Binance and Huobi are two prominent cryptocurrency exchanges that were originally founded in China. Once China decided to shut down exchanges, Binance and Huobi both had to relocate in order to continue operations. By looking at their individual exchange ratings, we can get a story of how their fortunes fared in the years since then.
Binance: Dominating the crypto industry
Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, and has been for a couple of years. They relocated their headquarters to Malta from China, and have done fairly well for themselves since then. Not content to simply serve as a cryptocurrency exchange, they have their own BNB token, based on their BNB blockchain. In recent days, they’ve been trying to encourage new tokens to base themselves on the BNB blockchain, as well as working to convince existing coins to switch to BNB from ERC20 or other protocols.
What’s more, Binance is getting heavily involved in the newest form of cryptocurrency fundraising: initial exchange offerings (IEOs). In essence, blockchain projects provide Binance with their tokens, and Binance handles the administration of the crowdsale.
Binance’s founder Changpeng Zhao (popularly known as CZ) is a polarizing figure in the crypto community. Some see him as a brilliant businessman, but others feel that Binance has too much power in the crypto economy and CZ has too much influence.
Still, there’s no denying that Binance provides an easy to use platform with a fair amount of trading volume which is attractive to users looking for a good exchange experience. For a full Binance exchange review, click here.
Huobi: An exchange in decline
Huobi has been in business since 2013, which is a long time in this relatively new field. Their platform boasts millions of customers and access to over 190 cryptocurrency trading pairs. They’ve long been considered one of the top 20 crypto exchange platforms, but their rank has been slipping over the years due to several troubling issues.
Perhaps the biggest issue is that Huobi and OKCoin were both found guilty of investing idle user funds in “wealth-management products.” This is concerning behavior — even if users aren’t actively using their funds, they should be considered off-limits. An exchange should never be making use of users’ cryptocurrency for other investments!
This investment decision could be seen as an answer to how China’s ban on crypto caused crypto values to plunge. Many people have made bad decisions in the wake of adverse market conditions — but not everyone has such access to other peoples’ funds!
Huobi has a strong team behind the scenes, and great cryptocurrency offerings. But their past behavior can certainly give investors pause as to whether they can be trusted with their funds. For a full review of Huobi exchange, click here.
Exchange reviews can reveal so much
So often in the past, exchanges were ranked only by their volume, a stat that is easily inflated. Or they were rated on whether they had been hacked — when hacks are only one of the risks that users’ funds face.
When you sign up with an exchange, you are trusting them with your funds, crypto and perhaps fiat alike. You have to know that your funds won’t be diverted to other purposes, nor that the exchange will close overnight and take your bitcoin with them. But you’re also trusting that you’ll be gaining access to enough markets and liquidity to allow you to make advantageous trades.
Doing your due diligence is a key part of choosing a cryptocurrency exchange. Checking an exchange review list can give you a good starting point for your own research. Any exchange with a low rating can easily be disregarded. You know they’re not going to be the right place for you to trade your cryptocurrency. You can set a minimum acceptable ranking for an exchange, and then from there, compare the exchanges with a higher rating to see which one has the right features for you. Factors to consider:
-Which exchanges do business in your country?
-Can you make fiat deposits?
-How many trading pairs are available?
-Is the site easy to use? Do you like how it looks? Aesthetics shouldn’t be your main consideration, but they can make a great tie-breaker!
-Does the site offer support in your native language? If you have a problem, you’ll want to be able to get the help you need.
There are hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges out there, and more being launched all the time. With a little research, and the help of an exchange rating system, you can find the one that is right for you. Click here for a list of top cryptocurrency exchanges.