The spot trading volume of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance plummeted by 36.8% to $115 billion last month, the lowest level the cryptocurrency trading platform has seen since October 2020.

Backed Finance, a Switzerland-based tokenization firm, has launched its tokenized short-term U.S. Treasury product on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, in a move that marks the first time a real-world asset is issued on the network.

According to Gary Wang, the co-founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, the insurance fund balance shown by the exchange was not reflecting reality, and instead displayed the result of a random number generation.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Binance’s Spot Trading Volume Hits Lowest Level Since October 2020
• Coinbase's Base Welcomes First Real-World Asset Issuance with Tokenized U.S. Treasury ETF
• FTX Used Random Number to Show Insurance Fund Figures
• Derivatives Trading on Centralized Exchanges Sees Market Share Hit New All-Time High

Binance’s Spot Trading Volume Hits Lowest Level Since October 2020

The spot trading volume of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance plummeted by 36.8% to $115 billion last month, the lowest level the cryptocurrency trading platform has seen since October 2020.

As a result, Binance’s share of the spot cryptocurrency trading market is now at its lowest level since June 2022, at 34.3%. The volume decline was worsened by the end of the firm’s zero-fee trading offer for BTC-TUSD pairs last month.

CCData’s latest Exchange Review report details that the exchange also saw a 20.8% drop in derivatives trading volume to $686 billion in September, the lowest level since December 2020.

Last month, the same report details that combined spot and derivatives volumes on centralized exchanges last month declined 20.3% to $1.67 trillion, marking their third consecutive monthly drop and the lowest combined monthly volume since December 2022.

Low volatility and seasonal patterns that usually affect the third quarter of the year led to depressed volumes. The derivatives volume on centralized exchanges fell 17.7% last month to $1.33 trillion, meaning the market dominance of derivatives trading on these platforms is now at an all-time high of 79.9%.

Coinbase's Base Welcomes First Real-World Asset Issuance with Tokenized U.S. Treasury ETF

Backed Finance, a Switzerland-based tokenization firm, has launched its tokenized short-term U.S. Treasury product on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, in a move that marks the first time a real-world asset is issued on the network.

Under the provisions of Swiss tokenized securities law, Backed’s blB01 crypto token is a blockchain-based version of BlackRock’s short-term U.S. Treasuries exchange-traded fund (ETF), which offers a 5.25% annual yield to investors.

Only qualified investors and licensed distributors who have completed the firm’s know-your-customer and anti-money laundering procedures can access the tokenized ETF, with US investors and entities being restricted from buying the token.

The tokenization of real-world assets, the practice of wrapping traditional financial assets such as government bonds into tokens on the blockchain, has emerged as a significant trend in the crypto realm this year.

According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, the tokenized asset market could grow to $16 trillion by 2030, with US Treasuries being considered a gateway for this market as numerous crypto firms and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) use these for their high-yield and low risk.

FTX Used Random Number to Show Insurance Fund Figures

According to Gary Wang, the co-founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, the insurance fund balance shown by the exchange was not reflecting reality, and instead displayed the result of a random number generation.

Wang revealed at the trial of his former business partner Sam Bankman-Fried that the exchange calculated the amount of cash added to the fund by using a random number — around 7,500— times the daily volume and then divided by one billion. However, this number was not the actual amount that was stored in the fund.

Wang admitted that the real number in the database was different from the displayed number, and the actual insurance fund balance was lower than what was shown to the public.

When asked whether the figure shown to the public had anything to do with the actual number in the insurance fund by the prosecution, Wang said “no.” Insurance funds are used as a safeguard to pay out profits or cover losses, avoiding the forced closure of positions over the mass liquidations of counterparties.

Derivatives Trading on Centralized Exchanges Sees Market Share Hit New All-Time High

The monthly derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges reached its lowest point since December 2020, dropping 17.7% to $1.33 trillion. The market dominance of derivatives trading on centralized exchanges, however, hit a new record high of 79.9% as the decline in spot volumes was more significant.

Binance remains the biggest platform for derivatives trading with a 51.5% market share, even though its dominance has fallen by 13.9% from its February peak of 65.4%. On the other hand, OKX, Bybit and Bitget have gained from Binance’s decline, raising their market share to 19.6%, 13.6% and 9.43% respectively.

Dig deeper into the world of cryptocurrency trading with CCData’s latest Exchange Review report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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