Binance.US, the American arm of crypto exchange behemoth Binance, opened doors to new signups today.
Starting 8AM EST, US citizens—depending on what state they’re in—can deposit Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, USDT, USD into the exchange. First, of course, they’ll have to punch in their social security number and a driver’s license or passport.
In addition, Binance Coin will be added to the exchange. This came as a surprise to traders after Binance’s native cryptocurrency was left off the original list of coins to be added—even though it has been an integral part of all of Binance’s exchanges so far.
Binance.US is a separate legal entity from Binance, operated by BAM Trading Services and headed by Catherine Coley, an ex-exec at Ripple.
Coley said in a blog post yesterday that trading will begin as soon as the exchange gets enough liquidity. There will be no trading fees until November 1, and, after that, trading fees will be 0.1 percent per trade.
While the majority of Americans can now use the platform, there are still a sizeable number who can’t for regulatory reasons. Thirteen states are excluded from the list: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. The omissions, according to Binance, concessions to regulators, who clamped down on the company earlier this year. Coley said that “support for additional jurisdictions and listings may be added at a later date.”
Binance’s new US-dollar-pegged stablecoin, BUSD, in partnership with Paxos, won’t be launching on the exchange either. BUSD, we’re told will be added at a later date, despite getting backing from NYFDS, one of the toughest financial regulators in the country.