coinbase in a few minutes to a few hours. For users who prefer to trade without any KYC requirements, we recommend signup up and using OKX instead.

Coinbase vs Binance Products & Services

Coinbase is similar to Binance one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges which has tailored its offerings to cater mainly to new entrants in the crypto market and large-scale institutional clients.

Coinbase USP
Coinbase USP

Operating under the stringent financial regulations of the United States, Coinbase has been restricted from offering riskier products that are commonly found in exchanges outside the U.S.

This limitation, while possibly reducing its attractiveness to professional traders, has made Coinbase a more approachable platform for beginners.

Coinbase Dashboard
Coinbase Dashboard

The platform thoughtfully caters to different levels of trading experience by offering two user interfaces: the standard Coinbase interface, designed for ease of use and ideal for beginners, and the Advanced interface, which offers more sophisticated features.

Coinbase Buy & Sell
Coinbase Buy & Sell

Coinbase supports trading in a wide variety of over 240 cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, SOL, OSMO, ATOM, ADA, USDC and many others.

Users can engage in transactions through a user-friendly buy-and-sell feature or opt for more detailed spot trading in the Advanced section.

Coinbase Spot Trading
Coinbase Spot Trading

For those looking to invest steadily over time, Coinbase offers a recurring buy feature allowing users to gradually build their positions using a strategy known as Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA).

Coinbase also recently introduced futures trading for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), as well as perpetual contracts for several other cryptocurrencies. This includes assets such as BTC, ETH, SOL, LTC, AVAX and XRP with leverage options up to 5X.

Although Coinbase often ranks among the top three exchanges globally in terms of spot trading volume, it still has not managent to make much of a dent in the futures market.

Coinbase Trading Volume
Coinbase Trading Volume

For users interested in earning returns on their digital currency holdings, Coinbase currently offers an attractive 5% interest rate on USD Coin (USDC). To access this rate, simply hold USDC in your Coinbase account to automatically earn interest.

Coinbase Earn
Coinbase Earn

Additionally, one of Coinbase's most beginner-friendly offerings is its learn-and-earn program where users can gain knowledge about various blockchains and earn tokens as rewards.

Coinbase Learn & Earn
Coinbase Learn & Earn

Coinbase has even developed its own NFT platform so that its users can mint, discover, buy, and sell NFTs on popular blockchains such as Ethereum, Base, and Polygon.

Coinbase NFTs
Coinbase NFTs

Coinbase has also introduced a Visa Card for users looking to spend their cryptocurrency in everyday transactions and earn rewards. This card allows users to use either cash (USD) or crypto (USDC) for their spending and earn rewards on their purchases.

Coinbase Visa Card
Coinbase Visa Card

For those who prefer direct control over their crypto assets, Coinbase has developed the Web 3 Coinbase Wallet. This non-custodial wallet enables users to buy, sell, trade and earn in a non-custodial manner via their favorite DeFi applications.

Coinbase Web 3 Wallet
Coinbase Web 3 Wallet

Coinbase recently launched the Coinbase One Membership which costs $29.99 per month and offers benefits such as zero-fee trades, enhanced staking rewards, and priority customer support.

Coinbase One Membership
Coinbase One Membership

As a publicly traded company in the U.S., Coinbase adheres to rigorous regulatory standards, ensuring a high level of safety and reliability for its users.

This commitment to security and compliance makes Coinbase the preferred platform for major institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale, which rely on Coinbase for trading and custody services of their digital assets.

Through Coinbase Prime, high-net-worth individuals and institutions have access to advanced trading tools, financing solutions, secure storage options, staking services, and much more.

Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime

On the other hand, Binance is even bigger than Coinbase with over 150 million users. The exchange offers a wide range of products and services to satisfy the needs of beginners, traders and institutional clients.

The exchange’s website and mobile applications are designed to ensure that those new to crypto can easily find their way around. The user interface is however not as beginner friendly as Coinbase.

One of the foundational offerings of Binance is its spot trading platform that allows for the buying and selling of over 350 cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, SOL, ATOM, ARB, OSMO, USDT, USDC and many others.

Binance Spot Trading
Binance Spot Trading

For those who wish to trade on margin, Binance offers up to 3-10X leverage depending on the cryptocurrency.

For beginners who are interested in using trade bots to facilitate their trading, Binance offers 1,000s of active strategies via trading bots such as spot, DCA, auto-invest, rebalancing and much more.

