Binance will shut down its cryptocurrency payment service Binance Connect on Aug. 16, a Binance spokesperson confirmed to Forkast on Wednesday.
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Fast facts
- Binance Connect, previously known as “Bifinity,” was Binance’s fiat-to-crypto payment infrastructure launched in March 2022. It enabled users to process payments in over 50 cryptocurrencies and make cryptos purchases via traditional methods like Mastercard and Visa.
- The Binance spokesperson attributed the closure of the service to “changing market and user needs.”
- “At Binance, we periodically review our products and services to ensure that our resources continue to be focused on core efforts that align with our long-term strategy,” Binance said in a statement.
- While Binance holds its position as the world’s largest centralized crypto exchange by spot trading volume, its dominance is reportedly waning. A recent report by cryptocurrency data provider CoinGecko highlighted a 52.4% decline, equivalent to US$823.9 billion, in Binance’s trading volume between Q1 and Q2 of 2023. In comparison, the collective volume of the rest of the top 10 exchanges dipped by US$270.8 billion in the same timeframe.
- “Throughout Q2, Binance’s market share remained below 60.0%, an indication that the exchange may be losing its grip on the industry as regulators continue to pressure it,” CoinGecko’s report said. The exchange’s market share stood at 51% in June 2023, down from 61% in March.
- Binance faces growing regulatory hurdles. BAM Trading and BAM Management, the operators of BinanceUS, filed on Monday for a protective court order against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which sued Binance, its U.S. platform, and Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao in June for alleged securities law violations.
- The court filing claimed the U.S. regulator’s discovery requests for BAM was “inappropriate” and “unduly burdensome”, which demanded the company to provide all communications concerning multiple topics that “have nothing to do with customer assets” and make at least six of its employees and officers available for depositions.
- BAM proposed to confine the depositions to four personnel, exclude both the chief executive officer and chief finance officer from being interviewed, and restrict the range of questions the SEC can pose during these sessions.
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