Binance USD Market capitalization fell below $10 billion for the first time in nearly two years amid a U.S. regulatory crackdown on its token issuers and plans to delist a major cryptocurrency exchange.
BUSD’s market capitalization has been on a steep downward trajectory since hitting an all-time high of $23.49 billion on Nov. 15, just days after FTX crashed.
As of March 3, the stablecoin’s market capitalization had fallen to $9.66 billion its lowest level since June 29, 2021. Most recently, BUSD was the subject of a Feb. 12 SEC lawsuit against Paxos for possible violations of investor protection laws. Since then, BUSD has lost $6.65 billion in market cap.
The New York Financial Services District also ordered Paxos to stop minting and issuing BUSD on Feb. 12, which could lead to a drop in the stablecoin’s market cap. Earlier this week, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced it would delist BUSD from its exchange on March 13 because the stablecoin “no longer meets our listing criteria,” The broader cryptocurrency market has also seen a drop in market capitalization, with many pointing to the recent controversy surrounding Silvergate Bank due to its delay in filing its annual 10-K financial report on March 1. Since its launch in September 2019, the Binance-branded stablecoin has rocketed to become the third-largest stablecoin behind Tether and USDC.
Stablecoins currently rank tenth in terms of market cap among all cryptocurrencies. The next crypto coin on the list is Solana, with a market cap of $7.98 billion. Interestingly, Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said at a Twitter Spaces event on Feb. 14 that he never spoke highly of the Binance stablecoin project, adding that he thought "could fail".In response to falling demand for BUSD, Binance recently minted nearly $50 million worth of TrueUSD (TUSD), as the cryptocurrency exchange looks to diversify its stablecoin holdings.
