The price of Bitcoin on Binance.US has raised eyebrows as it traded at a premium of $700 compared to its market price on other leading exchanges such as Coinbase. Early on May 9, Bitcoin was priced at $28,393 on Binance.US, while its market price on other platforms was around $27,722, marking a difference of approximately 2%.
Kaiko Research analyst Connor Ryder has attributed the Bitcoin premium on Binance.US to the exchange’s slower withdrawals due to recent difficulties in securing a banking partner. This sentiment was echoed by both pseudonymous trader Byzantine General and crypto exchange OPNX’s market maker Alice, who believes that the premium indicates issues with fiat withdrawals at the exchange.
However, according to anonymous Twitter analyst fewseethis, Bitcoin premium on Binance.US might stem from market makers exiting the exchange in anticipation of forthcoming regulatory measures. Binance.US has been under the watchful eye of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since February, with an official in March declaring that the exchange was operating as an unregistered securities exchange within the U.S.
Commenting on the matter, fewseethis tweeted:
IF there is some sort of gov action against binance US incoming AND market makers who usually do business there know about it THEN it's possible they left and there isn't enough liquidity & possibilities for arbitraging are diminishedhttps://t.co/FERr0ax6uy
— few (@fewseethis) May 8, 2023
Meanwhile, Griffin Ardern, a volatility trader at crypto asset management firm Blofin, that the premium could indicate weak market depth and a departure of market makers, potentially as a result of regulatory pressure and heightened compliance demands.
This development comes on the heels of Binance, the primary global exchange, encountering significant withdrawal problems on May 7 due to an unexpected mempool congestion. This resulted in over 400,000 transactions being stalled on the Bitcoin blockchain, prompting Binance to consider incorporating the Lightning Network into its platform to expedite BTC transactions and reduce associated costs.
