The American affiliate of the largest global crypto exchange, Binance.US, has stopped charging transaction fees for Bitcoin, with plans to eliminate the charges for more tokens in the future.
Binance.US Chief Executive Officer Brian Shroder said, “Since the inception of the largest global crypto exchange, Binance has been known for our really low fees.” Zero-fee trading is “something that we want to do because we can. This will generate positive user sentiment that will bring new users.”
As predicted by Binance.US, the move will increase pressure on other crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase Global Inc, to lower their trading fees. Wall Street analysts, including Dan Dolev of Mizuho Securities, have said that Coinbase will have to trim fees as competition heats up.
Binance.US is also not earning a spread on no-fee transactions, said Shroder. That differs from Robinhood Markets Inc., which offers free-commission crypto trades and earns money by receiving rebates from venues to which it routes retail users’ orders.
“We take no spread because we are not involved in the transaction,” Shroder said. He said that the move is an investment to attract more users and generate revenue from other sources, such as a newly launched staking service.
Binance.US Value
Users can see a live order book on the platform for matching trades, Shroder said. Over time, Binance.US expects to add more tokens to its free trading category.
In April, Binance.US raised about $200 million in a seed round that valued the company at $4.5 billion. Its 24-hour trading volume was $76 billion today, with 600+ Cryptocurrencies listed, including users beyond the US, trading $1.8 billion in the same period. Binance, which has over 90 million registered users, has an overall transaction fee of less than 0.1%.
