Amid stablecoin liquidity crunch, Binance lists little-known newcomer
A recent report from Coingecko found that the stablecoin supply has fallen by $4.6 billion in 2023
Aleksandr Khmeliov/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
Binance, the world’s largest trading platform by volume, has added a little-known Hong Kong-based stablecoin to its list of trading pairs. This comes amid an industry-wide liquidity crunch that has seen total stablecoin supply fall steadily over the last few months.
On Wednesday, Binance listed the First Digital USD (FDUSD) stablecoin after the asset was first announced in June. While the trading venue announced that the listing was postponed for a number of hours later in the day due to “technical issues,” Coingecko shows that the token has since traded roughly $5.5 million across three trading pairs after the eventual launch.
The Binance listing is notable given both how young and thinly-traded the asset is, as well as for the low profile of its issuing team. Listed on both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, FDUSD has been used in under 60 transactions across both chains and is held in just eight wallets. The token’s first transaction was posted just 61 days ago, and accounts for under $20 million in market capitalization.
The June 1 announcement of the asset coincided with the same day new trading laws went into effect in Hong Kong. A white paper for the stablecoin mentions attestations and backing audits by independent third parties, but does not specify any financial institutions by name. Issuer First Digital Trust has raised over $25 million across multiple rounds. None of the executives listed on the company website mention any previous crypto companies by name in their bios.
Binance listing FDUSD comes at a time when the overall stablecoin supply is rapidly shrinking. A recent report from Coingecko found that the stablecoin supply has fallen by $4.6 billion in 2023.
The Binance-branded and Paxos-issued BUSD, which peaked at over a $23 billion market cap in November 2022, has fallen to below $4 billion in circulation after Paxos’ decision to cease minting new tokens following receiving a Wells notice.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
