Binance reintroduces USDC trading pairs after one-year break

Crypto exchange Binance is returning trading pairs with USDC just a year after removing it to concentrate stablecoin liquidity.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced in a press release on Dec. 27 that it is reintroducing a few trading pairs with Circle‘s USDC stablecoin.

According to the announcement, the exchange will open trading for the ADA/USDC, ARB/USDC, AVAX/USDC, DOT/USDC, INJ/USDC, MATIC/USDC, OP/USDC, ORDI/USDC, SOL/USDC and XRP/USDC spot trading pairs at 08:00 UTC, Dec. 28.

Binance did not elaborate on the reason behind the move.

The return of USDC comes just a year after Binance removed a basket of stablecoins, including Paxos Dollar (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD), automatically converting deposits in these assets to its stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD).

At the time, a spokesperson for Binance said the move was made in an effort to concentrate stablecoin liquidity. While the decision to reduce the number of supported stablecoins surprised some market participants it has garnered praise from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, who said in an X post that the removal of USDC would “likely lead to more USDC flowing to Binance.”

In September, Binance officials said the cryptocurrency exchange plans to remove all stablecoins from the European market by June 2024 to align with the regulatory standards set forth by the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. As per Binance, the move would likely have a “significant impact on the market in Europe compared to the rest of the world.”

It is unclear if Binance’s decision to return USDC is related to MiCA, as Circle recently announced conditional registration with France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF). Allaire said at the time that the company hopes to obtain a full Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) from France’s financial watchdog to comply with European regulations.