In a recent announcement on the Binance website, the major cryptocurrency exchange explained that they would be introducing an unprecedented policy that makes coin listing fees completely transparent, with 100% of those fees being donated to charity. The move comes as exchanges face growing criticism regarding their listing policies.
In the post, the exchange explains that “going forward, we will make all listing fees transparent and donate 100% of them to charity,” removing the long-held community concerns that cryptocurrencies, despite their utility, team, or trustworthiness, could get listed on an exchange simply if they offer enough money.
In addition to removing this long-held community concern, the new policy also advances Binance’s charity initiatives, which mainly help to advance global use-cases and education regarding blockchain and DLT technology.
The post explains that what was priorly known as listing fees will now be referred to as a “donation,” and that companies looking to get their crypto listed should not in any way believe that a higher donation will increase their chances of approval.
“Binance will continue to use the same high standard for the listing review process. A large donation does not guarantee or in any way influence the outcome of our listing review process,” the post explains.
Despite this, the post also interestingly notes that companies whose coin is currently in the review process should “feel free to update [their] application with an appropriate number,” signaling that money is still an influencing factor.
The Binance Listing Update Comes After Criticism Regarding Their Listing Process
Concerns regarding Binance’s listing procedures first sparked earlier this past summer, when Bytecoin was unexpectedly added to the exchange. Prior to its arrival to Binance, the cryptocurrency had only been listed on several small exchanges.
The reason the token hadn’t been widely listed was mainly due to its controversial pre-mining that occurred during its 2014 launch, which put as much as 82% of the coin’s ownership into the hands of one single entity.
Following the listing, the coin’s price pumped 270% in just a few hours, before plummeting, leaving its total daily gains at a “mere” 71%, burning investors who had bought in at higher prices while the coin was skyrocketing.
Following the pump and proceeding crash, Coincodex, a cryptocurrency analysis and comparison site, called into question the legitimacy of the pump, saying:
“Who in the world was buying BCN at a price which was 10 times higher than elsewhere? Perhaps there were some unwitting traders who didn’t want to miss out on a token that was going vertical and bought before checking prices on other exchanges, but it seems very unlikely that BCN trading activity on Binance today was entirely organic.”
It is likely that the latest Binance announcement, which comes five months after the Bytecoin debacle, is a result of the widespread criticism of the exchange’s less-than trustworthy listing practices.
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