BNB Dips as Robinhood, Coinbase List Coin Following Record Surge

Robinhood unveiled support for BNB on Wednesday, making the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization available to customers on its platform in the U.S.

The announcement, which has been viewed more than 530,000 times on X, follows a similar nod from Coinbase a week ago. The San Francisco-based firm said that the Binance-linked token had been added to its listing roadmap, with trading going live on Wednesday as well.

Although Coinbase lists hundreds of assets on its platform, Robinhood has offered fewer since it started supporting crypto in 2018. On Wednesday, Robinhood users could access roughly 41 cryptocurrencies for trading in the U.S. through its mobile app.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, but the token that it offered through an initial coin offering in 2017 has been historically difficult for Americans to access. Rival Kraken, for example, began supporting the token only in April.

BNB changed hands around $1,070 on Wednesday, a 2.1% drop over the past day, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The asset’s price has fallen 22.3% from an all-time high of $1,370, which was set less than ten days ago.

Shane Molidor, founder and CEO of Forgd, a platform that helps connect crypto startups with market makers, told Decrypt that listing BNB is in Coinbase and Robinhood’s best interest, despite how that may benefit their biggest competitor.

“It is so well established within global web three communities that an exchange would be doing themselves a disservice by not supporting trading of that asset,” he said of BNB, positing that widespread support could indicate the industry is maturing.

Unlike traditional exchanges, which primarily match buy and sell orders, crypto exchanges serve multiple functions, Molidor noted. That includes safeguarding customer assets, as well as the perception that crypto exchanges serve as gatekeepers for tokens.

“Unfortunately, for exchanges, in many instances, they’re perceived as investment advisors by their communities,” Molidor said. “What they list is perceived as a stamp of approval from the exchange that this asset has high potential and upside.”

Coinbase is “establishing its maturity as an unbiased, two-sided marketplace” by supporting BNB, Molidor said. It also prevents a Coinbase customer from needing to tap an alternative platform to trade one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, he added.

“If an asset has widespread decentralization, real utility, and a high valuation, they must list it,” Molidor said. “And I think that’s what they’re showing.”