Crypto exchange Bitstamp to charge inactive accounts a fee

As the cryptocurrency market weighs on trading volumes, Bitstamp is charging inactive customers a fee to make up for costs.

The firm said in a blog post published Friday that the new inactivity fee would impact customers with balances below $200 who have not traded, deposited, or staked on its platform in the last 12 months. The inactivity fee would charge such users 10 euros. 

It is set to go into effect on August 1 and will not apply to US users. 

"The majority of Bitstamp’s customers are not affected by the Inactivity Fee," Bitstamp said. "Nobody loves fees (we don’t either!) but keeping inactive accounts on the books is a cost, and in order for us to continue providing great services to all our customers, we made the hard decision to implement the Inactivity Fee."

Most exchanges make money from fees on trading volumes, which have dropped precipitously alongside the price of cryptos since the beginning of the year. 

Data from The Block shows that volumes across exchanges have declined from $2.2 trillion in May 2021 to approximately $622 billion in June. 

Crypto exchanges, which have heavily relied on trading fees as a primary source of revenue, are looking to expand their revenue base to diversify their business.

Coinbase, for instance, has been testing a new subscription service dubbed Coinbase One, while other exchanges like Kraken have expanded into staking.