Name: Balancing the Ledger: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Binance US
Uploaded: 2019-10-15
Duration: 10 min 1 s
Description: CEO Catherine Coley chats with The Ledger team about how Binance.US differs from Binance.com.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Balancing the Ledger, where tech and finance intersect. I'm Robert Hackett. And I'm Jen Wieczner. And today we're here with Catherine Coley, the CEO of Binance Advance US. Thanks for being here, Catherine. Thank you, guys, a real pleasure. So blockchain is a technology that knows no borders. And Buynance, the company from which you take your name, has also been a company that, for much of its history, has also known no borders. Why does there need to be a US entity version of Buynance? That's a great question. Certainly, Buynance has been servicing most of the globe right now But in the US, due to the regulations that are at hand, we're seeing a new need for a specific type of exchanged fee offered. So we bring a marketplace that's suited for our American users, with the same technology that they can experience on Binance. But with the comfort that it's within the regulation in the US. But there was already binance operating in the US and that recently withdrew from the country to be replaced with binance. US, as of the late September. What's different about binance US versus its predecessor binance. So the main difference between Binance. US and Binance. com, is a couple of things. One being, we are offering a selected amount of tokens rolling out in a sequence, so that we can get adequate liquidity, on there and available for a wide variety for the American users. With that, we wanna be applying products new to the market, and in a cadence that will work with regulation in the US So although Binance. com has rolled out several new features, we will be going at it at a different cadence and speed, but one that will be in line with the American regulation. Even within us there are a whole bunch of laws that differ between various states. So what is your status right now? Where are you operational? Where do you expect to be operational next, where you aren't. Right we are operational now in 37 states in the US and Puerto Rico. We have to go through a series of process in order to apply for state by state licenses and that's why you'll see some of the states left out with a somewhat unknown timeframe for when they'll actually be able to access Binance. US. In this we see it as a Progress to roll out our services across America. But we ask for your patience, and we are working on it. The technology that powers Binance US, is it similar to the technology that powers Binance? Yes, you'll see a lot of the similar feature in the aspect that Binance US can actually license the technology built for Binance. com. We're able to borrow the matching engine as well as some of the wallet technology that has been superior in leading Binance, com and to be a global Cryptocurrency exchanged worldwide. What's different about Binance US? I mean will it feel different to users or will the experience be different? Yeah, there's some nuances between markets when you go live in them. So The aspects around what attracts an American user and what's necessity that they have in terms of understanding the trust where they're trading, the functionality of the process, the platform itself. A couple of those things will be subtly changed, but the strong technology behind the matching engine, this Speed, the simplicity, and the security element will all still be that high caliber that you experience at finance. com. On the debut day there were some reports of bugs, some withdrawal issues that happened with customers How are you addressing some of those complaints and various scrapes from the community? Yes, maybe unlike a couple other are us peers. I've actually been manning the customer support. So it's been a pure experience for me to hear firsthand. What's That's causing problems, and then being able to fix them in real time for our users, so we can really get close to a peer product that's going to be making sense for our users. So some of the small bugs would make sense, walking them through, handholding through the on- boarding experience. It's tough, it's not a. Simple and fun process but it's a priority of my to make sure that on boarding because we are requiring KWC and all the stages to verified account are easy and quickly to be done. In coalision of cryptocurrency exchanges recently came together. Coinbase, Circle, Kraken and a bunch of others and they are basically trying to do some sort of self regulation. Rating digital assets and determining what might qualify as a security and what wouldn't qualify as a security. Sort of in the absence of clarity from SCC regulators Is that an initiative that you think is good, that you agree with, is Binance US going to join that at some time? We agree with it in the sense that we also self regulate, so we have a digital asset, risk assesment Framework to which we that all of our offerings through before they become listed. It works through a measure of process that we can then show and clarify why we've chosen certain tokens and coins to be available, binance. us so I think in terms of timing, we were probably a little late to the game to get invited to that but certainly knocking on their door to see if there's an extra seat for