Who is the "most sincere in the crypto world"? A depth review of the C2C services of the three top exchanges: Binance, OKX, and Huobi.

Who is the “most sincere” C2C in the crypto world? After all, in the crypto world where “traps” are deep, only “sincerity” wins people's hearts.

Especially as the market fell from its high in November, the cries of “the bear market is here” echoed one after another, and more and more people realized that the most important thing is not the market but whether your money can return to your hands.

But in the crypto world of C2C, risks never decrease due to bull or bear markets: freezing, disputes, merchants running away, and nowhere to appeal… Any broken link can cause your assets to “disappear instantly” in the real system.

So this long article is not about taking sides, but rather to answer the most critical question: which platform can better protect users when risks really arise?

This article selects the most mainstream platforms in the Chinese-speaking area that are commonly used: Binance, OKX, and HTX, and evaluates them from three perspectives: security, compensation system, user experience, and risk control mechanism. Reference information comes from: public announcements from the three platforms; real user feedback from KOLs and Twitter; personal usage experience. For everyone's comparison and reference.

1. Security: Avoid freezing, which is a hundred times more important than compensation.

In C2C, the most frustrating incident is probably just one: freezing.

First, put the “frozen related data and public disclosure efforts” of the three companies in a table:

Image from Twitter user @Yep_Cooper

It can be stated very clearly: Avoid freezing ≫ Resolve freezing. A single freeze is enough to make users leave a platform forever. Among the three, Huobi was the first to publicly disclose “0 freeze” data.

This behavior itself represents the highest level of transparency in the current industry.

For any platform, as the trading scale continues to expand and the merchant ecosystem becomes more complex, the difficulty of risk control will rise exponentially. Mechanisms can be continuously optimized, but if the “frozen risk” cannot be effectively anticipated, the user experience will always hang in uncertainty.

2. Compensation system: Is it all 100%? Uniform on the surface, but the actual differences are huge.

The complexity of the rules from the three companies is comparable to credit card agreements. Below is a clear panoramic evaluation version of the compensation mechanisms of the three companies organized in chronological order of their launch.

① Huobi HTX (the first to launch 100% full compensation)

Launch time: April 7, 2025, launch selection station, August 20, 2025, 100% full compensation will be launched.

Open, transparent, no transaction amount limit

Label Merchant = 100% compensation (single transaction limit 10,000 USDT)

Apply within 30 days after judicial freeze

Users do not need to pay additional fees.

② OKX

Launch date: August 27, 2025

also provides a maximum 100% compensation

The clarity of the rules is relatively good.

User-end operation process is user-friendly.

The compensation limit for ordinary users is relatively limited.

③ Binance

Launch date: July 29, 2025 for the Test Selection Zone, announcement of 100% compensation upgrade on September 15, 2025.

Selection Area: Up to 100% compensation (Shield Merchant limit 50,000 USDT)

Ordinary area: Small amount 100%, large amount only 10%, limit 3,000 USDT

Merchant deposit requires 100,000 USDT

Compensation application: Judicial freeze orders that occur within 30 calendar days after the transaction is completed.

Shield merchants need to pay a fee of nearly 0.1%, which will be passed on to the advertising price, and the final burden will be on the users.

At first glance, it's all 100%, but the difference in the covered population is huge. Binance's selective zone only covers less than 5% of users, and the rules in the ordinary zone have significantly shrunk. A simple structure and extremely low user learning cost can refer to Huobi, which was the first to launch the C2C selective zone.

3. The essence behind the rules: What are the three platforms thinking?

In order to translate complex rules into what is “truly important for users,” this article summarizes the core ideological differences of the three companies:

① Huobi HTX: Pre-emptive risk control > Post-event compensation

Huobi's C2C originated the earliest, so the philosophy is: “Not having an incident is more important than compensating after an incident.”

The selected site “0 freeze” data is its result. Although the experience still has room for optimization and the product page occasionally lags, the security is perceivable, the rules are the simplest, and the identifiers are the clearest, with very strict merchant review. Most importantly, the compensation mechanism is transparent, with no “discrimination”.

② Binance: Strong bottom support ability, but complex mechanism, tends to be post-positioned.

Binance has a large scale and is the largest exchange in the world, so its approach is more like: “First open up, then provide a safety net.”

No public frozen data; the number of merchants is large; the Shield System is gradually maturing, but the compensation for ordinary users is noticeably weaker than that in the selected area. The handling fees have been shifted to merchants, but are ultimately passed on to users.

Binance's strength lies in: if you are a large trader + can choose from strictly selected merchants = very secure. But for regular users, this trap has a very high learning cost.

③ OKX: Best experience, slightly weaker risk control.

The product logic of OKX is the smoothest in the industry, but the “transparency of the compensation mechanism” and “disclosure of frozen data” are not as good as the other two. Moreover, the coverage of compensation is not strong, making it suitable for users who prioritize experience and trade more frequently.

How should the ranking of the three companies be viewed?

Based on the整理 of all the information in this article, three conclusions can be drawn:

If you are most afraid of freezing → choose Huobi HTX

The reason is the only publicly frozen data, the only continuous disclosure of “0 frozen”, the most proactive risk control, and the most user-friendly for ordinary users.

If you are a large trader + can identify merchants → Binance Premium Zone

The reason is that there is a strong ability to provide a safety net for large users, with a high compensation limit.

If you pursue trading experience → Tag merchants on OKX.

Because product experience is a priority and the risk is moderate.

In conclusion: The first sincerity in the crypto world is not advertising, but to clearly explain the risks.

Since the launch of Huobi's selection station in April, to the testing of full compensation in May, to the official introduction of 100% compensation in August, and then to OKX and Binance successively launching similar mechanisms— the industry has indeed become healthier due to a “transparent competition.”

Huobi took the first step in the industry; OKX improved user experience; Binance raised the compensation amount to the highest in the industry.

This is healthy competition and a boon for all users. To quote a very realistic saying in the industry: The end of Web3 is not getting rich quickly, but safety. Bringing the money home is the highest value.

The first sincerity in the crypto world: What can we use to impress users?

The answer is always only one: transparency + risk control + responsibility.

May everyone who trades seriously be able to safely bring home every penny they earn.