GAS for holding NEO on an exchange? A look at Binance

Neo is one of my go-to alts to trade. That said, I tend to keep it accessible in an exchange. I had heard that keeping it in your wallet would earn you GAS distributions. Unfortunately, it was not worth it to me to transfer to/from a wallet to trade so I never received the GAS payout despite typically holding an amount of NEO.

As I am based in the US, Bittrex has been my exchange platform of choice. I have tried a majority of exchanges and it has been my favorite by far; the interface is easy to understand, you don't have to enter your SSN to be verified for a lot of trading usability (I refuse to give out my SSN if I don't absolutely have to-why despite having a Poloniex account, I have never traded on it), and it has a ton of trading pairs.

I may have found a reason to switch though. I had been hearing about Binance as a new up and coming exchange. Eh, why switch? BECAUSE THEY DISTRIBUTE GAS TO NEO HOLDERS (See Binance's open letter to users. This is something that Bittrex has yet to do. (see one of many reddit posts wondering why Bitterex is not distributing GAS to NEO holders) In fact, I believe they are the first exchange to do so.

With this GAS discovery, I may have found enough reasons to switch my go-to exchange of choice. A few other nice features of Binance:

1. They have an app AND the interface is simple to understand. I personally prefer it to the Bitterex app (which crashes on me when I try to view charts half the time. Also, I have the version with ads-sometimes the ads pop up WITH SOUND despite my phone being on silent. Super awkward when I want to check my balance at a really boring meeting and suddenly an ad for "Vegas casino slots" is blasting...) While the online interface for Bitterix is great, the app leaves a lot to be desired.

2. Their support and team seems to be very interactive

3. REDUCED TRADING FEES!!! Buy some Binance Tokens and you receive a 50% discount on trading fees for the first year. Currently, the discount is set to decrease by some amount each year for 5 years. Regardless, 5 years of reduced fee trading!

4. They hold monthly polls that allows users to pick two new coins to add to the exchange. Cool, so we get some say in what coins we will trade.

5. Desirable coins like Neblio and IOTA not available on Bitterex are listed on Binance. While Binance currently lists fewer coins than Bitterex, there is a large selection available not listed on Bitterex. Binance is also still very new. I could see this exchange as a strong contender for a top exchange in the not too distant future.

6. Great and clear communication. Announcements are listed at the top of the home page. Older announcements are all easy to find and view. HOPEFULLY, if this exchange ever decides to de-list coins, they will post announcements in the same manner as the new listings. I HATED how I found out about coin de-listings on Bittrex-I notice one of my coins has lost 200% over night and then have to check the coin exchange page to find a little announcement about the de-listing.

I have heard the customer service is incredibly responsive as well.

1. You can add your favorite coins to a favorites list. I have been wishing that Bitterix would provide this feature for a while now. Binance for the win with that!

A few things I don't like:

1. As far as I can tell, the coins are listed by symbol only. That is great if you know the symbol already. It makes it hard when a new coin is listed and you want to do your research and you can't even find the coin name.

2. Overall interface. It isn't bad. It's way better than Kraken, liqui.io, Gdax, and Polonix. It still is not quite as user friendly as Bitterex. It is close. It is a new exchange so it may see some updates that improve this.

3. This exchange is based in China. That is fine, just a little meh considering the China FUD and all.

4. It is new, and thus unproven in reliability. Sure, they have had a great start, but until they have a proven track record, users will probably be cautious. They have only been around since July 2017.

I won't be immediately switching all my trading from Bitterex to Binance. I can't- I am a big Lisk supporter and Binance doesn't have Lisk-yet. That said, I will be adopting Binance, starting with my NEO trades.

Last, they do have a referral program. If you liked this post and want to try out Binance, click this referral link to get started. Thanks for reading! Happy trading.