Binance is moving to prioritize its own stablecoin, BUSD, on its cryptocurrency exchange, announcing a “BUSD auto-conversion” that will begin on September 29 to “increase liquidity and capital-efficiency for users.” Binance is offering a 1:1 conversion for users’ existing balances and new deposits of USDC, USDP and TUSD stablecoins. The move is significant for the exchange as USDC is the second largest stablecoin by total supply, while the USDC/USDT pair is the 11th highest traded pair by volume.
“From 2022-09-29 03:00 (UTC), users will trade on the Binance platform with a cumulative BUSD balance that reflects their subsequent conversion of these four stablecoins (BUSD, USDC, USDP and TUSD). Users’ withdrawal choices will not be affected: users USDC , will be able to withdraw their BUSD-denominated account balances in USDP and TUSD at a ratio of 1:1,” the company said.
Binance will also end trading pairs for BUSD and Tether (USDT) as well as three stablecoins against major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether. Stablecoin-to-stablecoin pairs will close on September 26, stablecoin-to-crypto pairs will close on September 29.
“All pending trade orders will be automatically removed after trading stops in each respective trading pair. Users can then trade assets in the respective BUSD trading pair,” Binance said. The announced changes include many Binance services including its exchanges, staking, payments and gift card offerings.
CEO Changpeng Zhao explained in a tweet that Binance is not deleting USDC and users will still be able to deposit and withdraw USDC.
No delist. You can still deposit and withdraw USDC. Just merge all liquidity into one pair. Best price, least slippage for users.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) 5 September 2022
USDC is the second largest stablecoin in the crypto space, with a market cap of $52 billion (approx. Rs. 4,15,330 crore). The Binance-backed stablecoin ranks third with a market cap of $19.5 billion (roughly Rs. 150 crore), while TUSD ranks fifth with a market cap of $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,990 crore). USDP is ranked sixth and has a market cap of $945 million (approx. Rs. 7,550 crore).
Tether’s USDT is the dominant stablecoin in the space, accounting for more than 80 percent of the industry’s trading volume, with a market cap of $67 billion (roughly Rs. 5,35,140 crore).
