Crypto.com vs Binance

This article compares Crypto.com vs. Binance: Cryptocurrency Exchange Platforms from 2022.

Crypto.com and Binance, well-known players in the crypto world, are our to-go crypto exchanges, and it is almost a must to put them against each other and see which one takes the lead.

Based on our experience, Crypto.com takes the lead in daily use in the real world for using their Visa Crypto card and payouts, while Binance takes the lead in trading for more experienced users. Big kudos to their mobile apps too.

Both exchanges are trusted, well recognized, and established, so they are our top pick when choosing crypto platforms.

We gathered all the most relevant information for you and prepared a detailed comparison to give you enough information for making the right choice for yourself.

Let's get started with a quick overview of both!

At a Glance

Overview: Crypto.com

Crypto.com was founded by Kris Marszalek, Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Rafael Melo in 2016, and it has since then become one of the fastest-growing crypto apps.

This exchange offers more than 150 different currencies. It is available in over 100 markets, has reasonable fees, provides a crypto wallet with a mobile app, and great discounts if you hold their Crypto.com Coin (CRO), like lower trading fees, higher staking interest rates, and rewards.

One of the most significant products of crypto.com, in our opinion, is their cryptocurrency credit cards (metal ones with up to 8% rewards on all spending).

UPDATE 25.07.2022: They obviously started to shrink the cashback rewards and dropped them to 5% on the highest tier at the moment!

The crypto.com app currently has 10 million users and 3,000 employees.

In 2021, Crypto.com acquired Staples Center in Los Angeles and renamed it to Crypto.com Arena.

Overview: Binance

The Binance exchange was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, and it has since then become one of the world's leading crypto exchanges.

They were initially based in China but moved their headquarters out to the Cayman Islands due to regulations. Binance.com is now available worldwide except in the US. In the US, you can use binance.US, a separate company to Binance, and a limited version of binance.com that only offers about 53 cryptocurrencies for exchange to US residents.

By trading volume, Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange. They offer competitive rates, and the platform is relatively simple for beginners and offers a complexity that more experienced traders need.

Main Features in detail: Crypto.com vs Binance

Cryptocurrency wallet

When signing up with Crypto.com, you can store your cryptos in the app (custodial wallet) or in Crypto.com Defi Wallet (non-custodial) to have complete control of your private keys. You can safely store, sell or trade your cryptocurrencies.

With Crypto.com, your private keys are encrypted locally on your device with Secure Enclave, protected by Biometric and 2-Factor Authentication.

While Crypto.com offers both custodial and non-custodial wallets, Binance offers custodial and encourage using Trust Wallet, the official crypto wallet of Binance, to keep your crypto safe.

Cryptocurrency Exchange

Binance is the biggest crypto exchange by trading volume and offers 300+ currencies you can trade with (binance.US 50+), while Crypto.com 100+. Both are regularly adding new ones.

Both offer an NFT marketplace to trade digital art and collectibles available on Blockchain. Unfortunately, NFTs are not available on Binance.US.

Trading on Binance has no deposit fees and very competitive trading fees (maximum 0.1%); you can further reduce the fees if you're paying your fees in their native Binance Coin BNB. Low trading fees also apply to trading on Crypto.com, and like with Binance; you can further reduce your fees by staking their native CRO token.

We'll touch on fees more in the following paragraphs.

Compared to Crypto.com, Binance can be a bit overwhelming for a beginner; their exchange is great for experienced traders offering detailed charts, different trading options, and possibilities to create limit orders and set stop-limits.

Visa Cards

Crypto.com made a fantastic bridge between crypto and the real world. They offer a wide range of Visa (metal) cards with cash-back opportunities. The rewards depend on your holdings of their native coin CRO and go from the basic card (no CRO stake necessary) with 1% cash-back on purchases to up to 8% for those taking over $400,000 in CRO.

Binance also offers a free Visa card with up to 8% cash-back on all eligible purchases. The card is free; Binance will not charge any administrative or processing fees; however, third-party fees might still be applicable.

While Crypto.com Visa Card is available worldwide, Binance doesn't offer Visa Cards to customers in the USA.

Other benefits of Crypto.com Metal Cards are discounts for Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Expedia, Airbnb, etc. The benefits are based on the type of Metal Card and the amount of CRO you hold.

Mobile Pay

Crypto.com's Pay Feature on the mobile app enables you to gift cards (availability varies by country), pay any merchant, buy rare NFTs (currently 30+ tokens), send cryptos to your friends, top up your or your friends' prepaid phone with crypto.

Depending on whether you stake CRO, you are entitled to different bonuses. E.g.: purchasing gift cards will get you from 1.25% to 10%, sending Cryptos to your friends will get you 10% rewards with a $10,000 CRO stake.

Binance offers a Pay option as well, however, without any additional bonuses. The feature allows you to send and receive cryptos from others.

Binance Pay is currently only available to eligible users on Binance.com, not Binance.US.

