You have one month to get out of Binance.com. Here’s what you should do.
Binance will be terminating most services in Singapore by Oct 26. Don’t panic sell. Here’s what you should do instead.
Binance.com issued an announcement in Singapore that it will be terminating services such as “fiat deposit services, spot trading of cryptocurrencies, the purchase of cryptocurrencies through fiat channels and liquid swap”. That means that you’ll not be able to perform the majority of transactions through the Binance.com app and website in Singapore. This stoppage will commence on 26th October 4am.
If you still intend to trade crypto, move to another crypto exchange.
Can I still access Binance with a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?
Probably not. When you first signed up for an account with Binance, you were required to perform identity verification. In which, they recorded your country of birth to be Singapore. Using a VPN will unlikely grant you access to the discontinued features.
What features are still available?
Your crypto wallet will still remain. However, just note that you will not be able to sell your assets into USDT. For instance, if I have 2 Ethereum, I’ll not be able to trade that to USDT come the 26th.
Notably, staking will still be available. If you are currently staking your Binance wrapped Ethereum (BETH), you can put your mind at ease. In fact, withdrawing from the stake now before it matures will incur a loss on you.
The Binance savings plan will also be available. However, you will have to use the existing crypto assets in your trading wallet to deposit into the savings plan. The savings offerings may not change, though the APYs are generally lower than if you were to stake your assets.
Should I sell off my assets?
The crypto market is going through a huge fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) storm right now, causing the prices to be significantly lower than their all-time highs in May. Assets are also increasingly being underbought, signalling a potential rebound.
However, if you do not intend to participate in cryptocurrency trading anymore, selling it should be done properly to minimise loss. This article from Investopedia offers 5 strategies to sell off your assets properly.
How to continue trading
To continue trading, you could set up an account in another crypto exchange. Huobi and Kucoin are good alternatives to Binance. Here is a summary of the steps you can take to withdraw your crypto into another address:
- Log in
- Click on Withdraw
- Click Crypto
- Select the Crypto to withdraw
- Select the network
- Add recipient address
- Enter amount to withdraw
- Perform security verification
For an in-depth tutorial, check out this guide by Binance.
Make sure you perform your identity verification for the crypto exchange you will be moving to before shifting your funds. Accounts with incomplete verifications are generally less liquid and have lower trading limits. Check out this tutorial on setting up an account on Huobi.
Fortune coin is listed on Kirin Exchange, and you can access higher market cap pairs such as BTC and ETH there.
Get a hardware wallet
Another great option is to get a hardware wallet. These wallets are more secure and you actually own the private key access to them instead of crypto exchanges, where they are custodial — meaning that the exchange holds the private keys.
Some popular hardware wallets include Ledger and Trezor.
The downside of hardware wallets is the cost of owning them. The typical price goes for about $100 and is not able to store most of the lower-cap altcoins. Do make sure your coins are supported by the hardware wallet before purchasing.
Conclusion
The crypto industry is going through a major overhaul right now. This means that certain cryptocurrencies may be adversely affected by regulatory policies. For instance, Huobi token dropped almost 50% with news that crypto trading in China will be illegal.
That’s why diversification is incredibly important. Check out this article to find out some of the best strategies to lower your risk.
You can also find out more about other new altcoin cryptocurrencies to buy here.
Do note that this article is meant to be purely educational and not financial advice. Please perform your own research before making any investment decisions.
