Mixed Week for Binance As it Launches Pay Service for US Users

Summary:
• In a week filled with ups and downs for the company, Binance US has launched its Pay service for the US market following months of trial.

Binance exchange has launched its Pay service for its users in the United States. Following the launch, customers can now transfer, request, and receive cryptocurrency instantly and for no additional cost. This functionality has been accessible to users outside of the US for some time. Its beta version for P2P transactions went live worldwide in February 2021. Users of Binance’s mobile platform will have access to the feature immediately while a web version is in the pipeline.

Pay features and a mixed week for Binance

Binance Pay claims instant, free crypto transactions between its customers for approximately 150 different cryptocurrencies. To increase its user base during the crypto winter, Binance recently did away with its trading fees for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

The exchange adds that its new payment method makes sending cryptocurrency to others simple and straightforward. It is no longer necessary for customers to input a complex withdrawal or deposit address, incur gas costs, or wait about for an indeterminate amount of time for their transactions to clear. This is certainly a masterstroke by the world’s largest crypto exchange as it pushes for mass crypto adoption.

The Pay service, however, only allows for the transfer of funds between users of the Binance.US mobile app. Furthermore, the users will need to update to the newest version, verify their identities, and fund their Binance.Pay wallets before they can use the new features. Also, currently, each user can receive a maximum of $1 million per day.

Elsewhere, in a frantic 24 hours in which roughly $3.5 billion equivalent was taken from the exchange, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has claimed that deposits are reverting to “stable” levels. But that’s just half the story in a terrible week for Binance. Two days ago, Reuters reported that after three years of investigating alleged money laundering involving the company, the US Department of Justice may be poised to sue the exchange.

Any such move by the DoJ would almost certainly exacerbate the existing FUD in the crypto bear market, following FTX’s collapse in November. Therefore, as investors wait with optimism for the outcome of the SEC Vs Ripple case and as BTC shows signs of topping the $18k level, the market could yet plummet further. However, a win by Ripple and the current indecision by the DoJ could create the perfect condition for a market upturn.