Over the weekend, Binance and Coinbase were accused of asking for billions in token listing fees, starting a conversation about listing requirements, exchange competition, and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Many industry figures have addressed the issue, including Justin Sun, Brian Armstrong, and Changpeng Zhao, who denied the allegations on Monday.
Binance Vs. The Coinbase Listing Fee Controversy
Two of the world’s largest exchanges (CEXs), Binance and Coinbase, have faced allegations that the payment requirements for a million token listings. On Thursday, the CEO of Moonrock Capital, Simon Dedic, shared his concerns about certain CEX listing requirements.
In X’s post, Dedic explained that he recently spoke with a Tier 1 project that raised nearly nine figures. The project team detailed that they received a listing offer from Binance after “wasting more than a year of hard work” on the exchange.
However, the crypto exchange is said to have requested 15% of the token supply to secure the listing. Dedic expressed his concern about “paying just $50-100M for a CEX listing,” as it would be unaffordable for many projects, and the supply of donated tokens is “a major reason for bleeding.”
Moonrock Capital's CEO raises concerns about listing requirements. Source: Simon on X
Many members of the community have discussed whether the listing fee requirement needs to be changed. One user argued that if a project wants to be distributed on CEX, they should “pay for it.”
However, controversy arose when Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong responded to Dedic’s X post. Armstrong appeared to take a jab at Binance by saying that the asset listing on Coinbase is free.
The founder of Sonic Labs, Andre Cronje, refuted what Armstrong said and pointed out that the event is said to have asked the company for money to be listed several times. In the post, Coinbase requested up to $300 million from Sonic Labs, while Binance charged the project $0.
Supporting Cronje, Tron founder Justin Sun shared a similar story. Sun declared that Coinbase’s claims were “absolutely untrue,” as CEX required it to pay 500 million TRX, worth about $80 million, and “demand a deposit of 250 million BTC from Coinbase Custody to increase their performance.”
Sun’s comments fueled ongoing discussion, with many users questioning his claim. Some suggest that his experience with Binance may differ from other projects as the listing happened years ago.
Binance Founders Deny Allegations
On Monday, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, thanked Sun for his support. The former CEO noted the importance of having someone in charge of two competing exchanges. However, he expressed concern about the “attack on quotes” in the industry.
Zhao responds to listing fee allegations. Source: CZ on X
Zhao urged his peers to slow down the attack and asked the teams to work on their projects to get the list instead of focusing on trading. In addition, he emphasized that “Bitcoin did not pay any fees for listing.” The Sun agreed with CZ, saying, “Focusing on construction projects and Bitcoin is what’s important.”
Yi He, founder and Chief Customer Service Officer at Binance, also denies these allegations, calling them FUD:
FUD will never go away, but it makes us stronger. Gossip is easy to find, and business competition is always full of dark sides; If you understand the rules of how the world works, you will no longer be easily swayed by rumours, and you will have the ability to think independently.
He explained that the project will not be listed if it does not pass the evaluation process, and the exchange does not charge “the so-called 20%” of the money. Yi also noted that the exchange’s listing rules are “transparent and clear,” including Binance’s Launchpool airdrop rules. In the end, he urged the public to do research when there is a conflict.
Binance Coin (BNB) trades at $560 in the three-day chart. Source: BNBUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
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