Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, founded in 2017 and home to the deepest perpetual futures liquidity in the market, from BTCUSDT down to long-tail altcoin pairs.

Headquartered in Dubai and led by CEO Richard Teng, it serves more than 260 million users across 180+ countries, offering perpetuals at up to 125x leverage alongside 350+ spot assets, options, and margin trading.

Binance is licensed in major hubs including the UAE, Japan, and Australia, backs users with a $1 billion SAFU insurance fund held in Bitcoin, and publishes Proof of Reserves so anyone can verify assets are backed at a minimum 1:1 ratio. EU access is restricted while it pursues MiCA authorization.

Gate is the fourth-largest crypto perpetuals venue and one of the oldest exchanges still operating, founded in 2013 by Dr. Lin Han and serving more than 49 million users after its group-wide rebrand from Gate.io. The platform reported $3.8 trillion in 2024 trading volume, with contract trading contributing $2 trillion of it.

Its perpetuals platform spans 560+ pairs at up to 125x leverage in USDT and BTC-margined variants, backed by a unified account, portfolio margin, and a dual-price liquidation system keyed to external spot indexes. Gate also leads every centralized exchange in stock perpetuals open interest, holding nearly double Bybit's total as equity contracts become the market's fastest-growing segment.

Its regulatory map is wider than most offshore rivals can claim. A MiCA license from Malta's MFSA covers the EU alongside a full VARA license in Dubai, and licensed local entities serve Japan through the Coin Master acquisition and Australia under AUSTRAC registration.