Binance Reigns Over The Crypto Exchange Sector; Is Coinbase Going Bankrupt?

by Samantha McLauren

Binance is now officially the largest Bitcoin holder in the world, despite the bearish market drowning most of the projects. However, Binance’s price action is in stark contrast to Coinbase, for example, as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the exchange is allegedly shutting down its U.S. affiliate marketing program.

The contrast is mostly evident in the hiring landscape, as Binance is increasing its hiring spree, while Coinbase is continuing with the waves of layoffs, pauses in recruitment, and even rumors of possible bankruptcy.

Chanpeng “CZ” Zhao’s Binance is on a path to cementing itself as the main player in the crypto industry, especially with its native BEP-20 token system and stablecoin (BUSD). The Binance Coin (BNB) token is currently the fifth-largest crypto project with a market cap of $41,8 billion, while the BinanceUSD stablecoin managed to surpass projects like Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL) with a market capitalization of $17,6 billion.

Binance taking over the crypto jobs?

In unprecedented market volatility, most of the crypto companies are imposing suspensions and payment limits on their users. Binance, however, is acting a bit differently by announcing more than 2,000 job openings, with a desire for growth and expansion.

Furthermore, exchanges and platforms suspended certain commercial agreements, while Binance signed multiple partnerships with stars like Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo.

And to make things even more appealing, the exchange has decided to make transaction fees free on Bitcoin and to maintain this change afterward in order to celebrate its fifth anniversary.

Is Coinbase going bankrupt?

While Binance’s presence is growing, it seems that some of the largest digital currency lending platforms and hedge funds implode due to market pressure.

Coinbase may be the latest big crypto company to close down operations, after the exchange already combined their USD and USDC markets, closed Coinbase Pro, and turned off its affiliate program in just a month.

According to a Business insider report, Coinbase will shut down the program on July 19 due to “market conditions and the outlook for the rest of 2022.” The market conditions, according to crypto experts are an 80% drop in trading volume, massive crashes in the value of digital currencies and other tokens like NFTs, and an ever-tightening regulatory pressure.

The trouble for Coinbase, however, started way back in 2022, after the exchange laid off 18% of its staff while reporting a massive loss in the first trimester of the year. Furthermore, updating the terms of use surprised Coinbase users, as now customer assets could be used to pay off debts in the event of bankruptcy.