Binance Trading Volume Reflects Bear Market Amid Shift to New Stablecoin

Binance’s BTC/TUSD trading volume increased to $60 million per hour shortly after the exchange reinstated fees for other pairs in late March, according to research firm Kaiko.

Because of the exchange’s focus on TrueUSD, BTC trading volumes were in line with a bear market. TUSD, on the other hand, lags behind BUSD and Tether, which account for 90% of trading volume on centralized exchanges. After a New York prudential regulator ordered BUSD issuer Paxos to stop minting the coin, it is expected to overtake BUSD.

TUSD is a stablecoin, which is a cryptocurrency designed to track the value of a fiat currency such as the US dollar. Stablecoins are purchased by cryptocurrency traders in order to move into and out of crypto trading positions more quickly than fiat.

TrueUSD is described on its website as “the first independently-verified digital asset redeemable 1-for-1 for US dollars.” It runs on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, TRON, Avalanche, and BNB Beacon Chain natively.

A real-time snapshot of TrueUSD’s reserves shows that more than $2 billion backs all minted coins. The reserve composition is unknown. In 2020, Techteryx Ltd, a Singapore-based company, purchased the TrueUSD intellectual property from Archblock.

Since October 2022, the Commonwealth of Dominica has authorized the coin as a digital currency and medium of exchange. Tether, a TrueUSD competitor, recently announced that it would no longer use commercial paper for USDT reserves.

According to Valor, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Police are investigating Binance. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the State Attorney General of So Paulo have both accused the exchange of financial crimes. 

According to the securities regulator, a Binance representative directed users to the foreign version of the company’s online Futures platform because the Brazilian version did not provide derivatives. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is said to be a partner in the firm B Fintech Serviços de Tecnologia, which is named in the filing.

If found guilty, the person who approved this instruction could face a prison sentence ranging from six months to two years. Brazilian authorities issued a cease-and-desist order after Binance violated securities laws by offering residents derivatives.

Binance is facing civil charges in the United States for offering derivative products to large corporations without first registering with the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission. Zhao referred to the charges as “disappointing.”