Coinbase made headlines recently as the first crypto exchange to go public on the Nasdaq, and established firms like Fidelity are adding crypto to their investment offerings. The adoption of online payments using crypto is growing too, thanks to brands ranging from legacy publisher (and NextAdvisor partner) TIME to digital payment facilitator PayPal and international auction house Sotheby’s.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a decentralized database that various network participants administer. Blockchain is a type of DLT where transactions are recorded using a hash, which is an immutable cryptographic signature. This means that if a single block in a chain is modified, it will be immediately clear that the chain has been tampered with. Private and centralized blockchains, on the other hand, exist in which all of the computers that make up the network are owned and operated by a single company.

You can do a number of things with cryptocurrencies, depending on which one you own. On the most basic level, the definition of a cryptocurrency asset is that it can be used to send value from one person to another or to pay for goods and services.
Some experts have already expressed concern that the inclusion of the Binance Coin on the platform may prove controversial in the United States. While Binance.US is described as a subsidiary, its business model might draw attention from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission based on the fact that BNB token acts as both a security and a utility token. As such, it could pass the so-called Howey test for being security, thus potentially becoming a snag on the Binance’s path to establishing itself in the US.