Fees: Crypto.com vs Binance

Trading fees

Both platforms charge maker and taker fees based on 30 days trading volume generated by the trader. Binance offers some of the lowest fees for all non-commission-free exchanges, but Crypto.com is quite close, so if you are not a frequent trader on both, the difference would not be noticeable.

With Crypto.com, you can reduce your trading fees if you stake large amounts of CRO (up to 100%). Trading fee discounts are given in the form of CRO rebates, and to receive CRO rebates, you must stake CRO on the Crypto.com Exchange and pay trading fees with CRO.

You can see the details about the Crypto.com fees by following this link.

Binance offers a special 25% discount on trading fees who hold a predetermined amount of BNB.

You can see the details about the Binance fees by following this link.

Withdrawal and Deposit Fees

Neither Crypto.com nor Binance charges deposit fees. However, they do charge flat Withdrawal Fees based on cryptocurrency.

Card Fees

Crypto.com Credit Cards vary by tier. There are no monthly, annual, or delivery fees. However, they all charge a 2% ATM Withdrawal Fee after a monthly limit which ranges from $200 to $1,000.

Card Replacement Fee: $7.00

The daily spending limits for Binance Card are EUR 870 for Virtual Card and EUR 8,700 for a physical card. The daily ATM limit is EUR 290. Transaction fees (Payment and ATM withdrawals) are up to 0.9%

The card replacement fee is EUR 25.

Safety: Crypto.com vs Binance

Both Crypto.com and Binance adhere to high-security standards to protect your crypto assets and all your personal information.

Crypto.com is using various measures to keep your account safe, to name them:

• Multi-Factor Authentication including password, biometrics, email, phone, and authenticator.
• 24-Hour Withdrawal Lock which disables withdrawals for an address in the first 24 hours after it is whitelisted.
• Whitelisting external addresses through email verification is mandatory.
• Cold Storage (partnership with Ledger) - 100% of user cryptocurrencies are held offline in cold storage
• Advanced Security: Crypto.com is the first cryptocurrency company in the world to have ISO/IEC 27701:2019, ISO/IEC 27001:2013, and PCI-DSS v3.2.1 Level 1 compliance independently assessed at Tier 4 and Privacy Frameworks.
• Bug Bounty: They Encourage responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities via the bug bounty program on Hacker One.
• Fiat Insurance: for US residents, USD funds are held at Metropolitan Commercial Bank and are insured for up to $250,000.
• The Anti-Phishing Code (a newly added feature) allows you to set a unique code to be included in all your Crypto.com notification emails.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Crypto.com was hit with the first hacker attack that resulted in the loss of $30M from users’ accounts. Crypto.com reimbursed for the loss and implemented additional security measures.

Binance experienced a hack in 2019 where hackers stole $40M worth of Bitcoin. Binance was very transparent with the hack and compensated the affected users. It is still considered a safe exchange.

Binance offers the security measures below:

• Two-Faction Authentication: Binance supports two-factor authentication, including hardware, app-based, SMS, and email methods.
• Trust Wallet: Official wallet for iPhone and Android users.
• Withdrawal Address Whitelist: This feature allows users to whitelist specific crypto wallets they want to allow withdrawals for.
• Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) created in July 2018: Binance started allocating 10% of all trading fees received into the fund to provide insurance to potential hacks.
• The Anti-Phishing Code allows you to set a unique code to be included in all your Binance notification emails.

Both Crypto.com and Binance are considered safe to use.

💡 At this point, it's important to mention that besides the security measures that exchanges are using, it is essential that you make sure you always use a unique and strong password to make sure you protect your online funds. We use 1password to store our passwords, and all recovery phrases in encrypted files on a USB stick are safely stored. Please note that if your account is breached or you forget your password or lose your recovery phrases, you will most likely say goodbye to your crypto funds forever. We will write more about safety in the crypto scene in a separate blog post.

Sign up rewards: Crypto.com vs. Binance

At this point, you already know better which of these two are the best choice for you, based on your needs.

So let's have a quick look at the sign-up rewards, so you can make sure to get some free money when joining.

When signing up to Crypto.com Exchange with a referral link or referral ID, you are eligible for up to US$50 worth of CRO of sign-up bonus, and with Binance, you can earn up to US$100 when completing three tasks:

Crypto.com vs Binance: Our verdict

We are using both daily, so it's not a secret that we like both, Crypto.com and Binance. Depending on your use case and your needs, you can safely choose one or another, or both, of course.

If you are a beginner and are just looking for a safe place to store your cryptos and use them in 'real life', then Crypto.com is an excellent solution. Their mobile app enables you to transfer your fiat money to crypto and vice-versa quickly.

If you are more experienced in the crypto world and are looking for a good exchange where you can trade between different coins, then Binance is a better choice.

Fees are relatively low on both, a bit lower on Binance, but unless you are a daily trader moving larger amounts around, you will not notice a difference between the two.

Crypto.com is a better choice for you if you are located in the US, as Binance.US is just a poor copy of Binance.

They both offer excellent mobile apps, but we like Crypto.com App and Visa card better for everyday use.

So depending on what you are looking for, one or another is a great and safe choice.