Binance U.S. makes BTC trading fee-free as competitors feel the heat

Crypto exchange Binance.US has removed trading fees for Bitcoin (BTC) spot market trades, following in the footsteps of Robinhood which pioneered no-commission crypto trading in 2018. 

Brian Shroder, CEO of Binance.US said the move makes the company the first U.S. crypto exchange to eliminate spot trading fees for Bitcoin for all users and without trading volume requirements. He added that they would also not be earning a spread on trades.

“We see this as an opportunity to revolutionize the way fees are approached in our industry, increase accessibility to crypto, and better support our market and customers in a time of need.”

3/ We hope our pricing model sees broader industry adoption over time, because that would have a positive impact on the ecosystem and market participants overall. We are happy to lead the race to zero-fees everywhere.
See you on @BinanceUS

— Brian Shroder (@BrianShroder) June 22, 2022

The news of increased competition on fees puts pressure on its competitors to do likewise. Shares in rival U.S. exchange Coinbase fell 9.71% on Wednesday, going down to $51.91 per share. Robinhood (HOOD), which is already at all time low prices, saw its share price stay relatively stable (-0.79% to $7.49 at the time of writing.)

Coinbase currently charges trading fees of between 0% and 0.50%, Kraken charges fees between 0% to 0.26%, and FTX.US charges trading fees of between 0% and 0.20%.

The amount charged as a trading fee typically depends on the currency pair, 30-day trading volume, and whether the order is a maker or taker order.

Shroder told Bloomberg on June 22 that Binance.US would not be earning a spread from its no-fee transactions, and would instead be generating revenue from other sources including a new staking service.

“We take no spread, because we are not involved in the transaction."

He said the zero-trading fees would generate positive user sentiment that will “bring us new users,” and said there are plans to expand the list of tokens that will offer zero-fee trading in the future. At present users of the U.S.-licensed exchange can take advantage of fee-free trading on four Bitcoin spot market pairs — BTC/USD, BTC/USDT, BTC/USDC, and BTC/BUSD.

Addressing his 8,200 Twitter followers, Shroder added that the company will also be rolling out a new tiered pricing model, which will go into effect in the summer.

The tiered system will be split into three parts, Tier 0, which offers free trading on certain cryptocurrencies, including the BTC pairs recently announced, Tier 1 and Tier 2, which will have trading fees determined on a “per-asset” basis. More information on this is expected in July.

Related: Bear market no issue for Binance Labs’ DeFi incubation program

Formed in 2019, Binance.US is the American affiliate of crypto-exchange giant Binance. The exchange caters only to American cryptocurrency traders and is managed independently to the main company.

Robinhood was one of the early pioneers of zero-fee stock trading when it was founded in 2014, prompting a number of online brokerages to follow suit in the years following. No commission trading for crypto began in 2018. Though it doesn’t charge fees, it is able to earn a spread on its no-fee transactions. In trading, a spread is the difference between bid (sell) price and ask (buy) price of a trading pair.

The best #crypto platform for low fees just got better. #BinanceUS is the first major platform to offer zero-fee #bitcoin trades for BTC/USD, BTC/USDT, BTC/USDC & BTC/BUSD spot pairs, for all users without trading volume requirements.

Read: https://t.co/UYvNNvael2pic.twitter.com/YDV0x3dfcJ

— Binance.US (@BinanceUS) June 22, 2022