San Francisco: Leading blockchain and cryptocurrency platform Binance has witnessed its Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume drop by 48 per cent this month after the exchange reinstated fees for its most liquid BTC trading pairs.
Cryptocurrency market data provider Kaiko research analyst Dessislava Ianeva pointed out that the recorded fall is the second-largest monthly decline since April.
“BTC trade volumes on Binance are down 48 per cent in Sept, the second-largest monthly decline since April. Both drops coincided with the removal of zero fees for the largest BTC trading pairs. However, this time, the decline seems to align more closely with the broad market,” Ianeva posted on X on Friday.
Users left the exchange in April after it cancelled the trading incentives associated with its Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin due to regulatory issues.
The exchange’s trading volume had dropped by nearly 70 per cent during the second quarter at the time.
A similar situation occurred earlier this month when the exchange discontinued the zero-trading-fee incentives for its TrueUSD (TUSD) and BTC trading pairs, causing traders to migrate to other platforms.
While the removal of free trading incentives contributed to Binance’s declining volume, the exchange has also faced increased regulatory issues in various jurisdictions, including the US and Europe, which has harmed its overall market share.
US regulators sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao in June this year for allegedly operating a “web of deception” and filed 13 charges in a federal court.
Binance was also ordered by Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to immediately cease all offers of virtual currency services in the country.
Several crypto companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent months like Genesis Global Trading (a subsidiary of the crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), FTX, BlockFi, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network and Voyager.
–IANS