Binance Drops 20 Trading Pairs, Including ADA and MATIC, Amid Regulatory Woes

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has announced that it will delist 20 spot trading pairs, including some involving Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC). The move comes amid increasing regulatory pressure and legal challenges from the U.S. authorities.

According to a blog post published on September 6, Binance will remove and cease trading of the following pairs on September 8 at 09:00 UTC:

“At 2023-09-08 05:00 (UTC): AUDIO/BUSD, BAT/BUSD, BSW/BUSD, CITY/BUSD, CVX/BUSD, FORTH/BUSD, JUV/BUSD, MOB/BUSD, At 2023-09-08 07:00 (UTC): OGN/BUSD, OMG/BUSD, PLA/BUSD, POLS/BUSD, REI/BUSD, RSR/BUSD, SCRT/BUSD, TVK/BUSD, and At 2023-09-08 09:00 (UTC): ADA/BIDR, MATIC/BIDR, UTK/BUSD, ZIL/BIDR”

Binance Takes Another Hit Due to Regulatory Pressure 

Binance stated that the decision was made to protect users and maintain a high-quality trading market. The exchange also said that it conducts periodic reviews of all listed spot trading pairs and may delist selected ones due to multiple factors, such as poor liquidity and trading volume.

Users who have open orders or spot trading bots in these pairs are advised to update or cancel them before the cessation date to avoid any potential losses. Users who hold BUSD in their accounts are also suggested to trade to convert their BUSD to FDUSD stablecoin before February 2024.

This is not the first time that Binance has delisted Cardano and Polygon pairs. On August 17, the exchange terminated the perpetual contracts of ADA and MATIC in BUSD pairs. On September 1, the exchange also removed Cardano, Polygon, and 37 other liquidity pools from its platform.

The delisting of these pairs may be related to the ongoing lawsuits and investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Binance. The regulators have accused Binance of violating securities laws and facilitating illegal transactions.

Binance has also announced that it will make changes to its zero-fee Bitcoin trading for BTC/TUSD spot and margin trading pair. The change may lead to a significant drop in trading volume as it did in March when Binance ended its zero-fee trading policy.