Sign up for Binance, the lowest-fee bitcoin exchange in the US, and get $15
*** NOTE ***
Much has changed (for the worse) since I wrote this review in November 2019. As of April 2021, their customer support is now absolute shit, and it takes an eternity to verify new accounts. They're not a scam, and you will be able to cash out fairly quickly, but expect long waits for customer support, as long as MONTHS to get verified in some cases. I would NOT recommend Binance to new users at this point, even thought they support trading DOGE.
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So here's my honest review of binance.us, a LEGAL bitcoin exchange for the US:
Fees: Excellent
Reputation: Excellent
Cryptos supported: Excellent
Transaction speed: Good
Website: Good
Withdrawal process: Good
Deposit process: Okay
Signup ease: Okay
Customer service: Bad
0.1% fees on buys or sells, which is great. That means you can sell $10k worth of BTC for $10. It's negligible. Compare that to 2% for Gemini and Coinbase, which would cost you $200 for the same transaction. Wow.
Deposits have no fees. Withdrawals in BTC or taking out cash via ACH is also free. The one dumb thing is that each ACH has a maximum of $5k, but you can do multiple transactions. I did ACH transactions on there recently and it hit my bank with no problem, after a few days.
Binance has a good reputation, is now regulated in 42 US states, and is unlikely to run off with your $ or BTC.
They support a ton of different cryptocurrencies, so you can buy/sell/trade other cryptos besides BTC. Very nice feature.
The website can be a bit confusing, but once you're used to it, all of the functions you need to buy and sell crypto (including for US dollars) are there.
The initial identity verification process can be a bit slow, so give it a day or so to complete. They claim much of it takes "1 minute" or "1-5 minutes", yet I found that not to be true. I got stuck on Step #2, and it took a day to get verified. Not sure why they claim "1-5 minutes" when it wasn't at all. It's a one-time process, though, so once you've gotten that out of the way, you won't have to deal with it again.
The customer service sucks. That's the one downside. It is very slow, and sometimes I don't even get an answer. Funny enough, my two questions actually resolved themselves before they found the time to answer me days later. That's good... I guess. But if you need help from customer support, don't expect much.
Do I recommend Binance? Yes.
Note that the following states CANNOT use Binance US: Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, New York, Texas, Vermont and Washington. If you are in any other state, you CAN use Binance legally.
Do you want to sign up and get $15?
Use this link: https://www.binance.us/?ref=35029165
Or if it asks for a referral code, just enter 35029165.
This will help both of us. We will each get $15 when you fully verify your account (even if you don't deposit any BTC or money). However, you need to make $100 worth of trades on their platform before you can withdraw the money. However, these trades can all be with that $15 you were given, so it really is zero risk.
Important: If you are planning upon depositing with ACH or E-Check, you will need to wait 10 days before taking any crypto you buy off the site! This restriction does NOT apply to wire transfer deposits or deposits via any cryptocurrency. So if your plan is to buy crypto using ACH or e-checks, Binance probably isn't the best option for you, unless you have 10 days to wait. Read their policy on deposits for more info. If you aren't going to buy bitcoin with ACH, you can ignore this.
You will also get your own referral code, but please don't post it on PFA. This is my site, so I'm only allowing my own referral code to be posted here.
This review is honest. I wouldn't bullshit you guys and steer you toward a service I don't personally use.
