Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has seen a sharp drop in market share among non-dollar crypto exchanges.
According to data by The Block, Binance’s market share among a group of exchanges that includes major Asian players like Upbit, Huobi, Bybit, and OKX hit 54% in August and is projected to further drop to under 51% in September.
This comes as the exchange had a 75% market share among these exchanges at the end of 2022.
Back in June, the Financial Times reported that Binance’s market share had shrunk by 25% during the period between February to June.
The report claimed that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange accounted for 57.5% of the average monthly volume of all crypto trades in February, but its market share dropped to 43% by the end of May.
Meanwhile, Binance co-founder Yi He has addressed the exchange’s shrinking market share in a recent letter to company employees.
She said that employees should be focused on creating excellent products and providing an excellent user experience for all customers regardless of regulatory pressure or competitors’ growth.
Yi He compared the ongoing situation with the crypto recession of 2019.
She recalled that back then, Binance was not delivering much of its current products, including a fiat gateway, Binance P2P, Binance Futures, and more.
But even then, Binance managed to become a leader and “turn the tables” in the segment.
“This is not the first time, nor it will be the last showdown (…) Every battle is a do-or-die situation, and the only thing that can defeat us is ourselves.”
Binance Grapples With Increasing Regulatory Scrutiny
Binance has been under heightened regulatory scrutiny globally since the market turbulence of the previous year.
In June, the SEC sued Binance and its CEO for their “blatant disregard of the federal securities laws,” unveiling 13 charges against the platform, including operating an unregistered exchange.
The agency accused Binance of breaking the law by offering unregistered securities to the general public, including its BNB token and BUSD stablecoin.
Likewise, French authorities conducted a visit to Binance’s office in France last month. They are investigating allegations of illegal provision of digital asset services and aggravated money laundering.
The exchange was also ordered to cease operations in Nigeria by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Binance has also faced regulatory challenges in multiple European countries, such as Belgium and Austria, as it prepares to comply with the EU’s forthcoming Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations.
More recently, some of the exchange’s customers in the EU were blocked from withdrawing euros as part of an early change in the crypto exchange’s regional payments provider looms.
