Binance Wallet woos retail traders with fee-free crypto swaps

Binance Wallet launches a zero-fee swap promotion, but only for users with backed-up keyless addresses.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is launching a six-month zero-fee swap promotion for users of its Binance Wallet (formerly known as Binance Web3 Wallet) in a bid to attract retail traders.

In a Mar. 17 announcement, the exchange said the offer only applies to swaps made through Binance Wallet’s integrated swap and bridge features or quick buy in Binance Alpha, a platform within Binance Wallet, featuring tokens that may be considered for listings on Binance in the future.

Binance pointed out that transactions “made via third-party dApps do not qualify.” Retail traders may still have to pay network gas fees, even though Binance is waiving its own trading fees.

“During the Promotion Period, trading fees for all swaps are waived. However, users will still need to pay for network gas fees.”

Binance

To qualify, users need to trade using a backed-up keyless address within Binance Wallet, meaning that they must complete the backup process and cannot use imported wallets with manually entered private keys or seed phrases.

Binance first announced its crypto wallet in November 2023, saying in a blog post that the product “eliminates tricky seed phrases” and deeming it as better than a self-custodian crypto wallet with support for multi-party computation tech. However, shortly after the launch, Russian users started reporting losing access to the wallet.

Binance later addressed the issue, stating that access to the wallet was restricted for “regulatory reasons.” The restriction came after Binance’s decision to exit Russia in September 2023, when it announced plans to sell its local business following a series of limitations, including restrictions on peer-to-peer trading for Russian users.