Binance Officially Removes BUSD Stablecoin Starting December 15
Binance is set to "execute" its stablecoin BUSD in the coming days, after nearly a year under scrutiny by U.S. authorities.
Binance Officially Removes BUSD Stablecoin Starting December 15. Photo: Shutterstock
Binance will officially cease support for BUSD starting December 15, following the issuer Paxos being forced to halt issuance and sever ties with Binance.
Back in August, Binance began the process of "dissociating" from its BUSD stablecoin platform. At that time, the exchange encouraged customers to convert BUSD to other stablecoins, promoting FDUSD with a fee-free trading program.
Binance will halt BUSD withdrawals starting December 31, with any remaining balances automatically converted to FDUSD.
A statement from the exchange reads:
"Paxos will continue to support BUSD until at least February 2024."
BUSD is a joint effort between Binance and Paxos, first launched in 2019. At its peak, the token was among the top three largest stablecoins in the market, with a total supply exceeding $23 billion USD.
As reported by Coin68, in February of this year, the New York Department of Financial Services mandated Paxos to cease all new issuances and BUSD-related services by Q1/2024, effectively spelling the end for the stablecoin. On the same day, the SEC sued Paxos alleging that BUSD is an unregistered security.
Since then, BUSD has faded from the stablecoin landscape. Binance has gradually discontinued lending and staking programs, trading pairs involving BUSD in spot, margin, and futures. Newly listed tokens also exclude BUSD trading pairs, replaced instead by FDUSD. BUSD's 24-hour trading volume hovers around $350 million USD.
Trading volume of BUSD in the last 24 hours reached $350 million USD. Source: CoinMarketCap
Throughout the year, the U.S. government has continued to exert pressure on the cryptocurrency industry, with Binance perhaps bearing the brunt. A recent $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and the U.S. Department of Justice resulted in the removal of CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who also faces potential prison time ranging from several months to 10 years for violating Banking Secrecy Act regulations. Richard Teng, CZ's successor, has committed to strict adherence to U.S. law moving forward.
