Binance ending support of BUSD stablecoin in December

Stablecoins • November 29, 2023, 3:03PM EST

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

Binance is ceasing support of the BUSD stablecoin following a move by U.S. authorities to force Paxos to halt issuing the token earlier this year.

Binance said it will cease support of BUSD on Dec. 15 after the stablecoin's issuer Paxos was earlier this year ordered to stop minting the token.

The cryptocurrency exchange had said in August it planned to "gradually" phase out support for the BUSD stablecoin by Feb. 2024. At the time, it urged customers to convert to another stablecoin called FDUSD. Users are still able to make the conversion with zero fees, according to Binance.

"Paxos has stated that BUSD will remain supported by Paxos and redeemable through at least February 2024," Binance said in a blog post.

In February of this year, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to stop issuing BUSD, or Binance USD.

Binance settlement

Throughout this year, U.S. authorities have been increasingly aggressive in an effort to crack down on crypto organizations including Binance. The exchange recently agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines as its CEO Changpeng Zhao left his position after pleading guilty to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

BUSD is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar launched in 2019 by Binance and Paxos. At one point, the token ranked as the third largest stablecoin on the market with a total supply of over $16 billion. Paxos recently said it would issue a USD-backed stablecoin called PYUSD for traditional fintech PayPal.

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