Coinbase Officially Ends BUSD Trading

One of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase has officially ended BUSD trading on its platform.

The decision came after Paxos, the company that issues BUSD, stopped minting the stablecoin as a result of regulatory action by the New York Department of Financial Services. 

In a pair of tweets, the exchange said the suspension will affect Coinbase.com, Coinbase Pro, Coinbase Exchange, and Coinbase Prime platforms. However, the token holders will still be able to access their BUSDs and withdraw them at any time.

“We regularly monitor the assets on our exchange to ensure they meet our listing standards. Based on our most recent reviews, Coinbase will suspend trading for Binance USD (BUSD) on March 13, 2023, on or around 12 pm ET. Our determination to suspend trading for BUSD is based on our own internal monitoring and review processes. ” the tweet partially read.

It could be recalled that Coinbase announced its intention to delist BUSD in February with CEO Brian Armstrong citing liquidity concerns. 

Investors King understands that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes, launched its native stablecoin Binance-USD in conjunction with a US-based company Paxo in 2019. 

Ever since then, BUSD has been one of the most used stablecoins among crypto investors with more than $16 billion in direct purchases.

The regulatory agency however claimed that BUSD is an unregistered security making it unsuitable for consumer protection. A position which Paxos vigorously disagreed with. 

Although Paxo said it will contest the regulatory claim in court, the legal battle with the SEC could however take years. As such, crypto exchanges that keep BUSD listed on their platforms may be at risk of being sued and fined if the SEC wins its case and the court deems the stablecoin unregistered securities. 

Meanwhile, amid this debacle, Binance has abandoned BUSD to favour TrueUSD.  Binance has listed TrueUSD on its platform while CEO, Changpeng Zhao also advised users to migrate to other stablecoins over time.