At a glance
- Spot trading, regular user
- 0.1% maker · 0.1% taker
- Paying fees with BNB
- 25% discount (0.075%)
- United States
- Not available on Binance.com · Binance.US is separate
- Proof of Reserves
- Self-published, with zk-SNARK verification
Regular-user spot rate for makers and takers. VIP tiers and pair-specific promotions can lower it.
What stands out
- Very deep order books and a wide choice of coins and pairs.
- A low 0.1% standard spot fee, reduced by 25% when you pay with BNB.
- Proof of Reserves that lets you check your own balance is included, using zero-knowledge proofs.
- An emergency user-protection fund (SAFU) set up in 2018.
What to weigh up
- The 2023 US guilty plea, US$4.3 billion in penalties and a court-appointed monitor.
- A A$10 million penalty in Australia in 2026 over how its derivatives business classified clients.
- Not available to US residents, and what you can use varies a lot by country.
- Reserve reports are published by Binance itself rather than a full independent audit.
Fees: low, with a BNB discount
Regular users pay 0.1% as both maker and taker on spot trades. If you hold BNB in your spot wallet and turn on the BNB fee deduction, spot and margin fees drop by 25%, to 0.075%. VIP levels, based on 30-day volume and BNB holdings, lower fees further. At a notional US$1,000 trade, 0.1% is US$1.
- Binance also runs zero-fee or reduced-fee promotions on particular pairs from time to time, and the BNB discount doesn't always stack with them.
- Check the fee shown on your order screen.
Who can use Binance
Binance's terms list the United States as a restricted location, along with places such as Ontario in Canada and Malaysia. Americans use Binance.US, a separately operated platform with its own terms, fees and list of unsupported states.
- Elsewhere, the features you get depend on where you live, including which deposit methods, products and protections apply.
- Read the terms for your country before funding an account.
The 2023 US guilty plea
In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty in the US to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to register as a money transmitting business and violating US sanctions law. The Justice Department required US$4.3 billion in penalties and forfeiture and imposed an independent monitor. Founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program and stepped down as CEO.
- The CFTC's parallel case was part of the same set of resolutions.
- The case concerned compliance failures, not the loss of customer funds, but it's essential context for how the business was run.
The Australian derivatives penalty
In Australia, ASIC sued Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Binance Australia Derivatives, in December 2024. It alleged that hundreds of retail investors had been wrongly classed as wholesale clients, so they missed out on required consumer protections when trading crypto derivatives between July 2022 and April 2023.
- Binance admitted the contraventions, and in 2026 the Federal Court ordered a A$10 million penalty.
- About A$13.1 million had already been paid to affected clients in 2023, and the business's Australian financial services licence was cancelled at its own request in April 2023.
Reserves and the SAFU fund
Binance publishes Proof of Reserves reports. Since 2023 they use zk-SNARK proofs, which let you confirm your balance is included without exposing other users' balances, and check that no account has a negative balance hiding liabilities.
- These reports are published by Binance rather than being a full independent audit of its finances.
- Its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), set up in 2018, is meant to cover users in extraordinary events, but it isn't insurance in the regulated sense.
Nodora’s take
Binance offers low fees and huge liquidity, which is why it's so widely used. Its regulatory record in the US and Australia is the main thing to weigh, along with checking exactly which entity and protections apply in your country.
If you use it, keep only what you're actively trading on the exchange. We have not opened or funded an account as part of this review, and Nodora has no referral relationship with Binance.
Binance questions, answered
What are Binance’s trading fees?
Regular users pay 0.1% as maker and taker on spot trades. Paying fees with BNB gives a 25% discount, bringing it to 0.075%. VIP levels and some promotions lower fees further.
Is Binance safe to use?
Binance publishes Proof of Reserves and has an emergency user fund, but it has a serious compliance record, including a 2023 US guilty plea and a 2026 Australian penalty. No exchange is risk-free; keep only what you need on it.
Can Americans use Binance?
Not Binance.com. Its terms list the United States as a restricted location. Americans can use Binance.US, a separate platform with its own terms and unsupported states.
Why did Binance pay US$4.3 billion?
In 2023 Binance pleaded guilty to US anti-money-laundering, unlicensed money transmission and sanctions violations. The Justice Department required US$4.3 billion in penalties and forfeiture and appointed a monitor.
Does Nodora earn a commission from Binance?
No. Nodora has no referral relationship with Binance, and the link on this page goes to its official website.
More on Binance: fees explained · is it safe?
Sources & last check
Checked 26 October 2026. Provider material describes the provider’s own service; it is not independent verification of safety or performance.
- Binance: Fee structure on Binance
- Binance: How to use BNB to pay for fees and get 25% off
- Binance spot trading fee schedule
- Binance terms of use
- US Department of Justice: Binance and CEO plead guilty to federal charges in $4B resolution
- CFTC: Binance and its CEO agree to pay $2.85 billion
- ASIC 24-283MR: ASIC sues Binance Australia Derivatives
- ASIC 26-055MR: Binance Australia Derivatives ordered to pay $10 million penalty
- Binance: How zk-SNARKs improve Binance’s Proof of Reserves
