Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced today that it would begin auto-converting existing and new deposits of USDC, USDP, and TUSD stablecoins into its native BUSD—effectively delisting three rival stablecoins.
The company says the move will enhance liquidity and capital efficiency for users.
Among stablecoins, USDC is the second largest by market cap at $51 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Binance’s BUSD stablecoin is a distant third, with a market cap of $19 billion—less than half that of USDC. This move effectively removes direct custody of USDC (and USDP and TUSD) for Binance’s 28 million users.
“This will not affect users’ choice of withdrawal: users will continue to be able to withdraw funds in USDC, USDP, and TUSD at a 1:1 ratio to their BUSD denominated account balance,” Binance said in a support post announcing the change, adding that the change is set to take effect on September 29.
Users will be able to see the converted balance on their accounts within 24 hours, the exchange says, adding that the minimum amount for manual conversion is 1 USDC, USDP, or TUSD. Accounts with lower balances auto-convert to BUSD.
Binance says it may amend the list of stablecoins eligible for auto-conversion.
The news of Binance’s decision was met with some skepticism, noting the move converts rival stablecoins into Binance’s own.
“Crypto monopoly 101, Binance will remove $USDC as a tradable asset by Sep 25 to push their $BUSD.” wrote @BloodgoodBTC on Twitter. “Binance is deleting competitors like Google did 10 years ago.”
Additional changes announced by the company include the removal of support for USDC, USDP, and TUSD products, including spot trading, futures, and margin lending.
The largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), has a market cap of $67 billion and will remain accessible on Binance.
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