TL;DR: One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, Binance, announced its highly anticipated US franchise will launch officially on 18 September. It’s a direct flexing at the country’s relatively well-established platforms such as Coinbase and Kraken. Can the international unicorn replicate its magic in the land of Trump with Binance US?

Binance US Hunts Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini on Home Territory

Binance US “will open account registration,” the exchange confirmed, “and begin accepting deposits of BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, and USDT on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 8am ET. This kicks off our first phase as we gradually roll out access to our digital asset marketplace across America.”

The US is both a coveted and simultaneously odd market for exchange-related businesses. The pros are obvious. Its citizens are keen on retail trading, have gobs of surplus cash, and don’t mind taking-on debt and financial risk. The cons are less evident, but a company like Binance is surely aware. While the US for sure has federal laws governing the nation in its entirety, each of its 50 states have their own regulatory landmines, requiring a lot of legal attention and individual expense to comply. To do business in the state of New York, for example, an actual license is necessary, as Gemini often touts in its marketing.

“During this initial registration phase, you will be able to sign up for a Binance.US account and select the tier of verification required to achieve your desired withdrawal limits,” the press release continued. “Once verified, you will be able to make deposits across the initial selection of digital assets. Shortly after registration opens, we will provide an update detailing when trading will go live for specific pairs.”

Binance US claims it will eventually add more cryptocurrencies to the platform, and its initial slate is in stark contrast to Binance proper and how the exchange’s mothership earned unicorn status, trading hundreds of coins. For now, the US version supports the five largest cryptos by market cap and popular stablecoin, tether.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.

CONTINUE THE SPICE and check out our piping hot VIDEOS. Our podcast, The CoinSpice Podcast, has amazing guests. Follow CoinSpice on Twitter. Join our Telegram feed to make sure you never miss a post. Drop some BCH at the merch shop — we’ve got some spicy shirts for men and women. Don’t forget to help spread the word about CoinSpice on social media.

DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.