Binance lists the AEUR stablecoin from issuer Anchored Coins and announces a zero trading fees period.

Yesterday, Binance listed the AEUR stablecoin, managed and issued by the Swiss regulated company FINMA Anchored Coins.

The currency is pegged to the euro and is 100% guaranteed by a deposit at a designated reserve bank, which is controlled by an independent third-party entity such as Prescient Assurance.

The listing on Binance reflects the exchange’s commitment to comply with the guidelines imposed by Europe in the “Markets in Crypto-Asset” (MICA) regulation on the stablecoin topic.

We can therefore believe that this is the first “compliant” currency supported by the industry’s trading leader, who was just fined over 4 billion dollars by the DOJ for non-compliance with certain US laws.

The debut of Anchored Coins currency, however, was not so brilliant.

Let’s see all the details below.

Binance and the listing of the AEUR stablecoin issued by Swiss company Anchored Coins

Binance was just fined 2 weeks ago by the DOJ for violating US anti-money laundering laws, but now it is trying to comply with European regulations by embracing a compliant stablecoin pegged to the EURO, issued by Anchored Coins.

This is a Swiss company authorized and regulated by FINMA that offers minting and redeem support in the stablecoin field, with a declared commitment to compliance with regulations in Europe.

Anchored Euro (AEUR), listed on the exchange yesterday in 4 trading pairs including BTC, ETH, USDT, and EURO, will provide a secure alternative option for users’ trading as it is 100% backed by a guarantee from a reserve bank.

In order to guarantee transparency in blockchain operations, Anchored Coins will be supervised by an independent auditor, namely the leading B2B certification company Prescient Assurance.

The listing of the stablecoin reflects the exchange’s announced commitment to adapt to the guidelines imposed by the Markets in Crypto Assets (MICA) regulation, drafted by the European Parliament in April of this year.

AEUR becomes the first cryptographic resource integrated on Binance that complies with European regulations regarding decentralized currencies linked to the value of FIAT currencies, which are expected to come into effect in the coming months.

The leading cryptocurrency exchange platform has launched a zero trading fees period on BTC-AEUR, ETH-AEUR, AEUR-USDT, and EUR-AEUR pairs to support the initiative, which will last until further notice.

Users can take advantage of this promotion to save on commission costs during trading operations.

The debut of Anchored Coins stablecoin, however, was not so brilliant and did not attract much participation from the general public.

In fact, in the first 9 hours of trading, the trading volumes recorded on all trading pairs were barely 7 million euros.

BTC and ETH have attracted just over 250 thousand euros of capital in this context, a figure enormously distant from what the exchange registers every day with other stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and DAI.

Just like all the cryptocurrencies pegged to the euro, even this currency seems to face great challenges in the global adoption front, still largely subordinate to the dominance of the dollar as a FIAT currency.

Currently, in fact, 99.34%  of the stablecoins on Ethereum are pegged to USD cryptocurrencies.

Binance’s commitment to complying with MiCA’s stablecoin regulations

The listing of AEUR, a cryptocurrency issued by Anchored Coins, is motivated by Binance’s commitment, already declared months ago, to comply with the indications of MICA in the stablecoin sector.

The regulations impose precise rules for the issuers of such resources, such as a limit on transaction volumes for stablecoins not pegged to the euro, which must necessarily remain below the quarterly average of 200 million EUR per day and 1 million transactions per day.

The entity involved in minting and redeeming practices must then meet certain requirements and have the necessary licenses to operate in this context.

Already in April Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of Binance who resigned just now, had said that the exchange would prepare to make changes to its operations to be in full compliance.

CZ had made it clear on that occasion that the regulation of the crypto sector imposed by the European Commission with clear and well-defined rules represented an opportunity for growth for the entire industry.

Most likely, Binance was looking for solutions during that period to implement stablecoins supported by authorized companies like Anchored Coins, with which it finally managed to reach a commercial agreement.

However, now Richard Teng, the current CEO of the exchange platform, seems to have an even bigger vision for the company, which is to become the “most globally regulated” crypto exchange.

His curriculum, which includes a past as CEO for the local regulatory authority Abu Dhabi Global Markets gives hope that Binance may finally resolve the current tensions with various international regulatory bodies, becoming fully compliant.

There are those who think that the recent fine of 4.3 billion can be metaphorically seen as “the fee” to be paid in order to serve the irregularities carried out in the past and move towards an era of transparency and regularity.

The wish we make to Bilance, and more generally to the entire crypto sector, is that Teng can succeed in shaping a global regulatory framework that promotes innovation while protecting consumer interests. 

After several years in which many entities have fought to be able to operate legally in international territories with disruptive technologies such as blockchain and crypto, fortunately, we have reached a turning point in Europe, which can be pursued by most market players.