There are still more than 10 days left until Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is released from prison , with the expected date set for September 29. CZ's successor as CEO of Binance is Richard Teng. However, it seems that under Teng, Binance is not really doing well.
Binance's Market Share Is Falling
Binance is known as one of the market's leading exchanges in terms of volume. According to BeInCrypto's CoinGecko, as of Q2/2024, Binance's total spot volume market share was around 46.6%. Compared to the previous quarter with a market share of 48.9%, Binance seems to be gradually losing its advantage. The exchange generated $1.67 trillion in volume in Q2/2024, compared to $2.08 trillion in Q1/2024, a decrease of -19.8%.
Not only did it decline in the quarter, Binance's Bitcoin trading market share fell over the past year from 81.3% to 55.3%, according to research firm Kaiko. Its Altcoin market share also fell from 58% to 50.5%. Kaiko said that the less concentrated overseas markets, adding that smaller local exchanges were also growing strongly, had made things difficult for Binance. In addition, the decision to stop offering customers a service that allowed them to trade for free may have also contributed to the situation.
A series of legal and regulatory incidents around the world
Binance’s market share decline may also stem from some of the regulatory issues the exchange has faced over the years. Last November, co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao agreed to step down as CEO after pleading guilty to federal money laundering charges. Binance was fined $4.3 billion . CZ himself was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $50 million. Now, CZ is set to be released from prison, but he will not return to directly run the Binance empire as before.
Binance’s regulatory woes in the United States have affected the exchange globally. Dubai authorities granted Binance FZE a full Virtual Asset Provider (VASP) license, but the government delayed approval until Zhao agreed to relinquish voting control of the organization. India itself fined Binance $2.2 million for failing to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
“Loss of substance” in listing activities
In the past, most projects on Binance were XEM potential projects thanks to the exchange's strict pre-listing evaluation mechanism. However, it seems that recently the community has seen the transformation that Binance is showing. Many projects that are considered risky, even suspected of insider trading, are still listed on Binance.
Most recently, three meme coin projects, Neiro, Turbo, and Baby Doge Coin, were simultaneously listed on Binance. The puzzling thing is that Neiro, which has a market Capital of only $20 million and shows signs of insider trading, was also listed by Binance. This move has led the community to raise two not-so-optimistic possibilities: One is that whales have collected enough Neiro, now listing on Binance to Dump , and two is pushing the price of NEIRO up and then listing on Binance to Dump.
Although Binance has labeled these projects as highly volatile, it seems to be just a psychological move and does not bring much value to users. In parallel, Binance has also continuously Delisting previous projects, launching a Delisting warning feature for users. With Binance previously announcing the listing of DOGS, Hamster Kombat..., the community suspected that this exchange was trying to lead the trend towards meme coins. However, He Yi, co-founder of Binance, has denied this.
It seems that the DOJ's $4.3 billion fine against Binance has left the exchange exhausted and frantically trying to make back the money. That's why a study Chia by BeInCrypto earlier showed that up to 80% of Token on Binance are liquidation for VCs.
How do you feel about Binance after CZ leaves? Chia your thoughts with us in the BeInCrypto Telegram community group.
