Binance KR to cease operations citing ‘low usage and volume’

Binance KR, the South Korean wing of crypto-exchange Binance, announced today that it will be closing down. All new registrations and deposits will be closed on 24 December 2020, while withdrawals will close on 29 January 2021.

In light of such a development, non-Korean citizens who have BKRW at Binance.com will be able to trade BKRW at Liquid Swap and earn commissions in liquidity pools until 29 January 2021 at 2:00 PM KST. Currently, Binance Liquid Swap (BSwap)

Alternatively, users can trade BKRW for USDT, BTC, BUSD, XRP, ETH, BNB, AAVE, DOT, ADA, and LINK at BKRW spot fiat market. BKRW will be delisted on 29 January, following which, it will no longer be tradeable.

According to a press release shared with AMBCrypto, the South Korean arm of one of the world’s largest crypto-exchanges is shutting down operations due to low usage and volume with limited trading pairs of BKRW, resulting in limited liquidity for its users.

Following the closure announcement, the Binance KR team revealed that it aims to reassess its market strategy based on the resources and experience gained from operating a local exchange.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) commented,

“As we continuously establish new ventures and develop platforms with local partners to increase access to crypto around the world, we will continue looking for ways to improve and provide the best services for users including our KR community.”

This is an interesting development since Binance KR was launched only 8 months ago, with registrations and deposits opening on 2 April 2020.

However, it is not the only crypto-exchange in South Korea to face issues with respect to low transaction volume. Prixbit, another South Korean crypto-exchange, suspended operations on 9 August 2019 owing to the same reasons.

In fact, South Korean crypto-exchanges have faced challenges with respect to low transaction volume for a while now, with a report from Business Korea revealing that 97 percent of domestic exchanges are in danger of going bankrupt due to their low volume of transactions.

The Financial Services Commission’s (FSC) latest ban on privacy coins on exchanges has also seen the delisting of several coins such as Monero, Dash, and Zcash from many crypto-exchanges in the country, including OKEx.

Such an ever-tightening regulatory landscape, coupled with already low transaction volumes, present many uncertainties for crypto-exchange operators in the country.