Binance drops below 50% market share on regulatory pressure

For years, Binance has held its undisputed leading position among cryptocurrency exchanges, capturing well over 50% of the total market share.

It, too, however, became another cog in the mechanism that has proven 2023 to be a decidedly mixed bag for the crypto market. On the one hand, it was a period of significant recovery for many cryptocurrencies and a year of renewed hope – hope that ultimately came true – that the SEC will approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

It was also a year of multiple major shocks, including the arrest of Do Kwon in Montenegro, a series of regulatory actions targeting the crypto industry – nicknamed “operation chokepoint 2.0” by the community – and, indeed, also targeting Binance itself.

As a result, Binance’s dominance of the market was significantly challenged on multiple occasions throughout the year. It twice experienced sharp declines – once after the SEC unveiled its lawsuit and again after the long-standing CEO, Changpeng Zhao, stepped down as part of an agreement with the SEC.

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The setbacks for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange didn’t only come from regulatory pressure. The first hit to its market share – that fluctuated between 52% and 60%, per a January 17 report by TokenInsight – came in March with the end of the platform’s  Zero-Fee Bitcoin trading promotion.

Overall, Binance started 2023 controlling 54.2% of the total market share and ended the year at 48.7%. The low point for the exchange came on November 24, shortly after Zhao announced his resignation, as it briefly fell as low as 32%.

The big gainers and losers of 2023

While Binance fell from its dominant position somewhat, several other exchanges gained market share. Among them, the two biggest winners turned out to be OKX – which went from 11.8% to 16.1% – and Bybit – which rose by 2.2% from 10.1% to 12.3%.

Binance, OKX, and Bybit also retained their dominance in terms of spot and derivatives trading. 

Several other well-known cryptocurrency exchanges, also targeted by U.S. regulators in 2023, also experienced a decline. Thus, Kraken fell from 0.8% to 0.6%, and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) went from 2.4% to 1.8%.

This year is also likely to bring about some changes in the crypto market. Not only are there widespread hopes that 2024 will present a bull market for cryptocurrencies, but multiple platforms are taking active steps to solidify their position.

OKX, for example, secured a VASP license from Dubai as recently as January 16, while Coinbase, being the largest U.S.-based publicly traded exchange, is stepping up efforts to turn its home turf more favorable with a major lobbying drive in Washington.

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