Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance launched registrations and deposits today in the United States. The popular crypto asset trading venue will be blocked from 13 states and will feature a vastly restricted set of currencies to begin with.
With such restricted offerings from one of the planet’s major cryptocurrency exchanges serving the lucrative US market, will altcoins be able to continue their current run versus Bitcoin going forward?
Binance.US Launches With Just Seven Crypto Assets
Binance first announced that it would no longer allow US users to use its exchange platform in June this year. The ban went into effect on September 12. Almost as soon as the digital currency exchange Binance blocked US citizens from its platform, it launched Binance.US. However, the new crypto exchange platform will be nowhere near as extensive in its offerings as its global counterpart.
Regulatory concerns in the US have meant that Binance has been forced to launch its US operation with just seven digital assets. These are: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), US Dollar Tether (USDT), and XRP.
With registrations for https://t.co/AZwoBOy3iq opening today, we are proud to announce one addition to our Phase 1 digital asset offerings. $BNB deposits will open along with registrations today!#BinanceUS🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/OonO9rSX1O
— Binance.US 🇺🇸 (@BinanceUS) September 18, 2019
Not only are the digital assets carried by Binance.US heavily limited in comparison with the firm’s global offering, the exchange has also been forced to restrict 13 states from using newly-launched crypto trading service. Individuals in Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, and Washington are excluded for now.
Changpeng Zhao, the Chief Executive Officer at Binance, Tweeted about the restrictions to the US-facing exchange yesterday. However, in a post to the Binance.US blog, the exchange stated that it very much plans to launch in as many of the excluded states as possible:
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1139391325172715522
Given the large state and crypto asset restrictions at Binance.US, there might well be some impact on the altcoin market’s ability to recover versus Bitcoin. Although many leading cryptocurrencies are currently surging versus BTC, with US users no longer officially able to access the ultimate altcoin bazaar that is Binance’s global exchange, a return to its former glory might be hampered.
That said, given the fact that Binance’s global service has a 2 BTC limit on daily trades before a user needs to satisfy KYC and AML requirements, it’s feasible that US users will still be able to buy up to $20,600 (at the time of writing) worth of any altcoin listed on the extensive global exchange platform. Using a VPN, for example, might well allow for smaller retail users to continue using Binance. A knowledge of this loophole might be in part what stopped the altcoin market reacting negatively to the news of the US ban when it broke in June.
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