Binance looks to boost FDUSD adoption with fee-free trading for Ethereum, XRP, others

Binance has expanded its free trading options for the spot and margin trading pairs of the First Digital USD (FDUSD) stablecoin pairing with six digital assets, including BNB, Dogecoin, Chainlink, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, according to a Dec. 5 statement.

Binance users will see zero maker and taker fees for these pairs starting Dec. 8 for an undisclosed period. The exchange explained that the free trading option would exclude these pairs from BNB fee discounts, rebates, and other adjustments.

However, the firm stated that it “reserves the right to disqualify trades deemed to be wash trades or illegally bulk account registrations, as well as trades that display attributes of self-dealing or market manipulation.”

Binance is actively pushing FDUSD.

The free transaction promotion is part of Binance’s ongoing efforts to encourage its users to use the FDUSD stablecoin.

Last week, the crypto platform said it would phase out support for Binance USD (BUSD) by Dec. 15. Binance urged users to convert their BUSD holdings into the new stablecoin before the end of the year, saying it would end BUSD withdrawals by Dec. 31 and that BUSD balances would be automatically converted to FDUSD.

Binance’s decision relates to the BUSD stablecoin’s regulatory issues. Earlier in the year, the BUSD issuer, Paxos, suspended the stablecoin issuance following scrutiny from U.S. regulators. At the time, the company received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which classified the stablecoin as a security.

While Binance and Paxos have vehemently rejected this classification, the crypto community promptly deserted the stablecoin, with its circulating supply dropping to less than $2 billion as of press time, according to CryptoSlate’s data.

Concurrently, Binance has been heavily pushing FDUSD as a viable alternative, introducing new products for the digital asset and incentivizing its use. However, FDUSD’s circulating supply remains less than 1 billion and is only available on less than five crypto exchanges.