Binance Trading Bots
Binance Trading Bots

Binance also offers futures trading products like perpetual contracts and options with up to 125X in leverage. This is significantly higher leverage than is available on Coinbase.

Binance Crypto Futures
Binance Crypto Futures

Binance offers 100s of USD-Margined futures contracts which are tailored for traders that seek to mitigate the volatility of crypto by allowing settlements in stablecoins.

Users on Binance also have access to 100s of coin-margined futures contracts that come in perpetual and delivery forms and are settled directly in cryptocurrencies.

Binance also offers options trading which lets traders hedge their portfolios. Binance offers options for 5 underlying assets including BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP and DOGE and over 700 contracts in total.

Binance Options Trading
Binance Options Trading

Binance’s trading platform provides a feature-rich trading system with advanced charting tools for technical analysis, and various order types to help manage risk.

At the time of writing, Binance also has the highest liquidity across both spot and futures trading with over $60 billion in 24-hour trading volume. This enables trades to be made with the lowest spreads possible which saves users money.

For those looking to earn interest on their digital assets, Binance offers a suite of financial products. The Binance earn platform is a comprehensive saving and staking hub where users can participate in staking, savings, and liquidity farming.

Binance Earn
Binance Earn

Here users can earn interest on assets such as BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and many others with flexible or fixed duration.

Binance also caters to those interested in more risky forms of investment through the Binance launchpad which gives users early access to new tokens and projects. This is a more unique product not found on Coinbase.

Binance Launchpad
Binance Launchpad

For retail users who wish to buy and sell NFTs on popular blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB, Binance also manages to satisfy these needs with its dedicated NFT section.

The exchange also offers OTC Trading for individuals and institutions interested in executing larger transactions in a private and secure manner without impacting the market.

Binance OTC Trading
Binance OTC Trading

Binance has even developed its own blockchain named Binance Smart Chain where developers can build DeFi applications and users can engage with their non-custodial wallets.

For those that don’t yet have a Web 3 wallet, Binance acquired Trust Wallet a few years ago which today is a multifaceted wallet that millions of users use to access DeFi Dapps.

Binance Web 3 Wallet
Binance Web 3 Wallet

Understanding the need for world class security, Binance provides a secure asset fund for users (SAFU) and has also implemented proof of reserves to ensure that its clients can easily verify that all assets are accounted for.

Binance Proof of Reserves
Binance Proof of Reserves
Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
Spot Trading
Yes
Yes
Yes
Futures
Yes
Yes
Yes
Perps
Yes
Yes
Yes
Margin
-
Yes
-
Options
-
Yes
-
OTC Desk
Yes
Yes
-
Copy Trading
-
Yes
Yes
Trading Bots
-
Yes
-
Staking
Yes
Yes
Yes
Lend & Borrow
Yes
Yes
Yes
NFTs
Yes
Yes
-
Web 3 Wallet
Yes
Yes
-
Debit Card
Yes
Yes
-
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk

Coinbase vs Binance Fees

When it comes to trading fees, Coinbase and Binance offer different rates for their users. Let's take a closer look at what each exchange has to offer.

First up, Coinbase charges a 0.40% spot maker fee and a 0.60% spot taker fee. The exchange also offer volume based fee reductions for users whose monthly trade volumes exceed $10,000. For users on Coinbase to reach the base fee of Binance, the would need to trade for over $100,000 during a 30-day period.

Coinbase spot fees
Coinbase spot fees

On the other hand, Binance charges a 0.10% spot maker fee and a 0.10% spot taker fee, making it one of the more affordable options for investors and traders. The exchange also offers futures trading with a maker fee of 0.02% and a taker fee of 0.04%.

Binance spot fees
Binance spot fees

Binance has it's own system that allows users to lower their trading fees by holding at least 25 BNB tokens or by exceeding $1 million in monthly trade volumes. So which exchange has the better trading fees? Binance clearly has the much lower and more competitive fee structure compared to Coinbase.

Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
Spot (mkr)
0.4%
0.1%
0.2%
Spot (tkr)
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
Futures (mkr)
-
0.02%
0%
Futures (tkr)
-
0.04%
0.02%
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk

Coinbase vs Binance Deposit Methods

Let's continue by taking a closer look at the deposit methods offered by each exchange. Coinbase supports three different fiat currencies in USD, EUR, and GBP.

