Money always finds a way. Since Binance customers lost easy access to withdrawals and deposits in reais, the exchange has lost ground in Bitcoin and Ethereum trading in Brazil, according to data from the Index of Bitcoin Portal Price and research done on several exchanges.
Changpeng company “CZ” Zhao maintains the isolated lead, but data shows that since the interruption of banking services on June 17th until the 29th, there was a drop in Brazilian market share from 57% to 41%.
In the same period, there was an increase in the volume traded in other brokers in the market. Novadax was the one that grew the most in the period — from 5% to 13% of market share. Next comes Mercado Bitcoin (from 5% to 7%), Bitpreço (17% to 18%) and Foxbit (4% to 5%).
In the second analyzed period, there was a general drop in cryptocurrency trading on all exchanges, caused by the melting of the market. In the first half of the month, daily trading was R$224 million per day. In the second, it was R$ 131 million — a drop of 41%. By comparison, American exchange Coinbase recorded a 33% drop in the same days.
Although the study uses the main traded pairs on the market (BTC/BRL and ETH/BRL), there is a limitation as there are many other assets listed and traded daily.
Still, the volume of the two biggest cryptocurrencies in transactions with the real is a significant clue of a change in the market.
Binance, Novadax and Bitcoin Market Reviews
Binance has released some ways to cash out in reais and a new payment partner, Latam Gateway. However, the service has not yet been standardized.
When contacted, the broker said that it did not comment on market variations and stated in a note: “The company highlights that the integration process with Latam Gateway is in progress and will be completed soon, when transactions (deposits and withdrawals) will be fully normalized, and that will keep the community informed”.
In a note, César Felix, NovaDAX’s Customer Experience manager, commented that there has been considerable growth since the 17th: “We had an 11% increase in the customer base. Since the beginning of the year, we have had an increase in BTC volume by around 25% and in ETH by 15% and, from the 17th, an increase in Bitcoin volume by around 4% and in Ethereum by 3%” .
He attributes the numbers, in part, to the exchange having zeroed fees for Bitcoin trades.
For Fabrício Tota, director of the Bitcoin Market, running out of withdrawals and deposits in reais is something that has already been overcome for local players. “The relationship between banks and exchanges today is much better than it was in the past. This kind of problem almost doesn’t exist anymore. It is natural, therefore, that customers become aware and start looking for alternatives such as the Bitcoin Market”.
Foxbit and Bitpreço were also contacted but did not respond until the publication of this report.
Understand the Binance case
On June 17, Binance stopped withdrawing and depositing in reais after breaking the relationship with Capitual, which provided the payment processing service for the brokerage within Acesso, a Payments Institution regulated by the Central Bank.
The two companies have conflicting versions of what actually happened. What is known is that there was a request for the individualization of the Capitual’s accounts within Access. In practice, this meant that each Binance customer would also have to create an Access account.
Binance even filed a lawsuit against its former service provider so that it would continue to provide banking access. There was an initial victory, but she was overthrown in the second instance.
