Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced on a Friday that it will cease trading of several high-volume crypto pairs with the British Pound (GBP) on its spot market. The affected trading pairs include major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Polygon (MATIC), Litecoin (LTC), and Dogecoin (DOGE), with plans to delist these pairs by December 29.
The decision to remove GBP spot pairs from Binance’s trading platform was influenced by increasing regulatory pressure, the loss of banking partners, and the growing challenges in compliance. Binance is set to remove pairs like ADA/GBP, BNB/GBP, BTC/GBP, DOGE/GBP, ETH/GBP, GBP/USDT, LINK/GBP, LTC/GBP, MATIC/GBP, SOL/GBP, and XRP/GBP by 3 AM UTC on December 29.
This move follows Binance’s suspension of new customer onboarding in the United Kingdom in response to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s new regulations that restrict promotions by overseas digital asset firms. Additionally, Binance’s UK banking partner terminated its operational agreement, leading to issues for GBP users in withdrawal and deposit transactions.
Binance regularly reviews all listed spot trading pairs to protect users and maintain a high-quality trading market, and may delist certain pairs due to various factors. Despite the removal of GBP pairs, the likelihood of this causing a correction in the crypto market is seen as low, as most trading volumes on major exchanges come from stablecoins and USD pairs.
Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin has been moving sideways in the last 24 hours, trading below $44,000, ahead of significant US PCE inflation data. Altcoins are showing relatively stronger performance compared to Bitcoin, and there’s an increased expectation of a Santa Claus rally amidst the hype of a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval.
The crypto market is experiencing some pullback, but the delisting of GBP spot pairs on Binance is unlikely to trigger a market correction, as the majority of exchange volumes are derived from stablecoins and USD pairs.