Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has lost a significant market share of trade volume over the past two weeks.
According to blockchain analytics platform Kaiko, Binance’s market share fell by 16% to 54% at the end of Q1, following regulatory pressure and the decision to halt some zero-fee trading.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance on March 27, accusing the exchange of flouting regulatory compliance and violating derivatives laws by offering trading to US customers without registering with market regulators.
Binance also decided to end zero-fee spot and margin trading for 13 trading pairs, including BNB, Bitcoin, and Ether with multiple fiat currencies and stablecoins, which led to a loss in trading volume.
However, Binance’s US arm managed to triple its market share over the quarter, from 8% to 24%. The exchange also maintained its derivatives dominance, only giving up 2% market share over the last quarter.
Kaiko’s report suggested that the fall in trading volume figures was mostly due to the end of zero-fee spot trading, rather than trepidations around the lawsuit.
Nonetheless, Binance’s market share fell to 54% after being one of the big winners of the FTX fiasco, which saw its market share in trading volume rise to 65% during the last quarter of 2022.
In response to recent regulatory pressures, banking crises, and the catastrophic collapse of FTX, many reports have observed a growing trend towards decentralized alternatives and self-custody wallets.
Bitcoin and Ether left centralized exchanges in record numbers following the fall of FTX. Trading volumes on the decentralized exchange Uniswap are now rivaling that of crypto exchanges Coinbase and OKX but are still only a fraction of that processed by Binance.