Binance continues to dominate the news. We had reported how Binance has decided to support and launch a fiat-enabled trading platform in Singapore, and had announced plans of offering a Decentralized Exchange (DEX), but today, we are very happy to report more news: Changpenz Zhao announced that all Binance listing fees will be openly transparent, as well as donating 100% of those fees to charity.
This move will undoubtedly generate a good amount of attention for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Before today, listing fees on Binance varied based on many factors, including the type of token and expected daily volume. The listing fee can be quite substantive, especially for an exchange such as Binance, where news of a coin’s listing can generate significant hype and price movement.
The move has generated some controversy, however. Binance has been accused of charging astronomical figures for cryptocurrencies to be listed on the exchange. Changpenz Zhao, the CEO of Binance, refuted those rumors as baseless.
Zhao remarked:
“There were so much incorrect data, rumors, and FUD About listing fees. WE care about our community and want to address this once and for all.”
He was asked if Binance’s move towards greater transparency was driven by the aforementioned rumors. He answered: “Yes, partially. We never charged 400 BTC for any project. That was a purely made up number,” he said.
Now, cryptocurrency projects will be able to decide what kind of fee they want to pay. This fee will be donated to charity through Binance. Finally, the exchange will then disclose the fee to the public via Blockchain Charity Foundation, Binance’s charity initiative.
“This will be disclosed in a subsequent Binance Charity Foundation press release. We are discussing with a few large donors at the moment. We don’t want to release a partial list just yet,” Zhao clarified.
Binance will not dictate nor stipulate a minimum donation fee for listing a cryptocurrency. They also want to avoid giving the impression that a larger donation will equate a quid pro quo. Zhao emphasized this in a press release, stating: “A large donation does not guarantee or in any way influence the outcome of our listing review process”.
When asked if Zhao believed other exchanges will follow Binance’s lead, he optimistically replied, saying: “I certainly hope so. They copied us on many other things; this will be a good thing to copy. There is no competition in charity.”
Binance’s charity arm, Blockchain Charity Foundation, was recently founded together with the United Nations and let by the Ambassador of Goodwill, Helen Hai.
The goal of the project is to help the UN face the funding gap in its Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, the UN is trying to raise $2.5 trillion. It is hoped that BCF can help explore the potential of blockchain technology to help bridge this deficit. Binance and the BCF will be meeting in Geneva on October 24th at the Blockchains for Sustainable Development forum, where they will be discussing how blockchain can be used in the future for the public good.
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