Removing these digital currency pairs from Binance... what does that mean?

Binance is removing three of its “Build and Build” (BNB) altcoin trading pairs as pressure mounts on its peer-to-peer (P2P) operations in Nigeria. Spot traders will no longer be able to trade ALGO/BNB and XLM/BNB pairs from March 8, 2024.

After reviewing all listed trading pairs, Binance will also reduce support for spot BNB pairs affecting AERGO, ALGO, BNB, CTSI, FARM, FUN and XLM pairs.

Why Binance will remove altcoin pairs

Binance said it would remove three BNB pairs, two Bitcoin (BTC) pairs, and one ETH pair after a periodic review of all listed pairs. Although it did not provide reasons for the removal, it said that lack of liquidity and low trading volume played a role in these decisions.

Low liquidity of any of the affected pairs, for example ALGO/BNB, means that fewer traders are willing to offer BNB for ALGO tokens or vice versa. Therefore, it becomes difficult for traders to enter and exit trades, which affects trading volumes. Supporting the pair then becomes unprofitable for the exchange as it will lose trading fees.

Other times, exchanges remove trading pairs to reduce legal risks. Lost Coinbase Wallet removed XRP pairs After the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs and some of its executives. Robinhood Markets did the same for SOL, MATIC and ADA after lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance last year.

“Based on our latest review, we have decided to end support for Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and SOLana (SOL) on June 27, 2023 at 6:59 p.m. ET. Moving support for ADA, MATIC, and SOL ended on June 26, 2023 at 6:59 p.m. ET. No other currencies are affected and your cryptocurrencies remain safe on Robinhood,” he said. She says Business.

However, the reason for Binance's withdrawal may be more subtle. Stellar's launch of smart contracts for financial services and Algorand's tokenization push may have left traders uncertain about the price prospects of XLM and ALGO from a trading perspective. The XLM token could accrue more use cases as Stellar's DeFi efforts progress, while ALGO could have use cases in tokenizing real-world assets.

BNB benefits from demonetization of the naira

Meanwhile, Binance is facing an existential crisis in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has accused several executives, including CEO Richard Teng, of currency manipulation. On Monday, the state arrested two executives and summoned Teng before the House Committee on Financial Crimes.

As the legal dispute intensified, Binance was forced to withdraw its naira support from the exchange. Users can no longer deposit naira and will no longer be able to withdraw from Friday. Binance will also convert naira deposits to BNB if they remain on the platform. This may lead to increased BNB volumes following the removal of XLM and ALGO BNB pairs.

BNB holders can enjoy low trading fees on Binance or use BNB to trade on decentralized exchanges and P2P exchanges. The price of the asset recently crossed the $400 mark and currently stands at $420.32. Its trading volume in the last 24 hours reached $149.54 million.

BNB went public in an ICO after the launch of Binance in 2017. It reached an all-time high of $686.31 in May 2021. The exchange did not respond to inquiries about the latest trading pair removals at the time of publication.