Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has officially stated that the company does not charge 400 bitcoin ($2.5 million) to list cryptocurrencies on its platform.

Legitimacy of the Claim

Last week, cryptocurrency researcher Christopher Franko claimed that Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, has been charging cryptocurrencies a listing fee of 400 BTC to integrate them on its exchange.

Franko cited a screenshot of an email with the address oyyq@binance.com, an address that allegedly said that it costs 400 BTC to list Expanse, his blockchain project, on the exchange.

However, on August 12, CZ released an official statement refuting the claims of Franko, saying that the exchange does not list cryptocurrencies for 400 BTC or even 4,000 BTC without conducting due diligence and putting them through a rigorous verification process.

The statement of CZ read:

“We don’t list shitcoins even if they pay 400 or 4,000 BTC. ETH/NEO/XRP/EOS/XMR/LTC/more listed with no fee. Question is not ‘how much does Binance charge to list?’ but ‘is my coin good enough?’ It’s not the fee, it’s your project! Focus on your own project!”

“Also, the email Franko showed is a spoofed/scam email, not from Binance. Binance never quote fees in email, and not in BTC. Project owners should be able to spot email spoofing, those who can’t should not issue a coin. The communication process/method tells a lot about a coin,” he added.

As a commercial company and an exchange, similar to the way major stock markets require listing fees and maintenance costs prior to listing new assets, it is appropriate for Binance and any other cryptocurrency exchange to accept a listing fee to integrate a cryptocurrency into its platform.

The amount of the fee involved in the listing process is irrelevant, whether that is 4 BTC, 40 BTC, 400 BTC, or 4,000 BTC, as blockchain projects that see merit in the listing, even with a high fee, will take the offer, and that is how the free market works. If there are enough demand and low supply, the price of a product inevitably goes up.

But CZ stated that Binance does not blindly accept listing fees to integrate cryptocurrencies, which is important for the users of Binance, as it demonstrates that even for a large amount of capital, the exchange does not list cryptocurrencies that are not legitimate.

Is CZ Speaking the Truth?

Earlier this week, in an interview with local publications, blockchain project operators in South Korea spoke up about the black market of cryptocurrency listings, in which brokers charge $2 million to $5 million for guaranteed listings.

These offers are illegal, and cryptocurrencies that pay for these services are also a part of an illicit group of operations. Several blockchain operators reached out to the top three exchanges in the world, including Binance, OKEx, and Huobi, all of which claimed that they do not accept listing fees and that cryptocurrencies will have to use proper channels to be listed, meaning that these brokers, who are charging multi-million dollar listing fees, are operating independently without the authorization of exchanges.

Conclusively, it is appropriate for cryptocurrency exchanges to charge high listing fees, given the high demand from the market. But, as CZ emphasized, and other blockchain operators in leading markets have said, major cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance are following proper protocols to list digital assets.

Featured image from YouTube/Piergiorgio Borgogno