us. And can you talk a little bit about why you've chosen to launch with the crypto currencies that you have? Yes, so liquidity is a big aspect of the American market. We wanna make sure that you have healthy markets. when you're launching going live. Having a variety without much activity on it would Maybe dissuade some people from trading on it. So we launched with seven coins against US dollars in USD T. And then the following day we launched five more coins that made it through our digital asset risk assessment framework and Giving our ear to the people they said we need more BitCoin pairs so we launch five more BitCoin pairs as well with that we continue to kind of go to that process of [ UNKNOWN ] and listen and announce that are clearly to the market to communicate with that. Background is actually you were working at Ripple prior to this and you have a [ UNKNOWN ] some other [ UNKNOWN ] relationships. With institutions. Tell us what you were doing there, and why you made the jump over to Binance US? I had the fortune of working at Ripple and understanding the full nuances of a digital asset and how it worked globally. So understanding the exchange relationships, the market maker relationships, the institutions that were buying it. And even the sense of the following in the community that it had on a retail scale. So what a wonderful view I had into the markets. I then really saw a need for better infrastructure to take place. And wanted to make an impact in my own community here in America. And bring forth what I thought could be a very user- friendly, but also forward- thinking model. So that's where the opportunity with Buynance US. And it's the idea of growing a team of hard- working, excited, and hungry people, to launch this thing with a Tremendous brand and great technology behind it is such a privilege. Binance has a reputation for sort of pushing the limits, being very, very fast, very speedy. Is Binance US going to have to be slower, is it Not gonna have the same sort of innovative edge that the other Binance has, given the regulatory environment? I think we have to be careful about each step we take, but it certainly doesn't mean we have multiple things going at once. So We launched the full exchange in three months, which is still incredible timing when you go from having a concept to actually having a functional product and a team to support it, And we'll continue to add features to it as well as add team members. We're based in San Francisco And so we can move pretty quickly. I don't think you should be expecting us to have one hand tied behind our back, but we'll definitely be at the place to which we can grow. And Binance itself offers over a hundred crypto currencies that are paired with. Is that something you see a potential for, with by Binance US or will it always be a more limited number of crypto currencies? I think by nature you're going to see a In two years that's where they were able to get to. So having hundreds of coins listed, having an insane amount of projects, they have so many features that are able to do from an outside global aspect. We will have to be on a more cautious scale, but one that I think we can really provide An area where your hurdles are lowered. So whether it's the cost whether it is the variety, we wanna make this the opportunity for you to trade as you wish so built for you. That is what Binance US will stand for. The American market has a number of incumbents already there. Coinbase obviously is the big kahuna, How do you expect to entice users away from the platforms they already use? That's a great question. I often think, if you're happy with what you've got, why change? And that's where we're coming in at out of time. Seven years later, after most of these incumbents have begun their. Into helping the US access crypto we're launching. So we have a bit of an advantage seeing what takes seven years of a roadmap to get the right road recipe. But we're also able to do things quickly, like we've lowered all of our fees for trading, free until November 1st. Because if you are new to crypto and cost It's just something that is, it's something holding you back. We don't want that to be the case. The other aspect, I think, in crypto we may have isolated ourselves a little bit. So, in the interest of encouraging community, if you invite a friend to trade on the platform, you and your friend Look at $ 15. So, if you keep that up, you can probably have quite a nice business running by bringing your friends into Binance, U. S .>> And what will the fees be after November 1st ?>> After November 1st, we thought straightforward. So it's 10 basis points for personal accounts And for corporate accounts, it's a little bit different, given the volume that they're usually trading, so we'll keep it straightforward. If we need to introduce tearing like the market is demanding, then we will go forth and do that. But really keeping our ear with the users and making sure that they're comfortable with what we're delivering. Thanks so much for being with us, Catherine. Appreciate it. Thank you. I'm Robert Hackett. And I'm Jen Wieczner. For more Balancing the Ledger, go to fortune. com. See you next time. [ MUSIC ]

Balancing the Ledger: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Binance US

Finance

CEO Catherine Coley chats with The Ledger team about how Binance.US differs from Binance.com.