Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and CEO of Binance, said centralized exchanges are not that bad, and decentralization is not a cure-all refuting a recent comment by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin that those exchanges should “burn in hell”. The exchange, which carried out its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) about a year ago, quickly turned not only into an active trading hub, but also in a hub for the crypto community.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1016816438034591744
In the meantime, even the most popular decentralized exchanges are still quite far from the capacity of centralized marketplaces. In the years since the launch of Bitcoin, it was precisely centralized exchanges which helped the price climb by gathering a community of traders and adding liquidity.
The bad reputation of exchanges springs from the earlier years of crypto trading when exchanges would disappear or cause losses. Exchanges like Bittrex and Poloniex also suffered DDOS attacks.
At the same time, decentralized exchanges also saw exploits, such as the JavaScript theft of private keys from the EtherDelta exchange. Recently, the Bancor ecosystem got exploited via a smart contract.
Binance has seen two cases of API exploits, and one mysterious fast withdrawal of 7,000 Bitcoin following a series of flash pumps for a handful of coins. However, the exchange is seen as one of the most advanced of its kind, handling technical matters with precision. Binance has also kept a positive public profile for its regular communication. Most recently, the exchange participated in the relief efforts for the floods in Western Japan.
Additionally, Binance has been instrumental in some of the latest trends and technical challenges of the crypto world. In the past, exchanges rarely assisted with hard forks. Binance, however, has assisted with services which were previously available only by personally using the capabilities of a wallet. The exchange has distributed GAS dividends to NEO holders, and has also allowed airdropped coins to reach those who used the exchange wallet.
Additionally, Binance has participated in the mainnet launch of TRON (TRX) and ICON (ICX), and will also swap the coins for VeChain (VEN). Recently, Binance also updated the smart contract for Augur (REP) and re-opened deposits.
In the future, Binance will release a new version of the Binance Coin (BNB) digital asset, which will run on its own blockchain, and there are also plans for a decentralized exchange in addition to the centralized marketplace.
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