By James Davis
The latest data from crypto analytics company Kaiko shows that the market share of Binance’s American entity Binance US has been declining since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against the trading platform over a week ago. The data indicates Binance US’s market dominance dropped from 8% at the start of the month to 1.5% on Tuesday.
Kaiko also noticed a drop in the Coinbase market share. The American top crypto exchange has seen its dominance decline from 56.7% to 50.1%.
Meanwhile, Kaiko’s Director of Research, Clara Medalie, claims that Binance US could be on the verge of collapsing. More than a week ago, the exchange’s operator BAM Trading and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao were hit with several charges by the SEC. The regulator accused the two of using Binance US to facilitate wash trading. The SEC claimed that Zhao’s market maker Sigma Chain executed the alleged dubious trades.
An Analysis of Binance US Trading Volume Since SEC Charges
Since these charges, Binance US has seen its trading volume fall on a daily basis. On June 5, the exchange processed $255 million in trades, but over the last 24 hours, it has only handled $13.2 million in trading volume, the lowest in the past 11 months.
It is worth mentioning that the drop in trading activity on Binance.US is also fueled by the SEC’s request to the court that it be permitted to freeze the platform’s assets, claiming that Binance US had commingled user funds through fallen crypto-friendly banks Silvergate and Signature.
However, the crypto exchange and Zhao have denied these allegations, arguing that customer funds on Binance-affiliated platforms have always been secure and safe.
SEC and Binance US Operator Seal a Deal
Over the weekend, BAM Trading and the SEC reached an agreement that would stop plans to freeze Binance US’s assets. The deal requires that BAM Trading blocks any access granted to Binance and its boss Zhao to the assets in question. Binance US is also expected to operate in great transparency and provide monthly reports to the SEC regarding its operating expenses.
Whether this deal will help Binance US win back the trust of American crypto users remains to be seen.