Binance to Phase Out BUSD Support, ‘Encourages’ Users To Convert Into Other Stablecoins

Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, has announced it is gradually ending support for its native stablecoin, BUSD.

“As Paxos has halted minting of new BUSD,” read today’s statement, “Binance will gradually cease support for BUSD products. It added, “Please be assured that BUSD will always be backed 1:1 by USD.”

According to a press release, the crypto exchange will delist BUSD spot and margin trading pairs, although no specific dates have been provided.

Not all products and services that use Binance’s native stablecoin will be affected, however. Deposits and withdrawals of BUSD tokens through Ethereum will continue, as will deposits on Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Tron.

Binance did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Decrypt. 

Phasing out BUSD

Phasing out BUSD in the broad spectrum of products and services that currently support it will be done in stages, says the company.

Unless the date is left open-ended, Futures, Earn, Loans, Gift cards, and Pay products will gradually discontinue their use of BUSD starting in the early weeks of September and lasting up to December.

Today’s announcement offers mixed signals regarding the company’s overall wellbeing.

French Authorities Investigating Binance for ‘Aggravated Money Laundering’

The regulatory challenges facing crypto exchange Binance continue to mount, now from Europe. French newspaper Le Monde today reported that Binance is under investigation by the judicial finance investigation service under the direction of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Paris (JIRS) for “illegal” acts relating to the function of service provider on digital assets, as well as "aggravated money laundering." Crypto media site CoinDesk reported that it had confirmed the allegations wit...

Binance faces serious regulatory woes across the world, including multiple investigations from law enforcement in a number of jurisdictions. The United States claimed the company broke securities laws, France is looking into potential “aggravated money laundering,” and Brazil has accused a Binance executive of running a pyramid scheme.

The company has also ended its co-branded crypto card partnership with Mastercard and Visa in select countries, as well as terminating the product in Latin America and the Middle East.

Binance continues to launch new products, however; this week it unveiled a crypto-to-bank payment product dubbed Send Cash in nine Latin American countries.