Binance

Binance is one of the largest and most well-known crypto exchanges in the world, thanks largely in part to its global presence without an actual physical headquarters. Its focus on making the platform available to most countries also makes it one of the most accessible.

One of the advantages of Binance compared to most rivals is the sheer variety of projects and coins covered under its Staking options. As of the time of writing (May 2022), there are some 100 different staking coins with a diverse range of sectors and Annual Percentage Yield (APYs), which is the rough estimate of how much you’ll earn in a year of uninterrupted staking.

Binance also offers the users the chance to “lock up” their tokens in varying periods, from as few as 10 days, to as many as 90 days. The thing to watch out here is that longer periods don’t necessarily result in higher gains. For example, Solana (SOL) staking currently offers a higher APY for 90 days (13.47%) than for 30 days (9.28%). On the other hand, if choosing to stake Shiba Inu (SHIB), you gain much higher APY on a 10-day lock-up period (10.12%) than when choosing a 30-day lock-up period (0.52%).

The longer the lock-up period, the higher the minimum amount of crypto tokens you need to commit. For example, only 200 SHIB is needed to stake for 10 days, but 1 million SHIB is needed for 30 days.

It is unclear what contributes to the significant variance, though it appears to be that more established coins like SOL will grant higher APYs for longer lock ups.

Rates to change daily but Binance also offers promotional APYs from time to time, though these tend to be limited to smaller amounts at short lock-up periods. Each staking pool also has a maximum allocation and the promotional offers can vanish soon after release.

Significantly, Binance offers Ethereum (ETH) staking for 10.12%, possibly the highest among rivals. Because ETH is an established crypto and is the largest staking network possible, this makes it an excellent choice for small ETH holders to earn large staking rewards.

On the other hand, Binance does seem to have a reputation for poor customer support response times, so if you feel you might require assistance from the platform, be prepared to wait.

Binance staking summary

• Daily payouts
• Roughly 3.5% APY on stablecoins
• Up to 200% on some crypto
• Lock-up periods from 10 to 90 days
• UK trading license
• Promotional staking offers
• Money transmitter license in several US states

Pro: Over 10% APY on ETH staking.

Con: Possibly long waiting times with customer support.