[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"compare:binance-vs-coinbase::en":3},{"a":4,"b":36},{"slug":5,"name":6,"grade":7,"summary":8,"factors":9,"logo_url":27,"updated_at":28,"has_affiliate":29,"status":30,"review_body":31,"meta_title":32,"meta_description":33,"keywords":34,"reviewed_at":27,"published_at":35},"binance","Binance","B-","Binance publishes a self-attested proof-of-reserves page and a $1bn SAFU user-protection fund, which covered the May 2019 hot-wallet theft of about 7,000 BTC in full; it settled U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions charges for $4.3bn in November 2023 and remains under a five-year DOJ compliance monitorship.",[10,14,17,20,24],{"key":11,"status":12,"note":13},"por","warn","Publishes Merkle-tree proof of reserves covering 30-plus assets, most recently a 1 January 2026 snapshot of 636,535 BTC, but the reports are self-published rather than independently audited.",{"key":15,"status":12,"note":16},"custody","Cold\u002Fhot storage split is not disclosed; we could not confirm it from a primary source.",{"key":18,"status":12,"note":19},"regulation","Holds an ADGM (UAE) authorisation and, via Binance.US, money-transmitter licences in 30 states (NMLS ID 1906829); pleaded guilty to U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations in November 2023, paying $4.3bn and accepting a five-year DOJ compliance monitorship running to 2028.",{"key":21,"status":22,"note":23},"insurance","pass","SAFU user-protection fund, established in 2018 and topped up to $1bn in November 2022; it covered the May 2019 hack in full.",{"key":25,"status":12,"note":26},"incidents","About 7,000 BTC (roughly $40m at the time) drained from hot wallets on 7 May 2019; the SAFU fund covered the loss in full and no user lost funds. No platform breach of comparable scale has been reported since.",null,"2026-08-11T12:26:59+00:00",false,"active","\u003Cp>Binance earns a B- on our five-factor rubric. It discloses more than most venues of its size, and the two things it does not disclose are the two that matter most on the day an exchange gets into trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>What checks out\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>The SAFU user-protection fund is the strongest single item on the record. Set up in 2018 and topped up to $1bn in November 2022, it covered the May 2019 hot-wallet theft in full — a fund tested in public, rather than one described in a policy document. Binance also publishes Merkle-tree proof of reserves across more than 30 assets; the most recent snapshot we recorded, dated 1 January 2026, covers 636,535 BTC.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Where the evidence stops\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Those reserve reports are self-published. No independent accountant signs them, which makes them a claim you can inspect rather than one somebody else has checked — proof of reserves is not an audit, and here it is not even attested. The cold\u002Fhot storage split is not disclosed at all, and we could not confirm it from a primary source. On licensing, Binance holds an ADGM authorisation in the UAE and, through Binance.US, money-transmitter licences in 30 states under NMLS ID 1906829. It also pleaded guilty in November 2023 to U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations, paid $4.3bn, and accepted a five-year DOJ compliance monitorship that runs to 2028.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>How to read the grade\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>A monitored exchange is not the same as an unwatched one: the monitorship exists because the failures were established, and it also means somebody is now checking. The B- describes a venue with real, tested loss cover and a real enforcement history, whose reserve and custody disclosures still rest on its own word. About 7,000 BTC left its hot wallets in May 2019 and no user lost money, because the fund paid. That is the shape of the risk here.\u003C\u002Fp>","Binance safety review: B- — $1bn SAFU fund, $4.3bn US fine","Binance grades B-. Its $1bn SAFU fund covered the 2019 hot-wallet theft in full, but reserve reports are self-published and a DOJ monitorship runs to 2028.",[],"2026-08-04T23:13:18+00:00",{"slug":37,"name":38,"grade":39,"summary":40,"factors":41,"logo_url":27,"updated_at":28,"has_affiliate":29,"status":30,"review_body":52,"meta_title":53,"meta_description":54,"keywords":55,"reviewed_at":27,"published_at":35},"coinbase","Coinbase","B","Coinbase is a publicly traded, SEC-reporting U.S. company licensed in 45 states and holding a New York BitLicense, and the SEC's 2023 case against it was dismissed with prejudice in February 2025; it runs no crypto-specific proof-of-reserves programme and its last disclosed crime-insurance figure dates from 2019.",[42,44,46,48,50],{"key":11,"status":12,"note":43},"Runs no exchange-wide proof-of-reserves programme; reserve assurance rests on its Deloitte-audited filings as an SEC-reporting public company, plus per-asset attestations for wrapped tokens such as cbBTC.",{"key":15,"status":12,"note":45},"Coinbase Custody is an NYDFS-regulated qualified custodian, but the cold\u002Fhot storage split is not disclosed and we could not confirm it from a primary source.",{"key":18,"status":22,"note":47},"New York BitLicense, FinCEN MSB registration, UK FCA registration FRN 900635 and licences in 45 U.S. states; paid a $100m NYDFS consent order in January 2023, and the SEC's 2023 unregistered-exchange suit was dismissed with prejudice on 27 February 2025.",{"key":21,"status":12,"note":49},"A $255m crime policy covering hot-wallet assets was disclosed in 2019; Coinbase still advertises commercial crime cover for custodied assets but has not confirmed a current figure.",{"key":25,"status":22,"note":51},"No confirmed platform-level breach of customer funds found in our research.","\u003Cp>Coinbase is the most heavily licensed venue in this corpus and one of the very few that files audited accounts with a securities regulator. It still scores a B rather than higher, because being a public company is not the same as showing readers what you hold.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>What checks out\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Regulation is the clean factor. Coinbase holds a New York BitLicense, a FinCEN MSB registration, UK FCA registration FRN 900635 and licences in 45 U.S. states — every one of those checkable on a public register. The SEC's 2023 unregistered-exchange suit was dismissed with prejudice on 27 February 2025. A $100m NYDFS consent order from January 2023 sits on the same record and belongs beside it. We found no confirmed platform-level breach of customer funds.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Where the evidence stops\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>There is no exchange-wide proof-of-reserves programme. Reserve assurance rests on Deloitte-audited filings made as an SEC-reporting public company, plus per-asset attestations for wrapped tokens such as cbBTC. That is stronger than nothing, and weaker than a Merkle-tree proof you can check your own balance against. Coinbase Custody is an NYDFS-regulated qualified custodian, but the cold\u002Fhot split is not published and we could not confirm it from a primary source. The last crime-insurance figure we can point to — $255m covering hot-wallet assets — was disclosed in 2019; the company still advertises commercial crime cover for custodied assets without confirming a current number.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>How to read the grade\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Coinbase's protections are mostly institutional: audited accounts, a regulated custodian, a supervised licence book. They are meaningful, and they are not the same thing as a cryptographic proof you can verify yourself. The B says the paperwork is in order, and that the reader-verifiable evidence is thinner than the paperwork suggests.\u003C\u002Fp>","Coinbase safety review: B — licences yes, proof of reserves no","Coinbase grades B. An SEC-reporting public company licensed in 45 states with a NY BitLicense, but it runs no proof of reserves and no current insurance figure.",[]]