Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance will reportedly issue its own stablecoins within two months, Bloomberg reported on June 5.
Binance’s Chief Financial Officer, Wei Zhou told Bloomberg that the exchange will start issuing its own stablecoins “in a matter of weeks to a month or two," with the goal to make stablecoins available for more of the world’s currencies.
The exchange’s first stablecoin dubbed “Binance GBP” will reportedly be denominated in and 100% pegged to the British pound. Zhou also revealed that Binance will make money off of interest on fiat deposits, like tether (USDT) does.
Apart from Binance GBP, Binance is reportedly planning to introduce an array of other stablecoins backed by other currencies, with the exception of the U.S. dollar. Explaining the company’s decision, Zhou said that "from the users’ perspective, only certain portions of the world use the dollar. Other users use other currencies, and we feel it should be reflected in stablecoins as well."
Binance’s native stablecoins will also purportedly reduce tether’s market share on Binance, which currently represents over 50% of stablecoin volume on the exchange, according to Zhou.
The news about Binance testing a British pound stablecoin initially appeared on June 4, when Twitter user CryptosBatman noticed that the listing “$BGBP” appeared on the Binance platform. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao subsequently commented on the tweet, confirming that a pound stablecoin is in the testing phase, with only £200 minted.
As reported yesterday, Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges facilitate 60% of all USDT trading globally. Chinese exchanges in 2019 thus far account for over $10 billion in USDT trading. The United States, in contrast, is said to account for only $450 million in USDT traded.