Binance has revealed that it would remove USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD), and Paxos Standard (USDP) as tradeable assets on its platform and convert its users’ balance in these stablecoins to Binance USD (BUSD) by Sept. 29.
According to Binance, the move is geared toward enhancing liquidity and capital efficiency for its users.
The Changpeng Zhao-led exchange continued that users can manually convert their holdings in these stablecoins to BUSD. However, they cannot convert from BUSD to the affected stablecoins.
Binance users would also be unable to use USDC as a margin asset for their futures trades. USDC has also been removed from its other products like Savings & Stakings, Binance Pay, Crypto Loans, Gift cards, and others.
CEO Changpeng Zhao clarified in a tweet that Binance was not delisting USDC and users will still be able to deposit and withdraw USDC.
Tweet: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1566857303399272448
CryptoSlate research previously revealed that an average of $1 billion USDC left Binance’s USDC hot wallets during the week of August 29.
USDC is the second-largest stablecoin in the crypto space, with a market cap of $52 billion. The Binance-backed stablecoin is ranked third with a market cap of $19.5 billion, while TUSD ranks fifth with a market cap of $1 billion. USDP is sixth and has a market cap of $945 million.
Tether’s USDT is the dominant stablecoin in the space, with a market cap of $67 billion, accounting for over 80% of the trading volume in the industry.
USDC recently faced criticism from crypto stakeholders over its decision to block wallets that have interacted with Tornado Cash because of the US sanctions.