The exchange offers four different deposit methods like ACH (free), wire transfer ($10 USD), SEPA ($0.15 EUR), and Swift (free). This gives Coinbase users a good range of options for depositing fiat currencies into their accounts.

Coinbase fiat deposits
Coinbase fiat deposits

On the other hand, Binance supports a more impressive 26 different fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, AUD, GBP and many others.

The exchange offers several different deposit methods, including bank transfers via Swift, Signet, SEPA, and Faster Payments (FSP), as well as deposits via Visa, Mastercard, PayID, and Advacash.

Binance fiat deposit
Binance fiat deposit

However, it's worth noting that there are fees associated with some of these deposit methods. For example, deposits made with Visa and Mastercard incur a 1.8% fee while deposits made via SEPA come with a much lower 1 EUR fee.

Overall, both Coinbase and Binance offer a good range of deposit methods for fiat currencies. Coinbase may have fewer options in terms of supported currencies but their deposit fees are generally lower.

Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
USD
ACH/Wire
Bank Transfer, SWIFT
-
EUR
SEPA
VISA, MC, SEPA
-
GBP
SWIFT
VISA, MC
-
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk

How to withdraw from Coinbase and Binance?

When it comes to withdrawing fiat currencies, both Coinbase and Binance offer a variety of options for their users. Coinbase allows for fiat withdrawals via ACH, Wire, SEPA, and Swift, while Binance offers USD withdrawals via SWIFT, EUR via SEPA, and GBP via FSP.

Coinbase fiat withdrawal fees
Coinbase fiat withdrawal fees

In terms of fees, Coinbase charges $25 for wire withdrawals and a small fee for SEPA and Swift withdrawals. Binance on the other hand charges a 1.8% withdrawal fee for fiat withdrawals with Visa and MasterCard a small 1 EUR withdrawal fee with SEPA.

Binance fiat withdrawals
Binance fiat withdrawals

When it comes to withdrawing cryptocurrencies, Coinbase charges a 0.0001 BTC withdrawal fee for Bitcoin, free ETH withdrawals, and a $3 fee when withdrawing USDT.

Binance charges even lower withdrawals fees for the same cryptocurrencies with 0.0002 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.000768 ETH for Ethereum, 0.008 SOL for Solana withdrawals and 2.5 USDT for Tether.

Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
USD
ACH/Wire/SWIFT
Bank Transfer, SWIFT
-
EUR
SEPA
Sepa, Bank Card
-
GBP
Wire/SWIFT
Bank Card
-
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk
Coinbase
Binance
MEXC
Bitcoin
0.0003 BTC
0.0002 BTC
0.0003 BTC
Ethereum
0.003 ETH
0.0008 ETH
0.0001 ETH
Solana
0.008 SOL
0.008 SOL
0.01 SOL
USDT (ERC-20)
2.9 USDT
3.2 USDT
$4 USDT
Signup
Coinbase
Your Capital is at risk.
Binance
Your Capital is at risk.
MEXC
Your Capital is at risk

Is Coinbase better than Binance?

Coinbase and Binance are two of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Coinbase as a US entity is more constrained than Binance in terms of the product and services that it can offer it's users.

Binance as an offshore entity has much less regulatory scrutiny and as such offers a much wider range of products. This means that Binance is both available in more countries, offers more features and has a larger selection of cryptocurrencies.

This wider product range has also allowed Binance to push down on trading fees which is harder for Coinbase to do with a mainly retail friendly userbase.

As such, the fees charged by Coinbase of 0.40% for makers and 0.60% for takers are much higher than the 0.10% charged by Binance for makers and takers.

In terms of fiat deposit and withdrawal options, Coinbase supports three fiat currencies tailored for the US and Europe with low cost to free deposit options while Binance supports 26 fiat currencies and several deposit methods.

Personally, I use both Coinbase and Binance at different times for different purposes. Needless to say, Coinbase is the more secure and trustworthy exchange being a publicly listed company in the US while Binance executes first and asks for forgiveness after.

On the other hand, Binance does offer more cryptocurrencies and products, lower trading fees and higher leverage than Coinbase which makes it the clear winner in this comparison.

Coinbase

Trade +240 Cryptocurrencies

Earn 5% Interest On USDC

Great UX & Beginner Friendly

Safest Crypto Exchange

Visit Coinbase
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
Binance

+350 cryptocurrencies

0.1.% Spot Fees & 125X Leverage

Spot, Futures, Perps, Margin

Cheap Deposits/Withdrawals

Visit Binance
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.

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