CoinEx jumped past 70 exchanges in less than 24 hours as its trading volume rose from $5 million to $1.5 billion following its adoption of a controversial new trading policy. Since offering a version of the ‘trans-fee’ mining model, it has moved into first place by exchange volume.

New Model Boosts Exchanges

CoinEx has seen an unprecedented surge of interest following its adoption of the new ‘trans-fee’ mining model. It is a variant of the model used by Fcoin, Bit-Z and Coinbene which CoinEx call ‘Trade-driven Mining’ and ‘Dividend Distribution.’ Bit-Z and Coinbene also recently rose above Binance by trade volume but are now at place 13 and 14 respectively.

In a step up from Binance, offering reduced fees if traders use its native coin BNB, this new ‘trans-fee’ mining model returns users trading fees in the form of the exchange’s native token. This means users essentially get to trade for free while the exchange benefits from an increase in the use of its token. It is called ‘trans-fee’ mining because it allows users to receive the specific tokens as they get their fees paid back.

The model has been criticized because it may encourage high numbers of automated trades. This would allow someone to get hold of more of the exchange tokens. In China, the media raised this possibility over Fcoin which was denied by its founder Zhang Jian. He claimed that none of the transactions were fake.

Both Bit-Z and Coinbene rose in volume following adoption of the new model. In June, Bit-Z had a trading volume of $1 billion and Coinbene over $2 billion, both ahead of Binance at $800 million. However, it is interesting to see that the volume did not stay at those levels.

Exchanges Respond to New Model

Recently Binance founder and CEO, Zhao Changpeng criticized the new model arguing that it is really an ICO as the exchange is getting users to buy their tokens with BTC or ETH. He said that exchanges who do this model will need their token to increase in price in order to achieve a sustainable business model. Changpeng said on Weibo:

“If an exchange doesn’t get revenue from transaction fees and solely profits from the price of its token. How would it survive without manipulating the token price? Are you sure you want to play against a price manipulator? The same price manipulator who controls the trading platform?”

At Huboi’s second London event, held at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, a senior executive was asked if they were paying attention to Fcoin, which was launched by former Huobi CTO Zhang Jian. Charlie Tsai, Chief Strategy Officer, said that they were paying close attention and it was currently being discussed in meetings in Beijing.

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