- SEC halts enforcement actions against Binance USD, potentially stabilizing its market status despite recent challenges.
- Binance USD’s market capitalization has seen a drastic reduction, affecting its ranking among global stablecoins.
Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concluded its investigation into Binance USD [BUSD] without taking further action. This SEC notification, received by Paxos on July 11, ends more than a year of legal uncertainty for the stablecoin issuer.
Originally, Paxos received a Wells notice from the SEC, which ordered it to halt the issuance of BUSD.
“Paxos prevails in SEC investigation of BUSD stablecoin” 👏
On Tuesday, we received a formal termination notice from the SEC stating that it will not recommend enforcement action against Paxos Trust Company in the investigation of Binance USD (BUSD).
View the letter and our… pic.twitter.com/8kjysfsPg3
— Paxos (@Paxos) July 11, 2024
While this decision alleviates a major legal hurdle, it remains to be seen how it will affect BUSD in the marketplace. Prior to this decision, BUSD was the third largest stablecoin by market capitalization, valued at over $16 billion.
Previous SEC regulatory action had caused a reduction in this figure, reflecting the market’s response to regulatory intervention.
The recent resolution could theoretically stabilize BUSD’s position in the market, although the reduction in BUSD’s market capitalization to approximately $69.5 million, according to CoinMarketCap data, suggests a marked decline in its market presence.
This decline is linked to Binance’ s November 2023 decision to withdraw BUSD and delink it from other major cryptocurrencies, which significantly decreased its demand and trading volume.
The level of BUSD reserves on exchanges has shown little to no change in recent months, and recent regulatory updates have yet to have a discernible impact on this trend. Currently, the exchange reserve for BUSD is approximately $5.8 million, a drastic reduction from over $900 million at the beginning of the year.
BUSD trading volume has also remained low, with current levels at around $8 million. Recent market activity has shown no significant changes in volume over the past 24 hours. This ETHNews analysis indicates that the market has not yet reacted strongly to BUSD’s recently acquired regulatory clarity.
