Binance to donate listing fees to charity

Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has come under fire for what some have viewed as exorbitant listing fees. It’s more than likely because of this, and not some altruistic vision, that the company announced on Monday that all of the fees it collects for listing new cryptocurrencies will be donated to charity.

The company said that its new policy is effective immediately. It added that it will donate the fees for the “greater good” and also that token developers can now tell the exchange what they would like to pay to have their tokens listed. Binance didn’t indicate that it would automatically accept the requested amount, but specified that there would be no minimum fee required.

According to the announcement, “Binance will continue to use the same high standard for the listing review process. A large donation does not guarantee or in any way influence the outcome of our listing review process.” It further said that the new policy applies to any new applications, as well as those that have already been submitting and which are waiting for approval.

Changpeng Zhao, the exchange’s CEO, said on Twitter, “I think this is a net win for us too. Charity will increase adoption, make the industry bigger, which in turn will benefit $bnb and @binance (and others too). Of course, we sacrifice short term direct gains. But if you keep a long term view, it’s a win-win on multiple fronts.”

This past August, Binance was targeted after a cryptocurrency developer tried to have his coin listed on the exchange. Christopher Franko, who created the blockchain platform Expanse, took to social media to complain that the exchange had asked him to pay 400 BTC to be listed, an amount that equaled approximately $2.6 million—not a reasonable fee for the majority of the startups in the blockchain space.

Zhao denied the allegation, saying that it was fake news. He asserted, “We don’t list shitcoins even if they pay 400 or 4,000 BTC…[The] question is not ‘how much does Binance charge to list?’ but ‘is my coin good enough?’ It’s not the fee, it’s your project! Focus on your own project!”

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